Enough!

I am sure our good friend Mark will not mind if we repost this from his mailing list.  You can also hear him at 6:00 Central Time at KOPN with his program.

AFGHAN WAR ANNIVERSARY—JOIN IN SAYING “ENOUGH!”

We are approaching the 11^th anniversary of the start of the War in Afghanistan, now the longest war in U.S. history. Although the war is largely forgotten and the updates rarely make page one of the paper, or featured positions in newscasts, the costs and the death tolls are all too real. And what news we do get isn’t good news. Instead, we hear of blue-on-green killings, attacks on U.S. and NATO troops by Afghan troops and police. We hear of increased rates of Taliban attacks and of greater use of drones, leading to more civilian deaths as well. And any progress that might be getting made on the negotiations front is not visible. We thus appear no closer to a resolution to this conflict than when President Obama took office nearly four years ago.

To date this year, 261 GIs have met their deaths in Afghanistan, nearly one per day on average. In total, since the start of the conflict, 2,125 GIs have lost their lives there, with more than two-thirds of these deaths coming on Obama’s watch, not Bush’s. This, of course, says nothing about the much greater loss of life, limb, home and family the Afghans are continuing to experience. Nor have we touched on the massive financial cost of the war, recently running $2 billion per week. This has probably come down somewhat, as some troops have been withdrawn, but our government plans to keep combat troops in the field there for another 27 months, through the end of 2014, and then to station troops on training missions for another 10 years, through 2024. Can you say “endless war”?

It’s a sad commentary on the state of our democracy that for several years the polls have shown a substantial majority of the American people—roughly two-thirds to three-quarters—would like to see the Afghan War ended, but politicians are not feeling the heat for failing to do the will of the people. Both major presidential candidates have taken positions opposite to the will of the majority, and Afghanistan has not been deemed a campaign issue. And, in fact, most voters, while not liking the war, are paying it little mind, which makes it easy for the politicians to get away with pro-war positions.

We, here at Peaceworks, continue to advocate for a negotiated end to the conflict as well as for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the provision of reparations to aid in the rebuilding of the country. We also recognize the responsibility for allocating sufficient funds to aid in the healing of lives, including all those dislocated by the war, Afghans as well as returned U.S. veterans.

We urge all members and supporters to take a few minutes this week to contact the White House as well as your two U.S. Senators and your U.S. Rep. to share your feelings about the Afghan War. You can find their contact info at:  http://blog.midmopeaceworks.org/p/resources.html