On The Front Lines
Constitutional Attorney John W. Whitehead to Speak at Charlottesville Rally Opposing Obama Administration’s Push for Military Action in Syria
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.— John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, will speak at a rally this evening, Sept. 4, 2013, at 6:30 pm EST, at the Friends Meeting House in Charlottesville, Va., opposing the Obama administration’s decision to engage in a unilateral bombing campaign against the Syrian government. In warning against what could be a disastrous military intervention, Whitehead cautions the public against being distracted by the ongoing political theater to such an extent that they forget about recent revelations regarding the NSA, the fact that the government has been paying AT&T to have its employees monitor Americans’ phone calls as part of a DEA drug monitoring program, not to mention the fact that the IRS has been secretly using the DEA surveillance and then instructing its agents to cover their tracks. Although the Obama administration is calling on Congress to support military action against Syria, President Obama has made it clear that he reserves the right to engage in military action regardless of Congress’ decision.
“For once, I would love to hear a government official reject a call to war because it is immoral; because we have greater needs here at home that require our attention and our funds; because we’re already $1 trillion poorer due to these endless, mindless wars; because America should not be policing the world; because we refuse to enrich the military industrial complex while impoverishing our nation; because endless wars will never result in peace; because we have meddled enough in foreign policy in the Middle East and cannot risk any further blowback; because we’re sick and tired of fomenting civil wars in far-flung places,” said Whitehead, author of A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State. “I would love to hear a government official reject a call to war because we’re not going to assist rebel fighters in overthrowing a foreign government, only to later unseat those same forces when they can’t be controlled; because using the overused fear tactic about ‘weapons of mass destruction’ doesn’t carry much weight anymore; because the only ‘compelling national security interest’ right now is taking back control of our run-away government; because in the words of Jean-Paul Sartre, ‘When the rich wage war, it’s the poor who die’; because while there may be causes worth dying for, there are none worth killing for; because Gandhi was right when he asked ‘What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?’; because all war is a crime; and because there are never any winners in war, only losers.”
Whitehead’s new book, A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, makes clear that the fallout from America’s military actions abroad is rarely confined to the battlefield, from military technologies such as drones making their way back to the American homeland to the “military occupation” mindset gripping militarized police forces in American neighborhoods.
