Tag: Afghanistan

Update: Up to 134 people were arrested at the White House fence.
Today in the midst of a snow storm, dozens of Veterans for Peace and their supporters gathered against the White House fence in acts of civil disobedience to protest the wars this country is fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan. … Daniel Ellsberg and other protesters were arrested (details are still slight). There is one report that 124 people were arrested. (Tip o’hat to Barbara Cummings)

ALL LINKS AND DETAILS INSIDE:

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Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) spoke out against the war in Afghanistan, and against the war’s funding, at a press conference of the Out of Afghanistan Congressional Caucus.

“Every dollar we spend in Afghanistan, every life we waste there, is a waste,” said Nadler. “An intelligent policy is not to try to remake a country that nobody since Genghis Khan has managed to conquer. What makes us think, what arrogance gives us the right to assume that we can succeed where the Moguls, the British, the Soviets, failed…..

By Congressman Alan Grayson /MichaelMoore.com / May 21, 2010

Next week, there is going to be a “debate” in Congress on yet another war funding bill. The bill is supposed to pass without debate, so no one will notice.

What George Orwell wrote about in “1984” has come true. What Eisenhower warned us about concerning the “military-industrial complex” has come true. War is a permanent feature of our societal landscape, so much so that no one notices it anymore.

But we’re going to change this. Today, we’re introducing a bill called ‘The War Is Making You Poor Act’. The purpose of this bill is to connect the dots, and to show people in a real and concrete way the cost of these endless wars.

Regional Mobilization Here on May 18-19 Calls for an End to Civilian Casualties in Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Region

Peace activists from across California and even from Nevada are planning to mobilize here in San Diego to protest the world’s largest and leading manufacturer of drones May 18-19.

San Diego is home to defense contractor General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, site of the activists demonstration. General Atomics builds the Predator and Reaper drones generally costing U.S. taxpayers $4 million to $12 million each.

Spring is here, but the endless, pointless wars grind on. U.S. troops are preparing for an offensive in Afghanistan ‘s Helmand province. As people lose their homes, their jobs, and struggle to make ends meet; as teachers are laid off and libraries are closed across America ; money gushes into the war and military budgets.
*Defund the Afghanistan Escalation!
*National Call-in to Congress Days April 13-15

The Afghanistan War cannot be Barack Obama’s war anymore than it is historically correct to call it George W Bush’s war – because there is a history revealed that says different. They inherited a stage in a conquest that has been playing out in modern times from as far back as 1839. It is all part of something called the “Great Game,” a competition to control Central Asia of which Afghanistan is the geographical bridge.

CITY HEIGHTS, San Diego. In protest of President Obama’s Afghanistan war escalation, a small crowd gathered at the corner of Fairmont and University Avenue to wave signs, chant, and signify their opposition by their presence. Congresswoman Susan Davis, who has offices nearby, was the target of the protest for her pro-war stance.

The protest had been called by San Diego’s Peace and Justice Coalition as “The Day After” demonstration to Obama’s West Point speech where he declared he’s sending 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan.

In just a few hours, President Obama will lay out his plan to send an additional 30,000+ US troops to Afghanistan. Which makes this a very trying moment for progressives who supported Obama during the campaign, his Presidency, and up to now. It is a very painful moment, a very anguishing one, as many of us are picking up our anti-war protest signs once again. Many of us will be demonstrating against this decision in the coming days and weeks ahead.

Do you feel the pain? I certainly do. This is even very painful for me to write. The pain I feel, that we feel – those of us who did support Obama- is very real. And it is to those I now appeal – those who championed the first African-American to assume the Presidency, to take the reins of our Empire in the hopes of bringing our democracy back from the eight long Bush years.

by Katrina vanden Heuvel / The Nation / Dec. 01, 2009

Tonight President Obama will announce his new Afghanistan policy. By all accounts it will be one of military escalation. This is a tragic moment–both for the nation and his presidency–and it is one I had hoped the President would avoid by courageously leading us in a wiser direction, one that views 21st century challenges anew, in fresh and necessary ways.

Dear President Obama,

Do you really want to be the new “war president”? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do — destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they’ve always heard is true — that all politicians are alike. I simply can’t believe you’re about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn’t so.

By Mark Ames / AlterNet / November 6, 2009

It’s hard to pinpoint what’s the most shocking thing about Major Malik Nadal Hasan’s shooting rampage in Fort Hood, Texas. I’ll start with this: there’s nothing all that ground-breaking about it. Happens all the time, it’s just that we’re a nation of amnesiacs who forget all the unpleasantries, and refuse to learn the valuable lessons.

For starters, Fort Hood is located in Killeen, Texas — where one of the deadliest rampage shootings in American history took place in 1991, when an unemployed ex-Navy enlistee ….