Drinking Liberally with Brigadier General John Adams

This Thursday at 6pm at the Shanty on 4th Avenue, Drinking Liberally's special guest will be Brigadier General John Adams.

The General recently retired from a distinguished career in the Army. His most recent duties included Deputy United States Military Representative to NATO's military committee and Asst. Dept. Chief of Staff for Intelligence on the U.S. Army Staff. Gen. Adams holds masters degrees in International Relations and Strategic Studies and speaks French, Dutch, German, and Croatian.

The General laid out what he would like to speak to us about in some detail:

"During the past seven years, the Bush Administration has led the United States into two tragically conceived wars:  the War in Iraq, and the War on our Constitution. Although the Administration falsely portrays itself as the guardian of America’s national security, the Administration's current path will ensure strategic defeat for our nation in the war on terrorism, and the destruction of our liberties in their war on our Constitution.

Strategically, we must end our military occupation of Iraq in order to conclude this tragic adventure, and make any progress in the war on terrorism.  The Bush Administration takes our military for granted, wastes our blood and treasure on misguided adventures, and uses armed force as a first rather than last resort, preferring confrontation rather than diplomacy.  Furthermore, as a democratic nation and a protector of democracy, we cannot win a war that depends on military occupation as its very purpose.  Democracy cannot be promoted at the point of a bayonet.  We must end our military occupation of Iraq, bring our troops home, and work together with other countries throughout the region to restore stability and security to the Middle East.

Moreover, in the guise of defending us against the terrorist threat, this Administration wages a destructive war against our Constitution. As Benjamin Franklin said, "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."  Yet the Bush Administration demands we submit to such depredations as warrantless wiretapping and internet monitoring, denies the right of habeas corpus, and promotes torture and secret renditions of "persons under control."  As Americans, we absolutely deserve our liberties -- they have already been bought with the blood of countless who defended it for more than two hundred years.  We must neither mortgage their sacrifices, nor our liberties.  We must not be the generation that allows crass opportunists to destroy our core Constitutional values.

We will discuss how both these wars -- the War in Iraq and the War on Our Constitution – damage our national security.  We must protect our national security by ending both of these wrongheaded wars."

Please join us to discuss with General Adams the Bush Administration's two wars.