BY BUSTER SOUTHERLY
Green Day's singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong has spoken out against US President George Bush's moves to wage war on the people of Iraq. He has launched an online petition to build opposition to war among Green Day fans and others.
The petition, on the band's official web site (<http://www.greenday.com>), urges fans to "strongly urge" Bush "to rethink his plans for a military invasion".
The members of Green Day have never been shy about their political opinions, especially those related to the foreign affairs agenda of the current US administration. After the US attack on Afghanistan, the group was critical, asking its fans to send their opinions on the military action to the band's web site.
At the time, drummer Tre Cool said: "Maybe I'm just being ignorant and short-sighted, you know, it's true I'm not running the government, I'm not running the United States. I just don't think that killing people is a good way to remedy people dying. Martin Luther King Junior said that you can murder a murderer but you can never murder murder itself."
Of course, the drummer was speaking against Bush even before he took over the country's highest office. During the 2000 election run: "If you're 18, for Christ's sake, register and keep George W Bullshit out of office because he's the devil, he's totally evil, and he needs to be stopped."
From Green Left Weekly, December 4, 2002.
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