March 19th marked the fifth anniversary of America's war/occupation in Iraq. We were told that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (a lie) and had something to do with the terrorists who masterminded 9/11 (also a lie). Vice President Dick Cheney and Senator John McCain told us we would be greeted as liberators. We were misled and deceived by the Bush Administration and too many in Congress had either the wool pulled over their eyes or conspired to allow this awful thing to happen and then continue. The numbers alone are telling:

• Official War Costs of $512 billion ($275 million a day)
• Actual costs (with interest) of $1.3 trillion
  
•  4,056 American troops have been killed in Iraq
• 29,829 Americans wounded
• Estimates of 500,000 to over 1 million Iraqi deaths since the invasion

But the numbers don't tell the real story. They don't tell about the needless lives lost, the families broken apart or the communities impacted. Or how before the war there were no terrorists in Iraq, and now they are. Or how Bush's misadventures have set back America an entire generation when it comes to our relations in the Middle East. Or how our presence continues to undermine the real war on terror. Or how America's growing economic crisis would not be a crisis if it was not for Iraq.

In 1992, Bill Clinton's campaign hung a sign in it's headquarters "The economy, stupid" and the slogan caught on and since has often been raised during election cycles. With gas prices nearing record highs, the growing mortgage crisis and America falling deeper into a recession, the economy has long passed the war as the number one issue in the news and the campaigns.

But what if we were not in this war? Could the billions being spent in Iraq be used to create jobs, better infrastructure or take America in a new direction of weaning itself of oil? What if all of that money would have been invested in something like the Apollo Energy Project that could create thousands, if not millions of jobs and a new energy policy for our country.

For too long our country has been led in the wrong direction and millions of America's working families. It's still the war, stupid. It has triggered an economic crisis and cost our country valuable, young lives that can never be replaced. And yet, we seem to have no direction to change our occupation of Iraq.

America In Solidarity will be hosting it's fifth annual May Day Celebration and this year's event will focus on the occupation of Iraq and its effect on America's working families. There will be a program from 7-8pm at the Washington State History Museum followed by a candlelight vigil outside of the Union Station Federal Courthouse to mark the over 4,000 troops who paid the ultimate sacrifice. The names of all the Washington-connected troops who have passed in Iraq will be read during the vigil.

The program will include

• a presentation by Dr. Michael Honey on the war's cost to working families
  
• Vance Lelli, President of the Pierce County Central Labor Council
• Seth Manzel, co-director of the GI Voice Project