NORTHWEST U.S.A., COMMON ACTION Statement: Foreclose the War Machine: A Proposal for Direct Action

  • warning: call_user_func_array() [function.call-user-func-array]: First argument is expected to be a valid callback, 'i18nblocks_theme_blocks' was given in /var/lib/drupal-6.16/includes/theme.inc on line 656.
  • warning: call_user_func_array() [function.call-user-func-array]: First argument is expected to be a valid callback, 'i18nblocks_theme_blocks' was given in /var/lib/drupal-6.16/includes/theme.inc on line 656.
  • warning: call_user_func_array() [function.call-user-func-array]: First argument is expected to be a valid callback, 'i18nblocks_theme_blocks' was given in /var/lib/drupal-6.16/includes/theme.inc on line 656.
  • warning: call_user_func_array() [function.call-user-func-array]: First argument is expected to be a valid callback, 'i18nblocks_theme_blocks' was given in /var/lib/drupal-6.16/includes/theme.inc on line 656.
  • warning: call_user_func_array() [function.call-user-func-array]: First argument is expected to be a valid callback, 'i18nblocks_theme_blocks' was given in /var/lib/drupal-6.16/includes/theme.inc on line 656.

In the next few months, the US military intends to send 17,000 new soldiers to Afghanistan. This will increase by one half the size of their hugely unpopular occupation. Vice President Joe Biden himself has gone on the record to say he expects an "uptick" in American deaths in Afghanistan. The CIA and US military have begun bombing civilians in, and even sending in ground troops into, Pakistan, to much popular opposition from the Pakistani people. The current administration is already preparing to escalate and spread military campaign further into Pakistan. ---- In the meantime, while Obama talks about removing "combat troops" from Iraq, there is no intention to end the occupation of Iraq by dismantling the US military bases. Only approximately half of the US soldiers in Iraq will be removed under this plan, because the rest are not considered "combat troops."

In the past year, a record number of us have lost our homes and jobs as the economy collapses, yet the US government continues to waste our resources in the Military Industrial Complex, making a very small number of rich war profiteers even richer. Some of these war profiteers, set to make huge sums of money off of the increase in American and Afghani deaths, are located right here in Western Washington State. It is time we foreclose the war profiteers rather than the working class.

The General Dynamics Land System (GDLS) corporation has been awarded a contract to repair military Strykers to send back to occupy Iraq and Afghanistan. The warehouse housing these spare parts is located in Auburn, WA. GDLS's net revenue in 2008 was $29.3 billion, 69% of their net sales coming from the US government! We intend to SHUT DOWN the War Machine, to do everything we can to stop the surge from leaving the United States.

To this end, the North West Anti-Imperialist Direct Action Coalition is calling for a day of coordinated, non-violent civil disobedience and direct action to blockade the GDLS facility in Auburn. For more information, contact khashy01@evergreen.edu .
=========================================
Endorsed by Common Action, April 2009