Thursday, 15 April 2010 14:15
War is hell. That's an old, old idea, but some brand new evidence has broken through the media white-out of the wars in the last few weeks.
First, we got to see graphic video of US helicopters gunning down unarmed Iraqi civilians and journalists, video leaked by folks in the Pentagon who do not want this war to continue. Then we heard about US troops firing on a bus in Afghanistan, killing at least 4 and wounding dozens.
These are not unfortunate accidents. And it's not just me saying that. Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War spoke out after the "Wikileaks video" hit the news, explaining that the scene shown is normal, not some exceptional act by some "bad apples." The bus in Kandahar was filled with bullets only days after the US commander in Afghanistan said, talking about similar incidents :
We've shot an amazing number of people and killed a number and, to my knowledge, none has proven to have been a real threat to the force.
Unless something as dramatic as this happens again soon, the wars will once again fade from the morning paper and the evening news. We have to take advantage of such coverage to remind people that 1. the wars are still very much on, 2. people are dying every day, and 3. if we don't speak out, nothng will change.
Monday, 29 March 2010 05:12
President Obama, in full Commander in Chief mode, made a hit and run visit to Afghanistan on Sunday. In the course of four brief hours, we are told, he read the riot act to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his cabinet, got a detailed personal briefing from occupation commander General Stanley McChrystal, gave a carefully scripted pep talk to selected US troops and had a photo op with some of those wounded in combat.
He made the trip, he declared, "to help Afghans forge a hard won peace." We''ll return to that quote in a moment.
Saturday, 09 January 2010 08:08
It’s no surprise that the anti-war movement is in a lull. The war in Afghanistan this month passes the War of Independence to become the second longest in US history. Thanks to a feeble news media, many in this country don’t even know that there are still 120,000 US occupation troops in Iraq (and about as many “private contractors” your tax dollars are paying for).
Now Barack Obama, the 2008 “peace candidate” whose victory drew heavily on support from voters sick of these wars, is sending 30,000 more young men and women into harm’s way in a country where drone attacks kill kids and create new insurgents on a weekly basis.
Many who have organized against and demonstrated against the wars since 2002 are worn out and hear the mournful strains of the old “protest is just self-indulgent and ineffective” song in their mind’s ear.
Well, folks, let me present to you the students in the California.higher education system and their allies: teachers, staff, parents and the community at large. They started fighting budget cuts last spring and in November, when the U of C trustees
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Thursday, 15 April 2010 13:45
The Third Friday and weekend of April are upon us. If you haven't yet decided how you will break your daily routine and take action to end these unjust and unjustifiable wars, here are three suggestions:
1. Call your Senators and Cogressperson and tell them to vote NO! on the upcoming $34 billion supplemental appropriation to keep the war in Afghanistan. Congress already voted the administration a military budget of $708 billion dollars in January, and already the administration is comng back to the well! At a time of grave ecoonomic hardship for states and municipalities and, most of all, for ordinary Americans, this is a criminal misuse of the taxes you just finished paying.
Calling your elected officials is easier than you might think. Even if you don't recall their names, just call the Congressional Hotline at 202-224-3121 . They will put you through to one of your Senators, then the other, and finally in most cases, using your zipcode, to your Representative. If an official's office line is busy, you will probably be given a chance to record a message. If you get a live response, ask to speak to a staffer working on foreign policy. Be polite, but be firm. Enough is enough!
2. Wear, all day, an anti-war button or a black armband to honor the dead in these never-ending wars. When people ask you about it, tell them why.
3. Talk to friends, family, co-workers about the wars. Email them a link to this site or send them other information on the human and financial cost of the wars.
Thee, if you can spare another moment, tell us what you did, via email.
Saturday, 06 March 2010 11:05
The Iraq Moratorium is now the War Moratorium.
The Third Friday and Third Weekend of last month, February, marked the final observance of the Iraq Moratorium. Over the preceding two and a half years, several thousand events--mostly vigils, but also art shows, pot luck suppers, mobile “Funk the War” parties. lectures and film showings, concerts, die-ins, fundraisers and much more--underlined one clear demand: Stop the War, Bring the Troops Home Now!
And that’s only the events we know about. What’s more, uncounted thousands broke their daily routine and took some action by themselves, from calling their Congresscritters to praying to wearing buttons, to end the wars.
The Moratorium is not, unfortunately, shutting down because the US occupation of Iraq is over. The Moratorium is not shutting down as a result of the post-election disarray of the anti-war movement.
The Moratorium is not shutting down at all!! Not with 100,000 US troops in Iraq right now and US forces in Afghanistan slated to reach similar levels by September.
No, only the name is changing.
The small handful of activists who have kept this project going since September 2007 faced a dilemma: Continue as the Iraq Moratorium for the name recognition, although the administration’s escalation in Afghanistan is producing casualties--US troops and ordinary Afghanis alike--like those in Iraq a couple of years ago? Change the name to the Afghanistan Moratorium and help the politicians and media types who all act like the war in Iraq is ancient history?
Instead we decided to rename the campaign the War Moratorium.
The basic idea remains the same. The War Moratorium is not an organization and it’s not in competition with other anti-war groups. It is a campaign, a tool for anyone who wants to use it. The idea is simple--it’s summarized in our statement of commitment:
I hereby commit that on the Third Friday and/or Third Weekend of every month I will break my daily routine and take some step by myself or with others to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Please make that commitment! As our slogan says: It’s Got To Stop. We’ve Got To Stop It.
Wednesday, 02 December 2009 13:41
In a speech at West Point on December 1, President Obama announced his second escalation of the war in Afghanistan. His speech can be boiled down to three key numbers: 30,000, 2011 and 30 billion. Here's what he was talking about, with a few numbers he didn't mention.
30,000--That's how many new US troops he is rushing into harm's way by next August, for a total of 101,000 (up from 34,000 when he was sworn in). Troops from other NATO governments and private contractors (75,000 at last count) double that total.
The Pentagon estimates that there are a total of 100 al-Qaeda
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