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December 19, 2008 at 14:28:28
An Open Letter To the "Anti-war Movement" in the United States by Elaine Brower (Posted by Elaine Brower) Page 1 of 2 page(s) |
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Barack Obama is sending a surge of 20,000 troops to Afghanistan. An antiwar movement that does not move immediately to oppose the Obama doctrine of shifting the central front of the “war on terror” to Afghanistan, no longer deserves to be called an anti-war movement. Millions of people voted for Obama because they thought he would end the war. Yet Obama filled his cabinet with Hillary “Obliterate Iran” Clinton, Robert Gates, James Jones and Susan Rice (“a kettle of hawks” said Jeremy Scahill). He is not only continuing an unjust war by leaving 80,000 troops and scores of permanent bases in Iraq, and all over the region, including nuclear carrier-led task forces with enough firepower to "annihilate" any country in the region, but Obama is enlisting many progressive sections of society to support and be complicit in waging a spreading war for U.S. hegemony and imperialist expansion known as the “war on terror.” 
The election of the first Black president is effectively re-branding preemptive and illegal wars of aggression to make us feel good about them. Massive antiwar sentiment and action is already being transformed into flag-waving patriotism, passivity and capitulation in the face of horrors.
The U.S. military, stretched thin and full of discontent after six years of carnage in Iraq, is now being replenished. Military recruiters are targeting Black and Latino youth, telling them if they sign up now they’ll be fighting for Obama. Their lives will be expended as cannon fodder in a brutal war of occupation that is not in their interests.
The U.S. war on Afghanistan is an unjust war of aggression—the supreme war crime.
The Bush regime occupied Afghanistan and drove out the Taliban regime, not to bring democracy and liberation to the Afghan people, but to control Afghanistan and spread the U.S. empire, with the goal of permanent domination of the Middle East.
The “war on terror” began after 9/11 by the U.S. was not just a campaign against the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden, but a broad, global war to keep the U.S. as the unchallenged global superpower. This is not a war to free people from warlords of Islamic fundamentalism, a movement the U.S. funded and armed, and ironically, spread, when it was aligned with the U.S. against the Soviet Union in the 1970’s.
The war in Afghanistan is and will be fought the same way the war in Iraq is being fought. At a minimum, 1 million Iraqi civilians have been killed so far, over 2 million homeless, with the U.S. justifying collateral damage and collective punishment, secret prisons, denial of due process and torture. It is wrong, unjust, illegitimate and immoral. And it won’t be otherwise, no matter who is president. There is no such thing as a “good” war on terror.
The U.S. occupiers consider any large gathering of Afghans inherently hostile, hence the repeated bombings of wedding parties. Even the U.S. puppet Hamid Karzai is warning the U.S. to stop killing civilians. And it is NOT a war to free women. According to afghan-web.com/woman/, after 7 years of US occupation:
- Every 30 minutes, an Afghan woman dies during childbirth
- 87 percent of Afghan women are illiterate
- 30 percent of girls have access to education in Afghanistan
- 1 in every 3 Afghan women experience physical, psychological or sexual violence
- 44 years is the average life expectancy rate for women in Afghanistan
- 70 to 80 percent of women face forced marriages in Afghanistan
The deadly and self-perpetuating cycle between the terror directed at civilians by the Islamic fundamentalists fighting against the U.S. and the terror of the U.S. wars of aggression directed at civilians can only be stopped by the people of those countries, combined with the actions of people in this country who refuse to strengthen either side. We in this country and those of us in this movement have a choice.
We can side with “our” government, with the “good war” fought in our names, and act like American lives are more important than anyone else’s lives. Or we can show the people living in the Middle East, and the world, that in the U.S. there is a difference between the people and their government, and that the people are taking responsibility to end an unjust war and the war crimes that have been carried out in our name. We can act like we care about the whole planet.
The antiwar movement of the last several years which confined itself to lobbying and campaigning served to demobilize mass protest. Now this movement must shake off this passive complicity and act in a way that is so visible and powerful it can be seen all over the world, especially in the countries that have been targets of this aggression.
An antiwar movement that does not have the principle and the conviction to oppose the crimes carried out by our government; that dodges the immediate escalation of the war in Afghanistan, and the threat of war on other places; that chooses to focus on “domestic issues” when people of the Middle East are counting on us, will commit unconscionable betrayal. An antiwar movement needs to show common cause with the people of the world and not common cause with war criminals.
Too much is at stake for the progressive movement to consult with or sound like the generals or the Commander in Chief. Too much is at stake to “wait and see” whether this is all going in the direction Obama says it is.
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Time for change
Yes it is time to say enough is enough. The invasion of Afghanistan hasn't worked. The invasion of Vietnam didn't work. The invasion of Iraq didn't work as it was supposed to. So what is the way for the anti-war movement to bring about change? The answer is simple. They must investigate 9/11, find the facts, spread them throughout the nation and demand justice. What are the facts of 9/11? The first fact is that the towers were brought down using explosives. If anyone doubts this, read this paper. It includes links to numerous scientific papers which provide proof of the claims. The second fact is that the official govt report by NIST was a cover-up. It denies the use of explosives. If al Qaeda had laid the explosives there would be no reason for the government to cover it up. This paper shows how one can conclude that some part of the administration was involved. This knowledge is an immensely powerful tool for the anti-war movement. If it is serious it will investigate, determine the facts and inform the public to get support for their cause. by gravity32 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 201 comments [38 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Dec 20, 2008 at 9:09:55 AM  (0+)
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Reply: Nothing's Going To Change
I couldn't agree more. To end war, the reasons for war MUST be understood. The reason and justification for the continuing wars and occupations is 9-11. Until this is exposed for the false flag operation it was, nothing is going to change. by Bill Cain (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 434 comments [67 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Dec 20, 2008 at 11:30:49 AM (0+)
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Reply: The War on drugs has failed too.
We should let the drugs run free and the drunks should be given cars to drive down our streets. War is bad. The War against poverty really stinks too. Leave the bums alone already. by Gallaher (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 990 comments [34 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Saturday, Dec 20, 2008 at 3:38:17 PM (0+)
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Time to step up efforts
We are in a time of real danger. People are lulled by false hopes that Obama stands for real change. Things could get worse now that it is a popular President who will be pushing for war. He will seem much more convincing than Bush. He is already succeeding. A Washington Post poll showed a strong majority backing Obama in escalating war in Afghanistan. This is another Vietnam. Afghanistan has a long history of rejecting and defeating any foreign power that comes in. Obama and his "kettle of hawks" don't understand this. They strongly believe that you end terror by killing people. They don't understand that people abroad see and will continue to see the American military as terrorists. There is, in fact, not a significant difference between national armies who kill and destroy and non-state movements who kill and destroy. If there is, it is that the national armies generally are capable of wreaking much greater death and destruction. The United States has long been, and continues to be, the greatest purveyor of violence in the world. Real change would end that fact, but Obama has consistently supported militarism. We need to educate people so they aren't taken in by politicians of either party who favor continued American military domination. We need the people demanding not only that we end our involvement in current hot wars, but that we close our more than 700 major military bases abroad and change the mindset that got us into Iraq, as Obama said he wanted to do but almost everything else he has said and done indicates he holds the mindset himself. by Bill Samuel (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 445 comments [14 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Dec 20, 2008 at 11:00:21 AM (0+)
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ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT? AMERICANS ONLY INTERESTED IN EGOTISM
Why is the anti-war and justice movement so weak? by Jay Janson (105 articles, 0 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 117 comments [4 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Dec 20, 2008 at 11:28:11 AM (0+)
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I declare WAR on the War on Terror!
Oh wait, I'm some kind of weird pacifist that was beat up as a kid. by Gallaher (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 990 comments [34 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Saturday, Dec 20, 2008 at 3:34:11 PM (0+)
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Food for thought
Jay Janson, your interesting assay has got me thinking about motivation. My position, and basis for all discussion of why people do what they do, is that all people throughout the world are basically the same - if they are given the same information and cultural environment they will respond in the same way to any given situation. So why do we see such a difference between how the American public behaves and how the public in say Sweden behaves toward an important world event? The answer has to be in the leadership. The leadership in the USA has a stranglehold on the media. The media in turn creates a false cultural environment, using omission and distortion of critical news items, and failing in its duty to investigate suspicious government statements. I cannot believe that the American public in general could be so cruel and callous as to support further attacks, which mainly kill civillians, on Afghanistan, if they knew the facts. It is time for the peace movement to wake up and examine itself. If it is sincere it will go beyond the news media and find out for itself the truth about 9/11. It will search among its members for people who are disputing the truth about 9/11 and educate them. Any member who adheres to the official explanation for the events of 9/11 after having the truth presented to them should be evicted. Only when the American people distance themselves from their government and think for themselves will there be hope for success. by gravity32 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 201 comments [38 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Dec 20, 2008 at 8:03:57 PM (0+)
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Greater powers at work...
Pakistan and Africa will be included in these wars. The quickest and easiest way to end all these wars is to cut the funding. End the Federal Reserve. Of course America would have to cut most of its government programs then as they could not afford them either. So much for peace and using the motto our parents taught us. To avoid fights at school by all means. I am thinking this economic crisis will cause some irony. They may win the war but lose the world dominance they sought after. Will see. by charley danielson (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments) on Saturday, Dec 20, 2008 at 10:16:36 PM (0+)
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Why must we write forever about anti-war?
I feel such a sadness every time I write about the cancer that is war. Why can't we elect a president that doesn't talk about war and taking this war to another level in another country? Why don't the people listen to a man who talks peace and diplomacy instead of adding more deaths to this illegal and evil war? I guess Obama is a good person but the more I hear and read about his choices for his cabinet, the more frustration I feel. There are too many hawks!!! Clinton, Gates!!!?, etc. And now asking this bigot to give the invocation at the inauguration. Even though Obama was not my first choice I had hope that he would live up to his promises. He is not! Why is it that the people were not able to see through all of the candidates that were running and see that the only man who would have led us to peace and prosperity was Dennis Kucinich? The other candidates were so afraid of him that they worked with the MSM and the moderaters to exclude him from the debates. It is easy to see why. Whenever Dennis spoke on any issue he made that issue seem so simple and the solution to it so simple that the others were put to shame. Why is it so difficult to see the truth when it is right in your face? The other bozos were so busy talking "politic talk" that it seemed to blind people to the truth. But the people who really got a chance to hear the truth from Dennis first hand were so moved by him that it was thrilling. He is a spellbinder and a passionate speaker but they wouldn't let him speak because he put them all to shame when he spoke. So here we are with another "politician". I hope he will do some good. He couldn't be as bad as the criminals that are in power now. And I will continue to work for the impeachment of all of the members of the Bush crime family. I send out petitions every day and send emails and make calls to my representatives to that end. We must hold these criminals accountable and send a message to future politicians that this can never happen again. by Caronome (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 327 comments [15 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Dec 21, 2008 at 12:24:01 AM (0+)
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