(Published on Thursday, July 12, 2007 by the Dallas Morning News (Texas))What the hell did organizers think this conference was about? Selling Mary Kay Cosmetics? I agree that peace is not necessarily a partisan issue, but what is the party of th administration that started and has profited mightily from the ongoing wars? I am truly baffled.Nobel Laureate Calls for Removal of Bush
by James Hohmann
Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams came from Ireland to Texas to declare that President Bush should be impeached.
In a keynote speech at the International Women’s Peace Conference on Wednesday night, Ms. Williams told a crowd of about 1,000 that the Bush administration has been treacherous and wrong and acted unconstitutionally.
“Right now, I could kill George Bush,” she said at the Adam’s Mark Hotel and Conference Center in Dallas. “No, I don’t mean that. How could you nonviolently kill somebody? I would love to be able to do that.”
About half the crowd gave her a standing ovation after she called for Mr. Bush’s removal from power.
“The Muslim world right now is suffering beyond belief,” she said.
“Unless the president of the United States is held responsible for what he’s doing and what he has done, there’s no one in the Muslim world who will forgive him.”
When an audience member told Ms. Williams that Vice President Dick Cheney would become president if George Bush were impeached, she said, “Can’t you impeach them both?”
“It’s twisted. It’s all wrong,” she said. “There are so many lies being told. It’s hard to be an American and go out into the world right now.”
Ms. Williams started her speech by asking every member of the audience to hug everyone around them. Then she cut to what amounted to both a call for peace and a stinging rebuke of the American government.
Conference organizers have said that the conference is nonpartisan and that no one was invited to speak about the war in Iraq. After Ms. Williams finished her speech, conference chairwoman Carol Donovan took the podium to say that Ms. Williams did not speak for the conference — only herself. [my italics]
“It’s important for us to separate the opinion of the person and the position of the conference,” Ms. Donovan said.
My stepdad suggested that it might be OK to talk about the Peloponnesian War.
2 comments:
Yes, what the hell were they expecting? It's not just the opinion of one person, but of millions that the Iraq war is horribly, tragically wrong.
I did also have a problem with her comment that she'd like to "kill George Bush" and then retracting and saying she'd like to "nonviolently kill someone"
I won't pretend that I'm a pious and perfect Quaker, but aside from the fact that we'd then get Cheney (actually, we already have him, it seems) so I've imagined that something nasty might happen to Mr Bush. Slip in the shower? Air Force one crashes? I know that sounds awful but this man is personally responsible for the deaths of millions. And obviously, Congress is not going to impeach. So I often feel angry, hopeless and despairing. But violence? Don't feel good about that. I remember when Bruce Cockburn came out with his If I had a Rocket Launcher song. Peace movement people criticized him for seemingly advocating violence. He responded, as I recall, that they hadn't been there, they hadn't seen it, and from their comfy armchairs, listening to their deluxe sound systems, it was easy to judge. Or something like that. I've wrestled with that song over the years. As I'm wrestling with Ms Williams's comment. Hmmm, a Nobel Peace Prize winner shouldn't talk that way. Of course, didn't Henry Kissinger win a Nobel Peace prize? At least she was showing her humanity. Her anger. I hear her loud and clear. But I struggle with it as a Quaker and a human.
I suspect that was an off the cuff comment that simply expressed her frustration, and then she fumbled when she tried to backtrack. I agree, I struggle mightily with finding that of God in George Bush and his cohort. I try hard to refrain from using violent language when I talk about them, and focus on making peace. I am SO impressed with the highschoolers who nonviolently, thoughtfully and respectfully confronted him 2 weeks ago. If I were to come face to face with Bush, I would hope that I could do the same thing. But I also know I am so angry, and nothing else seems to be stopping the destruction, both abroad and here in the US. Sometimes I find myself thinking very unQuakerly thoughts.
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