Friends, as part of its compact with the Greens and independents, the Gillard government will begin the promised debate on the Afghan War at 2 pm on Tuesday 19 October.
Let those who cherish peace, let those who know the long enduring travails of war, let those who have compassion for the soldiers who must kill and be killed and for the families bereft and burdened by the trauma that surely follows, let us all make this moment in the history of Australia at war an occasion for witness.
Send a prayer from where ever you are that our elected representatives may find courage to speak the truth and speak for peace.
And better yet become active, visible and vocal.
Speak up, dear friends! Start a conversation in your workplace. Call a friend and say how you feel. Send off a fiery email to your local member. Blitz talk back radio. Make placard. Fly a flag. Get seen. Get noticed.
And if you are in or near Canberra, come to the lawns of the Parliament and support the Stand Fast Speak Out there from noon to 2 pm.
Stand Fast is the national association of veterans and ex-service people opposing the Afghan and Iraq Wars. We are not big or well organised like the RSL or the VVA - not yet - but we are passionate about ending the Australian engagement in the Afghan war.
We say that the best thing that we can do for our troops at this time is to bring them home. Immediate and unconditional withdrawal, our demand.
Starting at noon Stand Fast will host a rally of service people, ex-service people, concerned friends and families of serving soldiers, and citizens of good will generally to bear witness outside the Parliament.
An open invitation has been been issued to all members of the Parliament to come to the microphone and say to us what they intend to say in the House.
Come stand beside us and bear witness to these elected representatives and what they have to say.
The Liberal-Labor war coalition shows no sign of bending from its determination to "stay the course on the war". Easy for Howard/Rudd/Gillard to say but bloody lethal for soldiers to do. And futile.
They speak of a war that goes from bad to worse. They promise endless war.
Endless war means endless funerals.
And also the endless squandering of our taxes on US wars and US armaments
Pass this notice on. Particularly to service people and ex service people, their friends and their families.
Be there. Be visible.
For peace. For justice. For the Earth!
Graeme Dunstan
organiser Stand Fast
0407 951 688
