John Eder is the one and only Green Party member who has been elected to a state or federal level of government. he is a state represenative for Portland, Maine. Against conventional logic, this person from our community has spoken his heart and truth and won. This says so much about him and about our community. We should be pround that we are a community that can think outside the box and see the truth and have compassion. John is reflective of our values here and we can be proud of him. I know how passionately he feels about the Iraq War, so I asked him to express some of his opinions.
Leo: As we approach the three year anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War, what thoughts do you have?
John: Why are we still there? What can I personally do to end it, because I can't leave it up to somebody else. I called a protest last weekend in order to reinvigorate my community on getting off our asses and screaming about this hell that is going on in our names.
Leo: Most of those in the two parties who speak against the war now tell us it will take quite a while before we can totally leave. And there are some like John McCain, who recently said that we need to send more troops. What do you fell about this?
John: Let's just talk about getting out of there and how quickly we can do it. There is no real difference of opionon between the two parties on this war. John Murtha called for withdrawal and the Democrats didn't have his back. 100,000 plus people have died now. sSo we have been made to understand that we are there killing Iraqis in order to free them from Saddam Hussein. Well, I guess that's one way to free them. Where is the logic in that? We killed 100,000 of those people, who were supposed to welcome us with open arms. So we kill them in order to free them from brutality? Get a clue, the story does not add up. We have mission creep like in Vietnam and, similarly, nobody knows why we're are there, including the soldiers. We see now that many soldiers in Iraq want us to leave.
Leo: What can we do as citizens to make sure this kind of situation does not happen again?
John: We can participate and get off our asses and realize we are compliant in what this government does. Government is not an "other." One does not get off that easy. We are the US goverment. We are responsible. I am responsible. We can't live with that, because the blood is on our hands.
John Eder is a state representative from District 118 in Portland, Maine. He is a member of the Maine Green Independent Party, elected to the State House in 2002 and re-elected in 2004. He is the highest ranking Green official in the United States.
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