Join the War Resisters League in saying “No to War in Afghanistan. No to Torture and Vengeance.” The War Resisters League is standing with other organizations and communities to mark eight years of war and destruction in Afghanistan, to say no to war and torture, and to call on the Obama administration to listen to the Afghan people, to surge peace and development and justice, not war and troops. Our National Office is located in lower Manhattan, and we were there on September 11, 2001 when two planes flew into two buildings and resulted in the deaths of 2,603 people in New York City (and a total of 2,974 when deaths in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon are included). It was a terrifying and terrible day. In the midst of it, the War Resisters League’s David McReynolds put pen to paper and wrote sage and prescient words anchored in the foundations of nonviolence: “To wake on a clear day to find our largest city under siege reminds us that in a violent world, none are safe.” But in the midst of fear and unknowing, we were able to hold on to what has kept us anchored since 1923-- this bedrock belief that war is never the answer. In a Violent World, None are Safe The War Resisters League was here on October 7, 2001 as well. Marching through the streets of New York with Nobel Peace Laureates and 10,000 more, holding signs that said “Our grief is not a cry for war,” “Justice, not vengeance,” “No war on Afghanistan.” We marched even as the air war high above Afghanistan began; as the richest country in the world launched a war against a nation so poor and undeveloped that even Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had to acknowledge it, saying on September 18, 2001 that “Afghanistan is a very poor country… it has a gross domestic product per capita of something like $700, $800, $900 per person a year… There are not great things of value that are easy to deal with.” As we marched on October 7, 2001, President George W. Bush addressed the American public, saying: "As we strike military targets, we will also drop food, medicine and supplies to the starving and suffering men, women and children of Afghanistan… The United States of America is a friend to the Afghan people." The War Resisters League knew that was a lie then. And the last eight years has only deepened our commitment to nonviolence and to the social and political change that comes from people working together, struggling together and listening to one another. What is happening in Afghanistan right now is not peace and development and liberation for the burka-ed women. It is war: it is war begun in vengeance and desperation and continued out of the reprehensible notion that right can come out of wrong. A Few Facts About the War It is impossible to get an accurate or complete count of the number of deaths caused by U.S.-led military operations in Afghanistan, but the estimates run in the tens of thousands, and the security situation continues to be bleak and precarious for the people President Bush promised to stand with eight years ago. This $100 million-a-day fiasco has led to the deaths of 1,103 Afghans—by one conservative estimate—just in the first six months of 2009. So far, “Operation Enduring Freedom” has cost the United States $223 billion, according to Congressional Research Service. This is a fraction of what the war in Iraq has cost, but analysts are estimating decades more of significant military presence in Afghanistan and ongoing high (and rising) costs. Stephen Biddle with the Council on Foreign Relations says the United States “will need a large combat presence for many years to come and we will probably need a large financial commitment longer than that.” Bing West, who worked in President Ronald Reagan's Pentagon, puts a dollar figure on that “commitment” saying that the United States will need to allocate $4 billion a year for Afghan forces and another $4 billion for development projects far into the future. As of September 1, 2009, 734 U.S. military personnel have been killed in the Afghanistan theater (including deaths in Pakistan and Uzbekistan) since 2001. August was the deadliest month for U.S. military personnel since the Taliban was ousted in late 2001. Torture is Terror The war comes back to us. Not just in the deaths of American soldiers and contractors but in the torture and abuse and mistreatment of those so called “enemy combatants” held at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, in Guantanamo and at other sites throughout the world. When he took office, President Obama pledged to break with the Bush administration’s illegal and immoral practices. But in the months that followed, he has done nothing to bring justice or reparations (or even criminal charges) to those thousands held, he has not held the architects and perpetrators of torture and terror tactics accountable (the belated decision to appoint a “special prosecutor” seems calculated to placate those critical of his record without changing anything). The United States’ torture and terror tactics do more than just wound and maim and damage the men we torture… our nation is stained and tainted as a result of these practices. On Monday, October 5th, the War Resisters League will once again stand with the victims of war, the Afghan people, the Pakistani people, those who have been tortured. We will be in Washington, DC to protest President Obama’s continuation of some of the worst of the Bush administration, the war in Afghanistan. Join us! For more on the logistics, go here! To get on the listserv, go here! October 5, 2009: Direct Action at the White House Against Continued War and Torture. October 7, 2009: United for Peace, “Change = Peace,” local actions and educational events. October 10, 2009: Run for Peace (otherwise known as the ING Hartford Marathon) Contribute to War Resisters League!
