Tom Hayden on Ending the War in Iraq

One of the important things about organizing a campaign to stop a war is knowing you don’t have to start from scratch. Americans have a long tradition of organizing against war and many experienced “veterans and “generals” to draw knowledge from. Tom Hayden is such a person. Tom is one of the founding members of Students for a Democratic Society and a key player in the struggle to end US intervention in the Vietnam war. He has published a very important book, “Ending the War in Iraq”. Just published in May in paperback by Akashic Books, it is very timely with analysis of the current situation in Iraq, including President Bush’s failing surge strategy and the crumbling support for it in the House and Senate.

Hayden clearly spells out how the war can be brought to an end by applying public pressure against the pillars of Bush’s foreign policy. In five chapters and 217 pages he draws together the history and lessons from Vietnam and other clashes with national insurgencies and relates it to the current situation is in Iraq. Chapter 1 is titled – From Vietnam Syndrome to Iraq Syndrome. Chapter 2 – The nature of the Iraq Insurgency. Chapter 3 The Rise of the Antiwar movement, 2001-2007. Chapter 4 – Recommendations to the Antiwar Movement. Chapter 5 is simply titled – Lessons.

I have not yet finished reading the whole book. As I read it, I hope to post several entries here on its contents. For antiwar organizers it has a tremendous amount of insightful history and practical information. I have been underlining many passages and treating my copy as a text book to study.

In chapter 4, Hayden identifies eight pillars of the Bush administrations policy that he says require people pressure for ending the war and occupation. They are: 1. Iraqi Support 2. American Public Opinion 3. American Media 4. Political Support 5. U.S. Military Capacity 6. U.S. Financial Capacity 7. Moral Reputation 8. U.s. Global Alliances

Hayden gives a detailed analysis of each of theses pillars and follows that with a section titled, A Model for Local Antiwar Organizing. That section begins, “Given a strategy of pressuring these eight pillars, what would an anti war organizing model look like? The heart of the pillars strategy must beat at local levels, among volunteer groups like those in Los Angeles neighborhoods who hold peace placards to passing to passing motorist every Friday night.” Well that’s an encouraging endorsement to our Molly Invins Campaign strategy of pots & pans protests in front of local congressional offices. It’s great to have that kind of unsolicited encouragement for the direction we are taking.

There is a boatload of great information in this book and I will try to write it about more in the future. I do encourage people to buy it. Its a great textbook study of what people can do to end the war.

-Brian Webster
San Francisco