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.