[Marxism] Re: Cindy Sheehan

["Eli Stephens" <elishastephens@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Steffi wrote:

"She galvanized the antiwar movement among vets and military families. The 
military is
now opposed to the war at all levels."

Cindy Sheehan did play a galvanizing role into making public the opposition 
to the war among the vets and military families. But we shouldn't exaggerate 
her role, or the role of the antiwar movement as a whole, in creating that 
opposition, and especially the opposition of the military "at all levels." 
The reason so many in the military are opposed to the war is that A) it's 
still going on, and B) the U.S. is losing. And the reason for that is first 
and foremost the Iraqi resistance; the U.S. (and world) antiwar movement 
plays a distinctly secondary role. If the U.S. had crushed the Iraqi 
resistance, the opposition to the occupation would be limited to the people 
on Marxmail and our friends.

We should note, however, that one of the reasons the resistance is in the 
position they are is indeed because of the antiwar movement, and perhaps 
even moreso because of the potential antiwar movement before the invasion 
even happened. The reason the U.S. didn't send "enough" troops, and the 
reason they can't send hundreds of thousands more to "finish the job," is 
not the Iraqi resistance, but the American resistance - the fact that the 
American people wouldn't tolerate it (and especially the draft they'd need 
to carry it off).

Eli Stephens
 Left I on the News
 http://lefti.blogspot.com



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