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FOR & 30+ organizations tell Pres. Obama: "Folly" to send more troops to Afghanistan
Submitted by FOR on November 30, 2009 - 1:38pm.
The Fellowship of Reconciliation today joined with 33 other national peace and anti-war groups to issue an open letter to President Obama that strongly opposes his anticipated decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan with the commitment of tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops.
The document calls increased war spending, in light of the ongoing U.S. economic crisis, an “utter folly” and names the war “a war against ordinary people, both here in the United States and in Afghanistan,” which “if continued, will result in the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of U.S. troops and untold thousands of Afghans” and “cause other people in other lands to despise the U.S.” as “the world’s richest nation making war on one of the world’s very poorest.”
Mark Johnson, executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, is one of the letter's signatories. He said today, "FOR's collaboration and engagement with peace activists and civil society leaders in the Middle East and Central Asia informs us time and again that military methods are not the answer." Johnson continued, "Sending more troops to Afghanistan will repeat the mistakes our political leaders should have learned in Iraq."
The signatories pledged “to keep opposing this war in every nonviolent way possible. We will urge elected representatives to cut all funding for war. Some of us will be led to withhold our taxes, practice civil resistance, and promote slowdowns and strikes at schools and workplaces.”
Signed by veterans and peace activists, religious leaders and labor organizers, the document [attached below as a PDF file] represents one of the most widespread anti-war coalitions in decades, including many of the organizations which, in 2003, brought millions onto the streets to oppose the U.S.-Iraq war. Signers to the letter are urging their colleagues to participate in local demonstrations the day after an announcement of troop escalations is made.
The letter ends by warning President Obama, “We will do everything in our power, as nonviolent peace activists, to build the kind of massive movement -- which today represents the sentiments of a majority of the American people -- that will play a key role in ending U.S. war in Afghanistan. Such is the folly of your decision and such is the depth of our opposition to the death and suffering it will cause.”
post the letter please
post the letter please
Posting Letter
President Barack Obama
The White House
Washington, D.C.
November 30, 2009
Dear President Obama,
With millions of U.S. people feeling the fear and desperation of no longer having a home; with millions feeling the terror and loss of dignity that comes with unemployment; with millions of our children slipping further into poverty and hunger, your decision to deploy thousands more troops and throw hundreds of billions more dollars into prolonging the profoundly tragic war in Afghanistan strikes us as utter folly. We believe this decision represents a war against ordinary people, both here in the United States and in Afghanistan.
The war in Afghanistan, if continued, will result in the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of U.S. troops, and untold thousands of Afghans. Polls indicate that a majority of those who labored with so much hope to elect you as president now fear that you will make a wrong decision -- a tragic decision that will destroy their dreams for America. More tragic is the price of your decision. It will be paid with the blood, suffering and broken hearts of our young troops, their loved ones and an even greater number of Afghan men, women and children. The U.S. military claims that this war must be fought to protect U.S. national security, but we believe it is being waged to expand U.S. empire in the interests of oil and pipeline companies.
Your decision to escalate U.S. troops and continue the occupation will cause other people in other lands to despise the U.S. as a menacing military power that violates international law. Keep in mind that to most of the peoples of the world, widening the war in Afghanistan will look exactly like what it is: the world's richest nation making war on one of the world's very poorest.
The war must be ended now. Humanitarian aid programs should address the deep poverty that has always been a part of the life of Afghan people.
We will keep opposing this war in every nonviolent way possible. We will urge elected representatives to cut all funding for war. Some of us will be led to withhold our taxes, practice civil resistance, and promote slowdowns and strikes at schools and workplaces.
In short, President Obama, we will do everything in our power, as nonviolent peace activists, to build the kind of massive movement --which today represents the sentiments of a majority of the American people--that will play a key role in ending U.S. war in Afghanistan. Such would be the folly of a decision to escalate troop deployment and such is the depth of our opposition to the death and suffering it would cause.
Sincerely,
(Signers' names listed in alphabetical order)
Jack Amoureux
Executive Committee
Military Families Speak Out
Michael Baxter
Catholic Peace Fellowship
Medea Benjamin, Co-founder
Global Exchange
Frida Berrigan
Witness Against Torture
Imam Mahdi Bray, Executive
Director, Muslim American
Society Freedom
Elaine Brower
World Can't Wait
Leslie Cagan, Co-Founder
United for Peace and Justice
Tom Cornell
Catholic Peace Fellowship
Matt Daloisio
War Resisters League
Marie Dennis, Director, Maryknoll
Office for Global Concerns
Robby Diesu
Our Spring Break
Pat Elder, Co-coordinator
National Network Opposing
Militarization of Youth
Mike Ferner, President
Veterans For Peace
Joy First, Convener
National Campaign for Nonviolent
Resistance
Sara Flounders, Co-Director
International Action Center
Sunil Freeman
ANSWER Coalition, Washington,
D.C.
Diana Gibson, Coordinator
Multifaith Voices for Peace and
Justice
Jerry Gordon, Co-Coordinator,
National Assembly To End Iraq
and Afghanistan Wars and
Occupation
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb
Shomer Shalom Network for
Jewish Nonviolence
David Hartsough
Peaceworkers, San Francisco
Mike Hearington, Steering
Committee, Georgia Peace and
Justice Coalition, Atlanta
Larry Holmes, Coordinator Troops
Out Now Coalition
Mark C. Johnson, Ph.D., Executive
Director, Fellowship of
Reconciliation
Hany Khalil
War Times
Kathy Kelly, Co-Coordinator,
Voices for Creative Nonviolence
Leslie Kielson, Co-Chair
United for Peace and Justice
Malachy Kilbride
National Campaign for Nonviolent
Resistance
Adele Kubein
Executive Committee
Military Families Speak Out
Jeff Mackler, Co-Coordinator,
National Assembly to End Iraq and
Afghanistan Wars and Occupations
Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid
Chair-Elect
World Parliament of Religion
Kevin Martin, Executive Director
Peace Action
Michael T. McPhearson
Executive Director
Veterans For Peace
Gael Murphy, Co-founder
Code Pink
Michael Nagler, Founder
Metta Center for Nonviolence
Max Obuszewski, Director
Baltimore Nonviolence Center
Pete Perry
Peace of the Action
Dave Robinson, Executive
Director Pax Christi USA
Terry Rockefeller
September 11th Families For
Peaceful Tomorrows
Samina Sundas, Founding
Executive Director
American Muslim Voice
David Swanson
AfterDowningStreet.org
Carmen Trotta
Catholic Worker
Nancy Tsou, Coordinator
Rockland Coalition for Peace and
Justice
Jose Vasquez
Executive Director
Iraq Veterans Against the War
Kevin Zeese
Voters for Peace
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