Volunteers Bob McCormack and Deborah Shirer with Sunny Miller (r), Executive Director, Traprock Peace Center	Saxaphonist Bob Stabach, Simba	Simba
			Tish Ingerman, Code Pink
	Dud Kendrick Naval officer, Maine Veterans for Peace
	Dan DeWalt, organizer of the meeting and rally served as MC for the rally	Frances Crowe, nationally revered peace activist, war tax resister, and co-founder of Traprock Peace Center and Western Mass AFSC
Rob Shetterly, Americanswhotellthetruth.org		Steve West, musician	Joseph Turcotte, Iraq Veterans Against the War
	Bruce Gagnon, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

Groups gather to push peace

Brattleboro Reformer
By BOB AUDETTE, Reformer Staff
Monday, July 31

BRATTLEBORO -- A group of anti-war groups announced Sunday it was joining forces to stop the war in Iraq and to ask for the impeachment of the president.

Representatives from United for Peace and Justice, Code Pink, Veterans for Peace and Justice, Military Families Speak Out and other organizations said it was time for the groups to "band together" to get their message out.

Dan DeWalt, who helped organize the rally, said the purpose of the get-together was "to mobilize, to enlist and call to action" in order to stop the war and impeach President George Bush.

DeWalt, a Newfane selectboard member, sponsored a first in Vermont impeachment resolution that voters approved in March on Town Meeting Day. Since then, four other towns have approved similar resolutions, said DeWalt. He said small-town Vermont residents had stirred national debate on the impeachment issue. He said by unifying their voices, the organizations can encourage citizens to propose other impeachment resolutions in communities around the country.

Dud Hendrick, of Veterans for Peace and Justice, said peace and impeachment activists need to be more visible.

"We have to expand the base of people speaking out," said Hendrick.

"The times are calling for an expansion of the network and collaboration between groups," said Sunny Miller, of the Traprock Institute for Peace [Traprock Peace Center] in Deerfield, Mass. Miller said that "it's clear (the Bush Administration) wants to expand the war" in the Middle East and it's time for ordinary citizens to put their collective foot down.

Bruce Gagnon, a co-founder of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, said one need only look at the polls to realize most Americans disagree with the direction their country is headed.

"They're out there and they're concerned," he said. "But they're not moving into action." Gagnon said by unifying their voices the organizations can let Americans know they are not alone.

One local resident, Ellen Kaye, agreed with Gagnon.

"When they see people taking personal risks, other people think, what can I do?" she said.

"People need to stand up and speak out," said Scudder Parker, a Democratic candidate for governor of Vermont.

Parker said the cost of war directly impacts Vermonters because money that might otherwise be spent on quality of life issues is being spent to wage war in Iraq. Parker said Sunday's rally was encouraging to him.

"It's important that grassroots energy be brought to bear on ending the war," he said.

One of the first steps of the new network of anti-war groups was to endorse the Declaration of Peace, a nationwide campaign to establish, by Sept. 21, a plan for peace in Iraq. The declaration is asking for a timetable for withdrawal of troops and closure of bases, a process for security, reconstruction and reconciliation and the shifting of war funding to meeting human needs.

The sponsors of the declaration have said that if a plan is not in place by September 21, people across the U.S. will engage in nonviolent action in Washington, D.C. and in communities throughout the nation.

Also up for discussion between the groups was a boycott of Exxon-Mobil, said Nick Mottern of Consumers for Peace, who asked people to stop buying gasoline from the biggest supplier of fuel to the American military. Mottern said his organization recommends purchasing gas from Citgo, which is a subsidiary of a state-owned oil company in Venezuela.

"The money is being used for people in Venezuela and Citgo has been good at providing low-cost heating oil to several states in New England," he said.

Cindy Sheehan, the woman who spent weeks camped outside President Bush's Texas ranch protesting the war after her son was killed in Iraq in 2004, was scheduled to speak at the rally.

She canceled to attend a peace talk in Jordan with 28 members of the Iraqi parliament.Bob Audette can be reached at raudette@reformer.com, or at (802) 254-2311, ext. 277.