In September 2002, White House correspondents chided Andrew Card, a Bush Administration publicist, for not giving a coherent rationale for US warfare against Iraq. Mr. Card responded by saying, “From a marketing point of view, you don’t introduce a new product in August” (NYT, September 7, 2002). By late September of 2002, the marketing strategies for war were rolling forth: Saddam Hussein was connected to Al Queda, part of the 9/11 attacks against the US, possessed weapons of mass destruction, and, if all other arguments failed, the US must help Iraqis by replacing Saddam’s regime with a western-style democracy. Now, as the US-led Occupation of Iraq drags on, the reasons given for going to war against Iraq have been exposed as a malicious smokescreen for the real purpose of the US attack: control of Iraq’s oil wealth and the establishment of US military bases in a geopolitically strategic area of the world.

Recently in Nashville, friends of ours have proposed an eye-catching demonstration calling for an end to the US Occupation. Characters representing President Bush and his advisors stare into a U-shaped tunnel and ask, “Do you see a light at the end of that tunnel yet?” There won’t be any light at the end of the tunnel until the US stops a dead-end occupation that has initiated rising tolls of massacre, assassination, theft, disease and impoverishment in Iraq.

We stare into that tunnel as well. Like everyone seeking a better future for Iraq, we have grappled with an enormously complex tragedy. We never supported invasion or occupation. Some Iraqis who seek an end to occupation have told us that some protective presence is necessary to prevent massive civil war. We have struggled to articulate a position that acknowledges all of these realities. After much discussion we have decided to add a paragraph to our “Who We Are” statement. The new addition will look like this:

We have seen that the US/UK invasion and occupation of Iraq violates human rights, the UN charter and international law, plunders the land and resources of Iraq, puts civilians and soldiers in mortal danger and fills the pockets of multinational corporations. It has inevitably led to coercive tactics such as invasion of homes, destruction of farms, arbitrary arrests, imprisonment without due process, torture of detainees, kidnapping of families, extortion, use of military force to suppress popular demonstrations and murder of civilians. Voices in the Wilderness advocates complete withdrawal of US/UK troops from Iraq and calls on the US and UK governments not to impede an election process which would facilitate Iraqi sovereignty. In response to this occupation we campaign to educate, act and live in resistance to militarism. We advocate interdependent ways of life, rooted in simplicity, service and sharing of resources.