10 Things MLK Would Have Done about Iraq

10 Things Martin Luther King Would Have Done about Iraq

By Juan Cole, http://www.juancole.com

Every year we honor Martin, and we hear again his stirring speech, "I
have a Dream." But in many ways, that speech is among the least
challenging of his charges to us, however hard and unfulfilled it
remains. He dreamed other dreams, of the end of exploitative
materialism and relentless militarism, of an America devoted to
social justice and creative non-violence, which our mainstream media
do not dare repeat over and over again.

We do not have Martin among us to guide us with his wisdom. But it is
not hard to extrapolate from his "Beyond Vietnam" address of 1967 to
what he would think about the Iraq morass.

He would say we have to treat with the Sunni Arabs and the Shiite
Sadrists. We have to treat with the enemy. Not only for their sakes,
for the sake of ruined cities like Fallujah and Tal Afar, and those
to come- but for our own sakes.

Read the rest of Cole's essay, including his views on 10 things MLK
would have done about Iraq -- based on actual statements MLK made
about Viet Nam -- at
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/6859

The 10 items include:
* ending offensive bombing raids
* the should US begin a cease fire
* a timetable for withdrawing US troops
* a revolution in American values away from consumer materialism and
militarism is needed if we are not to go on having one Vietnam after
another
* love and justice, not aggression and exploitation, hold the real
hope for a peaceful and prosperous future

and more.

Good reading, especially this week while we're thinking about MLK.

Bill