Yes, Doug, I would stand in line to hear Jim McDermott speak (by the way, that's McDermott, with an "o", not an "i"). I didn't have to though, because, remembering when he spoke there last year, I arrived way, way early. A helluva lot of people did stand in line, the church was jam-packed, and unfortunately, a whole bunch of people who wanted to hear him came too late to get in.

McDermott spoke for about an hour, and there was a lively question-and-answer period that also lasted for nearly an hour. A reception followed in the parish house next door. I took copious notes, and it's going to take me awhile to sort out all the information that came from this event, but as I do so, I'll be posting lots of it, if not here, then on other threads.

In the meantime, here are few of the many thought provokers that McDermott laid on the assembled multitudes (these are not exact quotes—trying to translate my scribbled notes—but they're close):—

[Washington scuttlebutt has it that] "The Bush administration is on a crash-course to get out of Iraq by June 1st. This is an election year, after all. But—if we do, Iraq will be left in chaos. What, for example, will happen to the Kurds while the Sunnis and Shiites are struggling for control?"

"When we do pull out, some 150,000 young people—our troops—will be returning home. Some 5 to 6,000 of them are coming home with physical wounds, and an untold number with psychological wounds . . . These young people are not stupid. They were willing to lay their lives on the line, and they want to feel that they did it for something worthwhile . . . In the meantime, 25% of the troops that have returned so far have returned to no jobs. Their jobs have evaporated while they were gone . . . The government treated the Vietnam veterans shabbily. We must—we must—do better for our veterans than that! That's another thing that the Bush administration didn't take into consideration, and it's going to be a big problem for them."

[And if we are really interested in spreading true democracy and self-determination] "Can we accept the idea that the government the Iraqi people want may not be the government we want them to have?"

These are only a few. More to come.

Yes, Doug, I would stand in line to hear Jim McDermott speak. As would many more people than you would find it comfortable to think about. Jim McDermott, unlike our current administration, has a profound respect for the truth and, as he says, "I've found out the hard way what happens to people in government who stick their heads up, look around, and tell their constituents what they see. But as long as you will listen to me, I'll keep doing it."

Damn straight I'll listen to a man like that!!

Don Firth