Maxine Waters speaks to standing-room-only crowd in San Diego

[Liberty Belle]

Congresswoman Maxine Waters spoke to a standing-room-only crowd today in a San Diego Union Hall that holds 500. She was awesome!

"If we want peace, we can't leave it up to the White House," she said, criticized Bush for his cowboy mentality. "It's time for us to take charge...this president has gotten us into tone of the worst messes we could be in. We need to stand up and say, `No, George W. Bush, we won't stand for it!'"

Waters and other Congressional members have formed the Out of Iraq Caucus to build support for ending the war. She talked about the Downing Street memo and the lies Bush told to justify the "immoral" invasion of Iraq.

Casualty figures sorely underestimate the true human cost of this war, she said, since the 1,800 deaths and 13,000 serious injuries officially reported by the U.S. military does not count those who were evacuated from combat areas but died later on. "I'm going to Germany, to those hospitals, to find out what is going on," she told the crowd.

Waters also faults as unrealistic Bush's expecation that Iraq will adopt a democratic constitution that would satisfy conflicting religious and ethnic groups. "When we leave, they're going to divide it up--and there is nothing we can do about it," she said, noting that Islamic law will prevail, allowing religious courts to restrict women's rights.

The Congresswoman, who recently returned from visiting Cindy Sheehan in Crawford, Texas, joins Sheehan in calling for an exit strategy from Iraq. She believes Sheehan has become a catalyst that will ultimately lead to the end of the Iraq War.

Asked about Bush's extended five-week vacation, Waters quipped, "He's been on vacation every since he took office."

She expressed fears over the potential for Bush to start new wars in Iran, Syria, or other locations and urged listeners to speak out in opposition.

"I'm counting on young people to understand that their futures depend on getting our country more involved in diplomacy," she said. "I'm not focused on how we can do war better. I'm focused on how we can do peace."

[Cha]

1. Yes! when you look at the

Very Big Picture..you see that we need to extricate ourselves in a timely fashion because it was all based on lies.

That is the Biggest Reason for getting out ..because we cheated to get in and NOTHING good will EVER come from that.

Maybe they need saddam back..just sayin'

[bliss_eternal]

2. I'm so jealous you saw her speak! Isn't she awesome?

I've been missing her lately, by a day or so. Found out after the fact she was at one of the vigils, very close to me. I would have went in a heart beat, so I could meet her.

Thank you for sharing this! I just love Maxine!

:hi:

[Liberty Belle]

4. Yes, she's amazing. For those in San Diego who missed out,

I'll be publishing an article on her speech in the East County Californian next Thursday.

[FtWayneBlue]

3. Keep up the good work, Maxine!

I am rootin' for you, and for peace in our time!

[genius]

5. I'm jealous. I wish I had known she'd be there.

I would have driven down to San Diego.