"We are against this war for the same reasons we are against all wars--because the results of war are death, injury, loss of homes, jobs, and infrastructures, environmental destruction, misuse of resources, mental distress, and the seeds of the next war.

We are against this war in particular because it has existed in some form for over 15 years. It was started in 1991, supposedly to protect Kuwait. One of the main stories used to support the US bombing of Iraq at that time was that of the incubator babies supposedly killed by Iraqi soldiers in Kuwait, a story later proven to be a lie created by the PR firm Hill and Knowlton. The 12 years of sanctions in Iraq following the first shooting war destroyed the infrastructure there and resulted in the deaths of well over 500,000 children, a price Madeline Albright, then Secretary of State, said was "worth it".

After September 11th, when we went back to an open shooting war with Iraq (having long been bombing in the no-fly zone), the justification was another lie; the lie of Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons. Now we continue with the war in the name of "fighting terrorism". This justification has not convinced the majority of the American people, other governments or peoples, or even many within our own government. In fact, many believe that the war in Iraq has created an atmosphere of hopelessness and anger which is fertile ground for recruiting terrorists. Still, the administration insists on another $93 billion for this war. That on top of the $505 billion already being spent on the war.

As working people who do not have health care, as parents with children in under funded public schools, as US citizens who bear responsibility for the actions of our government, as friends and relatives of soldiers, many people are not only against the war, we feel compelled to try and stop it. We use many channels to work for an end to the war. We live communally in order to share resources. We conserve energy. We ride our bikes. We speak to friends and in our churches, in school classes and on the street. We write letters and make phone calls and send e-mails. We go to big protests and we write to the newspapers.

We talk about the war at or dinner tables, we listen to the war reposts on the radio, we read the statistics on line, and we've met the parents of injured soldiers, and the soldiers themselves. Some of us have been to Iraq.

And we are sick. We are sick over the waste of human life, of young minds and of precious resources. Some days we don't even want to get out of bed; we can't bring ourselves to look at the newspaper or listen to the radio ... But the war goes on. The money continues to be spent. US soldiers, Iraqi journalists and children continue to die. Our soldiers continue to come home to inadequate care. So we come together and try to do something every day. We know many, many people disapprove of this war. We try to do something everyday to help turn the collective consciousness towards acting publicly to the point where war must stop. Virgil Goode has consistently voted for more and more money to be spent on this war. Of all elected Virginia officials, he has most consistently voted in favor of funding the war. Thus his office is a real and symbolic location for our expressions of discontent.

Our vigils and occupations at Virgil Goode's office represent one of our many attempts to turn the tide. We are occupying his office as a part of a national "Occupation Project" which has folks all over the country demonstrating inside and outside of congressional offices to make sure our government knows that the people of this country do not want anymore resources to go towards continuing the war in Iraq. Over the last month, more than 100 people have been arrested in congressional offices. In each instance, the Congressperson was presented a pledge to refuse to approve more money for this war and was told citizens would occupy the office until the congressperson signed the pledge. If congress people listen to the will of the people and refuse to fund continuing war with Iraq, the war will stop. We will continue to be present at the occupations of Virgil Goode's office until the House has voted on the latest war funding bill. After that, we will turn our attention more fully towards Senator Warner, whose Norfolk office has already been visited by members of the Occupation Project.

Many of those opposing the war will be at the Pentagon on March 17th. We will be in the streets of Charlottesville on the 19th. We will be showing films, talking to groups, making phone calls, writing letters, occupying offices, refusing to pay federal taxes, digging for the real news on the war and inviting everyone to join us in any way they can.

We believe the people can stop this war." (Sue Frankel-Streit, Joyful Dissent Flyer, March/April, 2007)