Ben Weir (the Sacramento LP Secretary/CA LPMC Coordinator/CA LPMC PAC board member) worked tirelessly to promote an anti war rally on 9/11 at the Sacramento Capitol. Yes, California government is atrocious and we've been swarmed with progressives but there are still some very solid libertarians in California, and I am not the only one working tirelessly for freedom.

Here's a rough transcript of the talk I gave at the rally.

INTRO

When you wake up in the morning, and you begin to go about your day...you probably don’t think about what it would be like to wake up in some place like Iraq or Syria or Afghanistan…

And there are only so many things you can keep in your head at once, and only so many tragedies you can concern yourself with, so I don’t blame you for not thinking about the plight of war torn families first thing in the morning…

But somewhere on the other side of the world, there are people who wake up every morning with some very mixed feelings about life. They wake up with adrenal fatigue and a desperate will to survive, mixed with heartbreaking grief for the loved ones they’ve lost to American militarism…they live in fear of us. They live in fear of the next drone strike, the next battle between rebel insurgencies and American troops…

Somewhere, on the other side of the world, is a child searching through the rubble of their blown apart community, looking for something to eat, trying to piece back together his shattered life, trying to make sense of it all.

And some of them have a desire to seek revenge for the loved ones they’ve lost. There are children who will grow up singularly focused on taking revenge on the United States for killing their parents, their families. For ruining their childhood and their way of life… There are people who are driven and haunted by rage and grief.

And here, at home, we see the other side of that coin. Veterans who are haunted by their actions in the middle east. Veterans who are run through a system that promises them jobs and education, only to dump them into the streets with emotional and psychological trauma, and no prospects for their future.

War does create job security… it creates job security for military contractors. It creates drama for election cycles and news pundits...but it does not create a comfortable future for the people who fight in those wars, or for the people who are caught in the crossfire.

And until the war machine stops turning, until we throw a wrench in its gears, this vicious cycle will continue. It will continue to grind people up and spit them out, all in the name of “freedom” and “safety”.

HISTORY OF WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Osama Bin Laden

Over 40 years ago, United States intelligence agencies armed Osama Bin Laden and his rebels in order to fight against the spread of communism in Afghanistan. Covert operations like this are always done for a good cause - to stop the spread of communism, to stop a dictator, to stop radical Islam - but no good ever comes from regime change, or from arming counter revolutionaries.

After being played by US intelligence, Bin Laden turned on the United States.

After the US meddled in Iran, the country took an anti-western turn.

In all of these situations, war was propped up by a desire to control the rest of the world, and by lies.

Sadam Hussein

In 2002, Dick Cheney said, “There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction,” “There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.

That never materialized.

An investigation by a House Committee in 2004 identified “237 misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq that were made by President Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, and Condoleeza Rice.

Those statements were made in 125 separate appearances, consisting of 40 speeches, 26 press conferences and briefings, 53 interviews, 4 written statements, and 2 congressional testimonies.” According to the committee, at least 61 separate statements “misrepresented Iraq’s ties to al-Qaeda.” A Senate investigation in 2006 also covered these lies.

20 years ago, we went to war in Afghanistan, even though the people who flew planes into the Twin Towers had ties to the Saudis.

And then we invaded Iraq - again.

And then we got involved in Syria.

And Yemen.

HOW ABOUT YEMEN

For 5 YEARS, US Presidents have enabled the Saudi government to starve and bomb the people of Yemen. Last year, during Trump’s presidency, there were 2.4 million malnourished and starving children in Yemen.

How many Yemeni children have died due to the USA’s sponsorship of Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen? How much “Made in the USA” shrapnel has been found next to the bloody corpses of innocent families?

Over 100,000 thousand Yemenis, mostly civilians, have been killed in this crisis and millions more have been displaced.

THE COST OF WAR

Every President for the past 20 years has supported a legacy of militarism that has normalized bombing weddings, murdering children, and committing assassinations and executions without trial. They are all directly responsible for continuing the war on terror.

I hope one day we get a libertarian President who will STOP DOING THIS. I hope one day we get an administration with enough guts to end the war.

But for now? We need a citizenry who’s willing to take to the streets and demand that the war on terror end.

We need to push back by REFUSING to vote for the people who send our troops off to murder civilians.

We need to vote against the warfare state. We need to vote for PEACE and spread the message of peace across the country. Because the politicians on office are not interested in peace.

War leads to authoritarianism...and poverty. War time conditions always lead to a loss of individual liberty

There is nothing humanitarian about war.

On September 30, 2019, Muhammed Salim and his remaining relatives had to carry the bodies of their loved ones, dead men, women and children, out of the family home. They were killed in a drone strike operation the night before a wedding when air strikes started falling on the house next door. Suicide bombers from that house set off their own explosives in response , and 40 people, including 12 children, were killed in the competing explosions. Donald Trump was our Commander in Chief. This was done under his watch. Every drone strike murder is done under the President’s watch.

In January of 2020, Trump authorized the assassination of Iranian General Suilemani in IRAQ. We were not at war with Iran.

It was supposed to be different with Trump but he continued, if not worsened, the same foreign policy as the Obama/Biden administration.

In 2001, Biden voted to support the war in Iraq. Don’t forget he’s been in the Senate or Vice Presidency throughout the span of the war on terror.

It was said by a US Secretary of State that the loss of 500,000 Iraqis, mostly children, in the 1990s, as a result of American bombs and sanctions, was “worth it” to achieve the “good” we brought to the Iraqi people.

War On That Scale Would Not Be Possible Without The Surveillance State

Biden has not put forth any plan to roll back the surveillance state policies that go hand in hand with the never-ending war on terror. Each year, our administration renews the Patriot Act indefinitely and supports policies that allow and enable the government to spy on citizens in their homes.

The war on terror props up state sponsored spying on Americans.

THE COVID WAR

And now we face a new war...the War on Germs.

American empire set its gaze upon the middle east and people cheered that our troops were sent off to conquer a shadowy enemy on the other side of the world.

But now militarism has turned its gaze inward. Our police forces have been militarized. War has been normalized and now it’s been brought closer to home. Our militarized police battle protesters in the streets. They enforce lockdowns to keep us safe in the War on Covid.

What will the next war be fought over? How many lives will be ruined?

Looking back, we know there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We know how ridiculous the term WMD sounds and most of us have the wherewithal to be embarrassed for the people who fell for it.

Why can’t more Americans have the same sense about the War on Covid?

ENDING

The war on Covid, just like the War on Terror, is perpetuated by a steady stream of lies and government propaganda, and a desire to control people.

The government needs people to buy into their narrative to continue the never-ending wars.

They need fervent nationalism, and obedience to the narrative. They tell us to do our part.

I challenge you that to do “our part” is to push back against the propaganda campaign. It’s to push the radical idea that peace is superior to war. That peace is safer than war. That our personal liberties should never be given up in a time of war or crisis. That American military bases don't belong scattered across the globe - that our troops should be brought home.

Go out and tell people that our troops don't deserve to be ground up the war machine, that Yemeni children shouldn't be punished in a starvation campaign. That American drone strikes shouldn't crash weddings.

This our calling as libertarians, as peaceful people, as people who love what this country once represented. We are called to be the bearers of truth as we walk through an empire of lies.

So I ask you to commit that treason today - and every day - dare to spread the truth, dare to stand up for peace, and dare to call for an end to the war on terror.