By David Swanson
[Testimony to be hand-delivered and presented orally at a forum hosted by Congressman Bill Delahunt in Falmouth, Mass., this Sunday. The public is encouraged to attend. The article could be tweaked for any congress member, and I'd be glad to help you tweak it for yours.--DS]
I want to thank Congressman Delahunt and Cape Codders for Peace. I opposed this war before it began, as did many of you, and I hope to explain why. But, Congressman Delahunt, you need not agree that it was always wrong in order to agree that it is wrong now. I support the immediate announcement of a swift withdrawal of all troops, mercenaries, and military contractors, and I hope to explain why. But you don't need to agree in order to oppose spending $33 billion to escalate the war with 30,000 more troops. To vote to fund that escalation, you have to believe that this war is such a good thing that it should not only be continued but also expanded. Or you have to believe that the way to end it is to expand it AND that nothing more useful at home or abroad could be done with all that money. I expect that we can jointly establish here today that both of those last two ideas are mistaken.
