First 100 Days

By David Swanson

A friend is drafting a proposal for the first 100 days of a new administration. I sketched out a dream scenario below. What do you think?

Day 1: Renounce wars of aggression and apologize to the world for those in the past. Anounce the complete withdrawal from Iraq over the next 6 months.

Day 2: Announce the complete withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of the year.

Day 3: Commit to ending the U.S. military occupation of nations around the world and present a plan for closing foreign bases at a pace of 100 per year over the next 8 years.

Day 4: Announce a plan to end corporate trade pacts and remove the United States from the WTO.

Day 5: Deliver to Congress at end of a week of private meetings a green energy jobs initiative proposal.

Day 6 – Day 7 Put the solar panels back on the White House roof and build wind mills on the National Mall.

Day 8: Announce the planned convening of a Middle Eastern peace and disarmament conference.

Day 9: Announce legislation making it a felony punishable by life in prison for a president to take a nation into war without a congressional declaration of war.

Day 10: Announce transparency policy, reopen FOIA offices, and direct the Justice Department to begin to enforce all outstanding Congressional subpoenas.

Day 11: Expose the history and extent of all warrantless domestic spying programs, eliminate them, and begin to prosecute those responsible for them.

Day 12: Deliver to Congress at end of a week of private meetings a proposal for a massive new investment in foreign aid.

Day 15: Announce the convening of a Single Payer Health Care task force.

Day 16: Expose the history and extent of past detention, rendition, and torture policies, end them, and begin to prosecute those responsible.

Day 17: Announce a new GI bill, a ban on the use of stop-loss policies, and the cessation of all employment of private mercenaries by the United States.

Day 18: Announce the elimination of the CIA, the NSA, and the complete collection of intelligence agencies.

Day 19: Deliver to Congress at the end of a week of private meetings a full budget proposal drastically shifting public resources from the military to human needs, including free quality education from preschool through college, major investment in public transportation, and serious compensation for the victims of Hurrican Katrina.

Day 22: Announce the planned convening of global nuclear disarmament talks. Renounce any willingness to consider first use of nuclear weapons.

Day 23: Anounce a program to compensate and honor past White House and executive branch whistleblowers who were punished for their service.

Day 24: Announce the rejection of any policies based on past presidential signing statements, and a commitment never to use them.

Day 25: Announce full support for the work of the United Nations and the rule of international law.

Day 26: Commit to working with Congress to fully uphold:
The Kyoto Treaty on Global Climate Change
The Biodiversity Treaty
The Forest Protection Treaty
The Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty
The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
The Landmine Ban Treaty
The Biological Weapons Convention
The Chemical Weapons Convention
The International Criminal Court
The United Nations Charter
Day 29 – Day 33:

Work with the Congress to hold public hearings on war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, examining the use of depleted uranium weapons, the use of white phosphorus as a weapon, of napalm weapons, of cluster bombs, the targeting of civilians, the targeting of journalists, the targeting of hospitals and ambulances, the detaining of prisoners with no legal process, and torture. Direct the Pentagon to abandon criminal activities. Direct the Justice Department to prosecute past crimes.

Day 36 – Day 40:

Announce plans to prosecute George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney for an array of crimes, and urge Congress to impeach them and bar them from ever again holding public office.

Day 43 – Day 47:

Announce proposal to establish a cabinet-level Department of Peace.

Day 50 – Day 54:

Hold peace talks in the Middle East.

Day 57 – Day 58:

Present case for, pass, and establish single-payer health coverage in the United States.

Day 61 – Day 65:

Hold global nuclear disarmament talks in Japan.

Day 68 – Day 100

Follow through.

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