Am 13.10.01,
protestierten 52.000 Leute in Stuttgart gegen den U.S. Angriff auf Afghanistan.
Dave Blalock sprach auf die Haupt-Kundgebung…..
(Note: Due to the unexpectedly large turnout of people for
this demo (police est. 50,000), time limits forced me to shorten my speech.
This is a copy of my full speech:
Thanks a lot for
inviting me here to speak. I'd like to start off by asking if there were any
American GIs in the crowd, but that would be ridiculous. The US Army's Military
Intelligence agents aren't going raise their hands and any regular GI would be
a fool to expose himself, at this time, to the persecution that would be heaped
on him for attending this demonstration. Under the name Operation Enduring
Freedom, the US military is attacking Afghanistan one of the most impoverished
war torn countries in the world. President Bush blames bin Laden for the
terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center. His evidence is kept secret.
Probably because he has none.
But I have solid
evidence... proof that the US Government is the one directly responsible. I am
a veteran of one of the most widespread brutal terrorist organizations in the
world--the United States Armed Forces. In 1968 I was 18 years old. I naively
believed all the bullshit propaganda put out by politicians, the news media and
my high school teachers about the correctness of fighting against
"communist terrorist aggression" in Vietnam. So I volunteered for the
Army. I served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970.
The year I was there,
everything I witnessed, from the death and destruction of the mass bombings and
artillery to chemical poisoning of large areas of farmland, taught me one
thing; and that is don't believe the hype of government propaganda. The
politicians are nothing but liars! They told us we were in Vietnam to fight
Communist Terrorism. They used the word "counter-insurgency." But the
truth of the matter is that we were the ones who were the terrorists!! And we
were there to crush any opposition to the USA's plans to dominate them.
Recently, I did some
research on the US bombing in Vietnam and found that more then 6,500,000 tons
of bombs and eighteen million gallons of one of the most toxic chemicals know
to man, Agent Orange, was rained down on the small country of Vietnam. The
total firepower used by the United States on Vietnam exceeded the amount they
used in all previous wars combined. Over three million Vietnamese, mostly
civilians were killed by the USA during the war. And this doesn't include the
several hundred thousand Cambodians and Laotians killed in their own country by
American bombing and poison chemicals. If this isn't terrorism then I don't 
know what is! Some people say,
"Vietnam was just a tragic mistake." If that were true then how can
you explain the human costs of America's military terror machine in Yugoslovia,
Sudan, Somalia, the Persian Gulf, Panama, Central America, Grenada, Libya,
Lebanon, Dominican Republic, and Korea and even back to World War 2.
From the end of World War 2
when hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians were killed by the USA in the
fire-bombing of Dresden and the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
....to the 3 million
Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian innocent civilians killed by bombs and poison
chemicals.
...to the hundreds of
thousands of innocent civilians killed by U.S. sponsored death squads in
Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras.
...to the thousands of
innocent Panamanian civilians killed by American bombs when the U.S. invaded
their country and kidnapped their president.
...to the 1,000,000
innocent Iraqi civilians, mostly young children, who have been killed since the
end of the Gulf War as a result of U.S. sponsored economic sanctions against
them.
...to the thousands of
innocent civilians, both Serbs and Kosovos, killed by US/NATO high-tech
nuclear-hardened bombs...it is clear to us why millions of people around the
world would hate the U.S. Government!
These weren't tragic
mistakes. They were cold calculated military strategies of mass terror used by
the highest levels of government to protect and expand America's worldwide
empire. And we soldiers were just chump change instruments used to carry it
out. There is a saying in the US "the chickens always come home to
roost" . The world Trade center bombing is directly the responsibility of
America's policy of bullying, economic domination and mass murder on the people
of the world for the past fifty years. Bush and the rulers of America would
have you believe that the deaths of those in the Sept. 11th World Trade Center
attacks are more significant than the millions of innocent lives lost as a
result of the USA's overt and covert actions since the end of World War 2.
But we veterans have
learned during our time as terrorists for U.S. imperialism that the lives of
the people of America are not worth more nor less than the lives of the rest of
the people of the world. We know from first hand experiences that the people on
the receiving end of U.S. bombs have the same dreams and desires as the people
of America--to raise their families and live their lives in peace with the rest
of the world. This is why veterans get sick inside when we see great
outpourings of sympathy and concern for the victims of the Sept. 11th attacks
in contrast to the apathy shown to the victims of U.S. sponsored terror. This
is not to say that we should not mourn the loss of lives because of the
attacks, we should and do. However, we need to show as much concern, if not
more, for the lives taken in our names.
We need to look behind the
words and lies of our rulers and put a stop to the invasions and interventions,
to the deaths and destruction being carried out by America. By putting an end
to the USA's reign as the world's biggest terrorist, we will take a real step to
ending terrorism once and for all. I am greatly heartened by this mass
outpouring of protest by the German peace movement. You have seen through the
hypocrisy and lies of your SPD and Green Party government leaders and have
sided with the world's people to oppose the America's terror bombing of
Afghanistan. I'm a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War-Anti Imperialist
and the Stop The War Brigade. One of the main areas of our activity is to build
support for American GIs inside the US Armed Forces who oppose this war.
Already there are indications that opposition and discontent exists. Recently a
black GI from an Army Engineer unit in Baumholder made a statement to the
German press denouncing US war moves. The Military Police harassed him but he
got legal help and they have backed away.
To the German peace
movement I say we need your help. We are not funded or supported by the war
makers. We have limited resources. And we have a lot of work to do. Your
movement can be instrumental in helping us. You can contact us at the
following: Again I want to say thanks for inviting me to speak at your
demonstration. I am proud to have had the opportunity to march with a broad
array of different groups and forces united in a solid front against the US
terror bombing of Afghanistan.
Email:
stopthewarbgde@hotmail.com
Web STWB
http://angelfire.lycos.com/jazz/stwb
VVAWAI http://www.oz.net/~vvawai/index.html
