Global Peace

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:04:00 +0000

The truth is that every morning war is declared afresh. And the men who wish to continue it are as guilty as the men who began it, more guilty perhaps, for the latter perhaps did not foresee all its horrors. -Marcel Proust, novelist (1871-1922)

Stand By Me | Playing For Change | Song Around the World

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:55:00 +0000

THE BAND

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM

The current members of the Playing For Change Band are: Clarence Bekker (lead vocals), Grandpa Elliott (lead vocals, harmonica) Tal Ben Ari "Tula" (lead vocals), Mermans Kenkosenki (lead vocals, congas), Louis Mhlanga (electric guitar), Jason Tamba (backup vocals, acoustic guitar), Reggie McBride (backup vocals, bass), Peter Bunetta (drum kit) and Mohammed Alidu (talking drum, djembe).

We hope you have the opportunity to see this amazing collection of world-traveling musicians. Please check our tour schedule to see when the Playing For Change Band will be performing at a venue near you!

http://www.playingforchange.com/band

Kilcullen's Long War

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:12:00 +0000

Tom Hayden
From the Resource Center

Dear Tim,

It appears that President Obama will miss his last chance to stop the Afghan train to quagmire wreckage. He could seize the opportunity presented by the exposure of Karzai as an emperor with no clothes. Instead he seems to be choosing a blatant makeover of Karzai so the troops can be sent. For a devastating NY Times description of Karzai by Elizabeth Rubin on August 9, follow this link.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/magazine/09Karzai-t.html?_r=1 For deeper background on the revival of the Vietnam Phoenix Program in Afghanistan today, see this piece in the current Nation magazine. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091102/hayden The following are excerpts.

"These projections reveal a staggering audacity--not Obama's audacity of hope but an audacity of martial commitment. A fifty- to 100-year military campaign--the subtitle of Kilcullen's book is Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One--will span thirteen presidential terms and twenty-five Congressional sessions, casting a long shadow over generations of politicians not yet running for office. The Long War assumes either perpetual democratic approval by many voters not yet alive or that democracy will simply be circumvented by the national security state. Bin Laden will be dead of natural causes or otherwise long before it's over.
...
There has been little public discussion of the Long War. The term is attributed to Gen. John Abizaid, head of Central Command from 2003 to 2007; it is endorsed by counterinsurgency theorist John Nagl, who heads the Center for a New American Security; and it has been critically reviewed only in a collection, The Long War, edited by Andrew Bacevich."

Tom Hayden

WE ARE THE WORLD

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:07:00 +0000

"We Are the World" is a song and charity single recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and co-produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album" We Are the World'. The idea for the creation of the benefit single for African famine relief had initially come from activist Harry Belafonte, who, along with fundraiser Ken Kragen, was instrumental in bringing the vision to reality. Several musicians were contacted by the pair, before Jackson and Richie were assigned the task of writing the song. Following several months of working together, the duo completed the writing of "We Are the World" one night before the song's first recording session, in early 1985. The last recording session for the song was held on January 28, 1985. The historic event brought together some of the most famous artists in the music industry at the time. click the video bar enjoy and spread the words of HOPE

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:56:00 +0000

Dear Tim,

President Obama will soon decide whether to send more troops to Afghanistan.

It's time he said no — no more troops to Afghanistan. It's time he said yes to more civilian-led development there.

I'm asking you to e-mail the president today. Tell him not to send more troops. Urge him to work toward the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces and the use of peaceful alternatives.

The Afghan people want an end to civilian deaths — whether they're caused by foreign forces or by the Taliban. They know economic opportunities will give people alternatives to joining armed militias.

More importantly, they want their own government, free of corruption — a government that is responsive to their needs and not dependent on bolstering by outside forces.

The current debate on Afghanistan in Washington, D.C., ignores the desires of the Afghan people. Some policymakers want additional troops in Afghanistan to apply a counterinsurgency doctrine. Others want to draw down troops in Afghanistan, but use remotely controlled aircraft and special forces to implement a counterterrorism strategy focused on Pakistan.

Question: If everybody, including the military planners, agrees there are no military solutions to the war in Afghanistan, why are all the options military?

Tell President Obama and his security council today not to send additional troops to Afghanistan.

Ask him to send a clear message that the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan will not be permanent and that the United States intends a full withdrawal of all troops and bases. Ask him to focus U.S. and international investment in Afghanistan support for Afghan-led efforts for good governance, strengthening civilian institutions, and holistic political reconciliation, rather than failed tools of military intervention.

A few days ago, we e-mailed the president our congratulations on being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Now let's urge him to put peace into practice.

Please take the time to make your voice heard.

Peace,

Laurie Creasy,
American Friends Service Committee

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:52:00 +0000

Dear Tim,

Thank you for helping us promote One Minute for Peace!

At the American Friends Service Committee, we’ve been working for peace since 1917. I’d like to welcome you to our effort to make the world a safer, more secure place for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren.

I believe — along with the entire staff of AFSC — that peace is more than the absence of war. Sometimes peace is a vacant space reclaimed by inner city residents and used to grow vegetables for the local food pantry, as participants in an AFSC-sponsored program do in Baltimore. Peace may be a child disfigured by war who receives a prosthetic limb — and a second chance — in Jordan.

I’m grateful for supporters like you, and I want to make our friendship productive.

Once again, thank you for helping us raise awareness of the military's bloated budget. Together, we can work toward making that spending — and the current wars — things of the past.

Peace,

Mark Graham,
American Friends Service Committee

Thank you for signing the petition to take action against the war in Afghanistan.

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:37:00 +0000

Dear Tim ,

Over 5,000 of you signed the petition to end the Afghanistan war these past two weeks - congratulations and thanks!

The petition is useful for outreach and getting people to take a step. But I know you already are doing more, so here are my suggestions:

1. If you already plan to take action on the days of protest this October, think carefully about slogans that will be understood by the undecided, and make sure your literature does the same. The demonstrations will be small in comparison with our potential, so don't be discouraged, this is about base-building for the future.

2. Try to join your local peace and justice coalition if you have time for meetings. Push to double the size of the hard core. Use the petition to have discussions and seek endorsements from groups not necessarily working on the war: seniors, city officials, labor, for example. And military families, always.

3. Create a larger and targeted email list so that the politicians are aware of your presence as a possible tipping point factor in their district.

4. Utilize the videos at www.rethinkafghanistan.com from www.bravenewfoundation.org.

5. Become a bird-dog on voting records. Go to UFPJ's Rusti Eisenberg at hiscze@aol.com to ask where your elected official stands on the war supplemental, sponsorship of the McGovern resolution, opposition to escalation, and other issues.

6. Read, read, read. Try Hayden on the Long War: Understanding the Long War, from The Nation. Also, Juan Cole, Engaging the Muslim World; William Polk, Violent Politics; or Tariq Ali, The Duel.

To take action and become more involved, click here.

To become an anti-war voice in the Democratic party, join http://www.pdamerica.org/.

For a long war we will need a long peace movement. Unity, unity and greater unity!

Tom Hayden

Eight Years Later: Speak Out Against the War in Afghanistan

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:29:00 +0000

September 18, 2009

Dear Tim,
There is nothing more powerful than hearing someone speak from their heart.

That is why I was so moved by Barbara Lee's passionate speech on the floor of Congress September 14, 2001, eight years ago this week. She was the only member of Congress, in both the House and Senate, to have the courage to vote no against authorizing war in Afghanistan. Her voice shakes with emotion, but she stands her ground with strength and grace and the knowledge that she is speaking the truth that desperately needed to be heard. Her's was the only voice of compassion, of reason, during such a charged and painful time. When she said "Let us not become the evil that we deplore," she knew the quagmire that would result from such military engagement.

This week, many of us took inspiration from Barbara Lee and used our own voices to speak out against our woefully misguided war in Afghanistan. As one woman, she spoke for many of us eight years ago. This week, we each have the opportunity to follow her lead and channel the outrage and hope of everyone who wants us out of Afghanistan; each day, we flooded the blogosphere and phone lines and opinion sections of newspapers with the words that need to be heard about why we need to end our involvement in Afghanistan. If you haven't already, you can still use these tools from CODEPINK to make your voice loud and clear.

One of the best bumper stickers I've ever seen says "Speak your truth, even if your voice shakes." If you haven't ever blogged or called your Congressperson before, now is the time to do so, even if your voice shakes. It is up to us to remember Barbara Lee's brave example, her voice trembling with deeply felt conviction. We need more Barbara Lees to speak out against war. We can be those Barbara Lees, ourselves. We are the ones we've been waiting for. When we speak together from the heart, we truly can change the world.

In solidarity,
Susan Sarandon

Let's Raise some Hell

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 11:45:00 +0000

September 10, 2009

Dear Tim,

CODEPINK has never flagged in opposing the Afghanistan war and now public opinion is finally catching up. With 70 percent of Democrats opposing U.S. troops in Afghanistan, President Obama is making a fateful choice. If he escalates, the quagmire deepens and he loses more support among his base. If he refuses to send more troops he will be attacked by the Republicans for losing the war on terror.

CODEPINK and the peace movement are calling for an exit strategy that includes NATO/American troop withdrawal, all party talks, regional diplomacy, and continued aid for reconstruction, medical care, education and development, but your voice is not represented in Congress. But we have a proven ability to set off a storm in their districts that makes a difference. We affected the election outcomes in 2006 and 2008, and we must continue to raise hell until they listen and act.

Please read, sign and circulate this petition.

Double your numbers. Widen your support. Become the margin of difference. Bring down the Predators. Bring home the troops.

--Tom Hayden

A message from Ramsey Clark: 'A free people will not permit torture'

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:12:00 +0000

Dear Tim,

"The U.S. is treaty bound to prosecute all persons, high and low, who have authorized, condoned or committed torture if our word in the international community is to mean anything."

- Ramsey Clark
A free people will not permit torture. Throughout history, torture has always been an instrument of tyranny. The very purpose of the Grand Inquisitor was to compel absolute obedience to authority. Torture was the weapon he used in the struggle to force freedom to submit to authority.

Fear is the principal element in both public acceptance of torture and individual submission to it. The frightened public is persuaded that only torture can force confessions essential to prevent catastrophic acts—terrorism in the present context. The frightened victim is persuaded torture will be unbearable, or be his death.

Franklin Roosevelt spoke truth when he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Justice Black warned wisely, "We must not be afraid to be free," dissenting in America. Anastaplo was a law school classmate of mine who refused to take a non-Communist oath, a requirement for admission to the Illinois bar at the time. We have failed to follow this wisdom, a failure of faith urged by Lincoln at the then Cooper Institute: "Let us have faith that right makes might and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."

At stake is our cultural insistence that America has faith in freedom, that America is, or aspires to be, the land of the free and the home of the brave. At risk is the image of America, which might become Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and rendition to torture chambers in client States.

Now we are confronted by the brutish and brazen mentality of Dick Cheney, only one of George W. Bush’s many vices. Having concealed truth by refusing to release records and after the destruction of evidence, Cheney proclaims, "I am very proud of what we did"—a war of aggression that has devastated and fragmented Iraq and Afghanistan, and created a danger to peace in Pakistan and beyond. The same wars that have left 5,000 U.S. soldiers dead and maybe 30,000 with impaired lives, spread corruption within the Bush administration, politics in prosecutors offices, the worst recession in 70 years caused by the failure to police his greedy friends and supporters, boasting of torture by any other name.

Cheney wants us to believe "enhanced interrogation techniques," the phrase he prefers to torture, "were absolutely essential" in successfully stopping another terrorist attack on the U.S. after 9/11. This is utterly false, a matter of indifference to Cheney who may be getting desperate. These "enhanced interrogation techniques" were, however, torture as defined in Article 1 of the Convention Against Torture of 1984, an international treaty ratified by 184 nations, including the United States a decade late in 1994. The Convention, which is part of the supreme law of the land under the U.S. Constitution, recognizes "the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world," and "that these rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person."

Thus, the U.S. is treaty bound to prosecute all persons, high and low, who have authorized, condoned or committed torture if our word in the international community is to mean anything.

The Convention requires each signatory to ensure that all acts of torture are offenses under its criminal law. It requires prosecution, or under specific conditions, extradition to another nation for prosecution of alleged torturers.

Former FBI agent Ali H. Soufan is only one of the key U.S. intelligence and investigative officials directly involved in the key interrogations who have publicly condemned the "enhanced interrogation techniques." He has explained how the practice not only failed to obtain reliable or new information, but was also harmful. He concluded an op-ed article in the New York Times on Sept. 6, which stated that "the professionals in the field are relieved that an ineffective, unreliable, unnecessary and destructive program, one that may have given Al Qaeda a second wind and damaged our country’s reputation is finished."

The struggle to prosecute torture by U.S. agents is related to the struggle over health care legislation and troop increases in Afghanistan. Real health care reform would end the theft of major national resources by the insurance industry, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and the wealth seeking medical profession at the expense of the lives and health of the poor and middle class.

We should remember that a decade before he gave us "What is good for General Motors is good tor the nation," Charles E. Wilson, once President of General Motors, and later Secretary of Defense under President Eisenhower, wrote in the Army Ordinance Journal in 1944: "War has been inevitable in our human affairs as an evolutionary force ... Let us make the three-way partnership (industry, government, army) permanent." Notice what comes first for Wilson, whose credo was "Let us have faith that might makes right."

President Obama faces all three of these challenges, torture in our name, health care and Afghanistan at once. If he fails to insist on full investigation of torture and prosecution of all persons found to have authorized, directed or committed it, including George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, he will lose all three, because his adversaries in each are the same.
The announcement that a Special Prosecutor has been appointed to investigate the crimes committed during the Bush administration is a critical step. It was the action taken by you and people all around the country that made this possible. Now we will build on this momentum. The voice of the people must and will be heard.
Sincerely,
Ramsey Clark

Afghan petition to circulate

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:50:00 +0000

The petition is a tool to forge a broad anti-war position and use to organize endorsers and signers locally. I urge you to -

immediately seek endorsements from community leaders who have not been involved recently or ever before
organize a larger support base in your congressional district
make it known to your congressional office that the anti-war pressure is rising again
demand that your elected officials sign on to Rep. Jim McGovern’s exit strategy resolution as a start
further demand that they write an open letter opposing any further US troop escalation and

support exit strategy proposals that include a deadline for disengagement and withdrawal

vote against the war supplemental currently pending
and prepare to vote against any Afghanistan funding for next year that is not tied to an exit plan and withdrawal.

Thanks!

http://gopetition.com/online/30533.html

Get Out of Afghanistan – Campaign for Liberty

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:48:00 +0000

Posted by sakerfa on September 7, 20

Friday will mark eight years since 2,974 people were killed in terrorist attacks on the United States. The best way for President Obama to mark the solemn anniversary would be for him to declare his intention to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

Obama, addressing the annual Veterans of Foreign Wars conference last month, said of Afghanistan, “This is not a war of choice. This is a war of necessity. Those who attacked America on 9/11 are plotting to do so again. If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which Al Qaeda would plot to kill more Americans.” Continuing to channel his predecessor, Obama said, “This is not only a war worth fighting. This is fundamental to the defense of our people.”

But September 2009 is not September 2001, and Afghanistan can no longer be called a war of necessity. Richard Haass of the Council on Foreign Relations argues that so-called wars of necessity involve a threat to “vital national interests” as well as a “lack of viable alternatives to the use of military force to protect those interests.” Eight years ago, that may have been the case in Afghanistan. Today it clearly is not.

The U.S. government’s vague definition of “success” in Afghanistan entails the establishment of a strong democratic government friendly to the West and in control of most or all of the country’s territory. As the farcical Afghan presidential elections prove, this is far from a reality. But even such “success” could be achieved, so what? The only true U.S. interest in Afghanistan is the reduction of future terrorist threats. No matter how stable the government in Kabul becomes, radicals will still find safe havens in the border regions, slipping in and out of Pakistan where their grassroots support is strong.

Last week, conservative columnist George Will penned an important column calling for U.S. withdrawal. “The war already is nearly 50 percent longer than the combined U.S. involvements in two world wars, and NATO assistance is reluctant and often risible,” Will wrote. He says Taliban forces “can evaporate and then return, confident that U.S. forces will forever be too few to hold gains.” Counterinsurgency theory, Will warns, “indicates that, nationwide, Afghanistan would need hundreds of thousands of coalition troops, perhaps for a decade or more.” As for the U.S. effort to end heroin production in a country where a major drug trafficker is about to be elected vice president, Will suggests it be dubbed “Operation Sisyphus.”

U.S. commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal says he needs more troops to do his job, and if he really intends to do it, then he is absolutely right. McChrystal has been charged with creating a Switzerland out of a Somalia, taking a lawless failed state and turning it into a stable member of the community of nations. It cannot be done with the 21,000 troops Obama is adding to the 47,000 Americans already there. Britain’s 9,000 troops may not stay much longer — the war is vastly unpopular in the U.K., and as embattled Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s relations with Obama get worse and worse, he will probably decide to pull them out in a last-ditch attempt to keep his party in power. That means even more American troops will be needed just to maintain the same level.

The war is not working. In his New York Times column Sunday, Nicholas Kristof wrote that a “group of former intelligence officials and other experts is now reluctantly going public to warn that more troops would be a historic mistake.” The group, which includes former CIA station chiefs in both Afghanistan and Pakistan who helped organize the anti-Soviet Mujahedeen insurgency in the 1980s, warns, “The more troops we put in, the greater the opposition. We do not mitigate the opposition by increasing troop levels, but rather we increase the opposition and prove to the Pashtuns that the Taliban are correct. The basic ignorance by our leadership is going to cause the deaths of many fine American troops with no positive outcome.”

Barack Obama does not want this “war of necessity.” He wants to focus his presidency on domestic policy, not on a conflict that will make Iraq look like Granada. Continuing this unnecessary war does not keep Americans safe from future attack. Rather, it creates a recruitment opportunity for Al Qaeda. Osama bin Laden, after all, got his start in that same Mujahedeen insurgency the CIA helped create. Obama can keep Americans safe and save lives by making the choice to end this war of choice.

Source: Campaign for Liberty

Dahr Jamail | Art as Resistance

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:16:00 +0000

Monday 07 September 2009
Dahr Jamail, Truthout: "Soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have tough truths to tell, and it has been well demonstrated that the establishment media does not want to broadcast these. Given the lack of an outlet for anti-war voices in the corporate media, many contemporary veterans and active-duty soldiers have embraced the arts as a tool for resistance, communication and healing. They have made use of a wide range of visual and performing arts - through theater, poetry, painting, writing, and other creative expression - to affirm their own opposition to the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq." http://www.truthout.org/090609R?n

t r u t h o u t | Pictures of Dying Marine Bring War Home to America

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:58:00 +0000

t r u t h o u t | Pictures of Dying Marine Bring War Home to America

Shared via AddThis

At Least 90 Killed In US Attack

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:09:00 +0000

Posted by sakerfa on September 4, 2009

Afghanistan – The stench of burnt flesh hung over the banks of the Kunduz river in the early hours of Friday, the ground scattered with the body parts of villagers who just wanted something for free.

Helping yourself to the spoils of hijacked military convoys is nothing new in Afghanistan and the payload of two fuel tankers destined for Nato-led forces seemed as good as any.

But the overnight bonanza soon turned to horror when Nato jets launched an airstrike before 3am (22.30GMT), strafing the tankers and igniting an inferno that officials said killed between 50 and 90 people.

“Nobody was in one piece. Hands, legs and body parts were scattered everywhere. Those who were away from the fuel tanker were badly burnt,” said 32-year-old Mohammad Daud, depicting a scene from hell.

The burned-out shells of the tankers, still smoking in marooned wrecks on the riverbank, were surrounded by the charred-meat remains of villagers from Chahar Dara district in Kunduz province, near the Tajik border.

Dr Farid Rahid, a spokesperson in Kabul for the ministry of health, said up to 250 villagers had been near the tankers when the airstrike was called in.

Officials said about 55 Taliban were killed and more than 10 wounded, but witness accounts of civilian deaths are yet to be officially confirmed.

Witnesses told Agence France-Presse that villagers, including children, gathered around one of the tankers that had stalled in the shallows of the river to help themselves to fuel.

Taliban insurgents hijacked the trucks late Thursday, the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) under Nato said, and were trying to drive them across the river when one got bogged down.

Witnesses said the insurgents called on villagers living nearby to help themselves to the fuel — probably to lighten the load and make the stranded truck easier to move.

“Villagers rushed to the fuel tanker with any available container that they had, including water buckets and pots for cooking oil,” said Daud.

Some farmers even brought their tractors to fill up, he said, and as they did, 10 to 15 Taliban gunmen stood on top of the tanker watching the free-for-all.

“This was when they were bombed,” Daud said. “Everyone around the fuel tanker died.”

Shoes, an AK-47 rifle, swatches of burned clothing, the carcass of a donkey with a woven saddle cloth still tied across its flanks, yellow plastic jerry cans with red screwtops — all lay scattered across the pebbled banks.

Turbaned men, one holding a GI doll in a blue uniform, and Afghan security forces in desert boots and green berets strode around the tankers as dawn segued into a blue-sky day.

At a funeral ceremony, village men and boys stood silent along the edge of a mass grave as a tractor opposite shoved earth over the shrouded bodies below.

And at a hospital in Kunduz city, the provincial capital, the wounded were brought in on carpet-covered stretchers, their skin burned away from red-raw wounds, many too dazed and in too much pain to even cry, witnesses said.

Around eight bodies were in a terrible condition — the skin burnt black and peeling off to expose raw red muscle. Others arrived with their clothes burnt on to their skin.

The hospital was filled with the smell of burnt flesh, with even the corridors occupied by the wounded, said an Agence France-Presse reporter. — AFP

Source: Information Clearing House

March Forward! veterans oppose Afghanistan escalation

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:41:00 +0000

Dear supporter of the ANSWER Coalition,

October 7, 2009 marks the start of the ninth year of the invasion of Afghanistan. On that day, there will be anti-war actions in cities and towns throughout the country. There will also be anti-war actions on Monday, October 5, and Saturday, October 17.

We encourage everyone to read and pass along to their friends the statement below, released yesterday by March Forward!March Forward! veterans speak out against Gen. McChrystal's report
"All foreign forces should leave Afghanistan now!"
March Forward! is a group of anti-war veterans affiliated with the ANSWER Coalition formed In January 2009 by veterans and active-duty service members who had been seasoned activists and leaders in the movement against the Iraq war. Their goal was to unite those who have served and who are currently serving in the U.S. military.

March Forward! was created in response to the pressing issues facing veterans and service members: the forced participation in these horrible imperialist wars, as well as economic hardship, inadequate care, and a lack of access to resources before, during and after military service, with the view that only grassroots organizing and a mass people's movement can solve these problems. March Forward! will be organizing against the war in Afghanistan, encouraging troops to refuse to fight, and building the struggle against all manifestations of the U.S. war machine.

The war in Afghanistan, like the one we were sent to fight in Iraq, is based on lies and false rationales. Instead of expanding the war, all foreign troops should leave Afghanistan immediately.

March Forward! supporter Ron Kovic eloquently stated: "As a United States Marine Corps Sergeant who served two tours of duty in Vietnam, and was shot and paralyzed from my mid-chest down in 1968, I strongly disagree with General McChrystal. The war in Afghanistan is a huge mistake, another Vietnam disaster in the making. I want to encourage every member of our military, every veteran, and citizen, to raise your voices against this war, to protest, to demonstrate, to do all that you can before more lives are lost."

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, top commander of the Afghanistan war, has submitted his assessment report to the president. The report is another case of official double-speak. McChrystal essentially admits that the previous eight-year strategy has been catastrophic and an abysmal failure.

Yet he announced in a statement on Aug. 31 that "success is achievable and [the war] demands a revised implementation strategy, commitment and resolve, and increased unity of effort."

As a politician/salesman in uniform, Gen. McChrystal is selling the country a bill of goods. He asks us to genuflect before the war machine and "trust" the generals.

Deciphering McChrystal’s real message is important for every member of the armed forces. In short he is saying: all we have to do is be prepared to send several thousand more US servicemembers to their graves while they try to kill tens of thousands more Afghans and then, or perhaps then, the US will have established a stable puppet government in Kabul.

It's worth remembering Gen. McChrystal stated in April 2003 in a nationally televised Pentagon briefing on the operations in Iraq, "I would anticipate that the major combat engagements are over." The general is either a professional pitchman or a professional liar, or both.

To read the full March Forward! statement, click here.
http://www.pephost.org/site/News2?news_iv_ctrl=-1&abbr=VSMTF&page=NewsArticle&id=9189&autologin=true&AddInterest=1161&link=bottom-lnk

We encourage veterans and active duty service members to join March Forward! and become a part of the anti-war movement.

AFSC Toward Peace & Justice September 2009

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:39:00 +0000

Dear Tim,

Millions of students around the country are returning to school this month.

But now there’s a new R in addition to the three old ones: Recruitment. By law, schools must give recruiters access to students, and the military often targets teens from poor neighborhoods young people who may not know what their alternatives are.

The conscientious objectors who founded the American Friends Service Committee during World War I believed there were peaceful, honorable alternatives to military service. We still believe that today.

That’s why I’m eager this month to share stories about our work to broaden the dialogue in schools across the country to include peace.

With violence in Afghanistan escalating and military leaders calling for more troops, our peace work with teenagers has gained renewed importance. We’ve had victories in Georgia and North Carolina and have brought together teens from many cities to learn how to refute recruiters’ claims and share the truth about military service with their peers.

Perhaps William Penn said it best: “Force may make hypocrites, but it can never make converts.” This month, I hope you’ll join me in celebrating our victories over military might.

Peace, Mary Ellen McNish,
General Secretary,
American Friends Service Committee

Living in a Culture of Cruelty: Democracy as Spectacle

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:35:00 +0000

Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: "Under the Bush administration, a seeping, sometimes galloping, authoritarianism began to reach into every vestige of the culture, giving free rein to those anti-democratic forces in which religious, market, military and political fundamentalism thrived, casting an ominous shadow over the fate of United States democracy. During the Bush-Cheney regime, power became an instrument of retribution and punishment connected to and fueled by a repressive state, a bullying rhetoric of war, a ruthless consolidation of economic forces and an all-embracing free-market apparatus and media-driven pedagogy of fear that supported and sustained a distinct culture of cruelty and inequality in the United States." http://www.truthout.org/090209R?n

US Deaths in Afghanistan

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:58:00 +0000

Highest-Ever Monthly Total of 49 Americans Killed in Afghanistan in August,
American Death Rate Under Obama Could Exceed 1,000 by 2011

By Tom Hayden
For the Huffington Post

August was the cruelest month for American forces in Afghanistan, with at least 49 killed, not including possible last-minute reports. The August numbers exceeded the previous high of 43 in July, as a result of the new escalation of fighting approved by President Obama.

The President is expected to approve another troop increase shortly, which will inevitably increase American casualty rates in the 18-24 months of "hard fighting" forecast by the Pentagon.

At a rate of 45 American deaths per month, the toll on Obama's watch would be 1,080 additional American deaths through 2011, as the President heads into a re-election.

The total American deaths in Afghanistan since the beginning of the war are approximately 800. The number officially listed as wounded in action is 3,722, with 2,314 never redeployed to the war zone. www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf

The numbers are understated, for example, by not including hundreds of private contractors, many of them American citizens, killed in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Others killed during special operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan may not be included either.

Deaths among US-dominated Coalition forces overall now total 1,293, including 210 from the UK and 126 from Canada.

The real number of Afghanistan civilian casualties is obscured in the fog of war, but have risen to a record high as the US has escalated this year, with the UN Aid Mission figures growing from 684 in the first six months of 2007, to 818 in the first six months of 2008, to 1,013 in January-June this year. The July UNAM bulletin's appendix noted that "there is a significant possibility that UNAMA is under-reporting civilian casualties." [p. 16] Because the Pentagon frequently casts doubt on whether Afghan victims are truly civilian, the frequent result is, as UNAM notes, "if the non-combatant status of one or more victims remains under significant doubt, such deaths are not included in the overall number of civilian casualties." #

U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:11:00 +0000

Dear Friends and Colleagues of the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy,

The passing of Senator Edward Kennedy has brought great sadness and mourning to all who knew and admired this great public servant. Our nation has been inspired by the abundance of eulogies that exemplify and celebrate the Senator’s life and devotion to public service. His commitment to social issues and the belief that all Americans should have the opportunity to succeed, are vividly demonstrated by his decades in the Senate.

Today, as our nation returns to our daily tasks of living, the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy would like to share with you Senator Kennedy’s dedication to strengthen America through its relationship to the world. From advocating peace in Northern Ireland to creating a program that brings students from predominantly Muslim countries to the U.S., Senator Kennedy was a champion of peace, cross-cultural understanding, and bridging gaps to ensure people around the world could know the country he served and loved with a passion.

The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy wishes to acknowledge and celebrate his contributions to international relations as well as his work with civil rights, education, health care, and immigration. Senator Kennedy is a beacon of light that will continue to shine for years to come and reverberate for generations. He was a true leader and visionary.

May we all remember his work toward creating a more peaceful world and rededicate ourselves to this important task in the days, months, and years ahead.

Sincerely,

Ann Olsen Schodde

President & CEO

U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy

Senator Kennedy International Affairs Timeline.

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:10:00 +0000

1965 – Immigration Act: Kennedy became a strong advocate for immigration rights and reform. This was his first major bill upon entering the Senate. Continued to promote immigration up until his death.

1968 – Bilingual Education Act

1971 – Senate Resolution calling for the withdrawal of British troops in N. Ireland

1974 – Foreign Aid bill: first time Congress ended military aid to another country

1981 – Started “Friends of Ireland” organization in Congress

1982 – Nuclear Freeze Resolution to halt the nuclear arms race

1985 – Anti-Apartheid Act: imposed economic sanctions on South Africa to pressure them to racial segregation

1986 – Visit to Soviet Union: Gorbachev stated he would sign a treaty to prevent the basing of nuclear missiles in Europe – signed a year later

1993 – Senate Joint Resolution to designate the week of April 18, 1993, through April 24, 1993, as "International Student Awareness Week" (cosponsor)
-Senate Joint Resolution designating the week beginning October 25, 1993, as "World Population Awareness Day" (cosponsor)
-Senate Joint Resolution to designate the weeks of April 25 through May 2, 1993, and April 10 through 17, 1994, as "Jewish Heritage Week" (cosponor)

1994 – Instrumental in the issuance of a visa for Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams to visit the U.S., months later the IRA called a cease-fire
-Senate Resolution expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the tragic humanitarian and political catastrophe in Rwanda (cosponsor)

1996 – Stop Sweatshops Act
-Travel and Tourism Partnership Act (cosponsor)

1997 - Education for the 21st Century Act (cosponsor)

1998 - Africa: Seeds of Hope Act (cosponsor)

1999 - S Visa and Refugee Assistance Authorization Act

2000 – Senate Resolution expressing the respect to the peace process in Northern Ireland
-Global Health Act of 2000 (cosponsor)
-Global AIDS Prevention Act of 2000 (cosponsor)

2001 – No Child Left Behind Act – Kennedy was a champion for educational reform and instrumental in starting educational institutions on the path to become globally competitive
-Bridges to the Cuban People Act

2002 – Cultural Bridges Act: established a program with Sen. Lugar to bring secondary school students from countries with significant Muslim populations to the U.S. and enabling them to live with U.S. host families
-Peace Corps Charter for the 21st Century Act (cosponsor)

2003 – Senate Resolution encouraging the protection of the rights of refugees
-Senate Resolution designating the years 2004 and 2005 as "Years of Foreign Language Study" (cosponsor)
-Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act (cosponsor)
-Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act

2004 – Senate Resolution People-to-People Engagement in World Affairs Resolution
(cosponsor)

2006 -Peace in Darfur Act (cosponsor)
-Senate Resolution designating April 21, 2006, as "National and Global Youth Service Day", and for other purposes (cosponsor)
-Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Act (cosponsor)

2007 – Held the first committee hearing on Iraqi refugees which lead to legislation Kennedy sponsored that granted special immigration visas to Iraqis who worked with U.S. forces.
-Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act (cosponsor)
-Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility Closure Act (cosponsor)
-Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act (cosponsor)

2008 – Advancing Americas Priorities Act – included the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Act (cosponsor)
-Restoring America's Integrity Act (cosponsor)
-America COMPETES Act: invest in innovation and education to make the U.S. competitive in the global economy (cosponsor)

2009 - Peace Corps Improvement and Expansion Act (cosponsor)
-Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act (cosponsor)
- Travel Promotion Act (cosponsor)

Requiem for a Man: In Honor of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:57:00 +0000

by: John Cory, t r u t h o u t | Perspective

He was a man
Who lived at water's edge
And loved both tide and sand and the feel of nature's breath
He knew a dream delayed becomes a dream decayed
And so he fought on

He was a man
That understood
Untended and unintended
Neglect is the weed that strangles hope
In a garden of fragile seed

He was a man
The last of three, everyone said
But it was he who remembered one night
The one not here
The one -
Who had gone before in what they called the last good war

I never knew him, only of him, like most who passed the flag draped coffin
And when I asked
The villagers were divided
Some said, sinner
Some said, saint
But an old Tar said it best,
"When I navigate by stars, eyes on the horizon
My feet, like his, stumble on the stones."

He was a man
No greater, no less, he would say
Than others passed or yet to be
And when I asked, "What should we say?"
The old Tar said it best,
"Square the yards and trim the jib,
Fair winds and following seas, old friend.
Fair Winds and Following Seas."

Look to the Rainbow

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:24:00 +0000

Op-Ed Columnist

By BOB HERBERT

When Jack Kennedy learned on a May morning in 1948 that his sister Kathleen, known as Kick, had been killed in a plane crash in Europe, he had been listening to recordings from the Broadway musical “Finian’s Rainbow.”

Jack, not yet 31, had already lost his older brother Joseph Jr., a Navy pilot whose plane exploded while on a bombing mission in World War II. It’s not easy to imagine the kind of resilience required to make your way through tragedies that, in the case of the Kennedys, often reached Shakespearean proportions. That resilience was one of the many things to admire about Jack and his siblings, fortunate in so many ways and damned in so many others.

It’s easy to miss the point about the Kennedys. The drama is always right there in your face to distract you. (Even now, with Ted barely gone, the struggle is under way over how his successor in the Senate is to be chosen, and whether Ted’s death will be a spur to — or the death knell for — health care reform.)

The most significant aspect of the Kennedys, more important than their reliably liberal politics or Ted’s long list of legislative accomplishments, was their ability to inspire. They offered the blessed gift of hope to millions, year after year and decade after decade. The key to understanding both the influence and the importance of the Kennedys was to pay close attention to what they said and what they tried to accomplish, and not let the depths of meaning in their words and aspirations become obscured by individual failings or shortcomings, the Kennedy Sturm und Drang.

So there was President Kennedy in 1963, in a landmark commencement address at American University in Washington at the height of the cold war, making an impassioned case on behalf of “the most important topic on earth: peace.” Calling for a halt to the arms race with the Soviet Union, Kennedy told the graduates that it was important for Americans to examine their attitudes toward peace.

“Too many of us think it is impossible,” he said. “Too many think it is unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable, that mankind is doomed, that we are gripped by forces we cannot control. We need not accept that view. Our problems are man-made, therefore they can be solved by man.”

The Kennedy message was always to aim higher, and they always — or almost always — appealed to our best instincts. So there was Bobby speaking to a group of women at a breakfast in Terre Haute, Ind., during the 1968 campaign. As David Halberstam recalled, Bobby told the audience: “The poor are hidden in our society. No one sees them anymore. They are a small minority in a rich country. Yet I am stunned by a lack of awareness of the rest of us toward them.”

Bobby cared about the poor and ordinary working people in a way that can seem peculiar in post-Reagan America. And his insights into the problems of urban ghettos in the 1960s seemed to point to some of the debilitating factors at work in much of the nation today. Bobby believed, as Arthur Schlesinger Jr. has noted, that the crisis of the cities ultimately came from “the destruction of the sense, and often the fact, of community, of human dialogue, the thousand invisible strands of common experience and purpose, affection and respect which tie men to their fellows.”

Kennedy worried about the dissolution of community in a world growing ever more “impersonal and abstract.” He wanted the American community to flourish, and he knew that could not be accomplished in an environment of increasing polarization, racial and otherwise.

“Ultimately,” he said, “America’s answer to the intolerant man is diversity, the very diversity which our heritage of religious freedom has inspired.”

Like his brothers and sisters (don’t forget Eunice Kennedy Shriver and the Special Olympics), Bobby believed deeply in public service and felt that the whole point of government was to widen the doors of access to those who were being left out.

“Camelot” became a metaphor for the Kennedys in the aftermath of Jack’s assassination. But I always found “Finian’s Rainbow” to be a more appropriate touchstone for the family, especially the song “Look to the Rainbow,” with the moving lyric, “Follow the fellow who follows a dream.”

That was Ted’s message at Bobby’s funeral. The Kennedys counseled us for half a century to be optimistic and to strive harder, to find the resilience to overcome those inevitable moments of tragedy and desolation, and to move steadily toward our better selves, as individuals and as a nation.

Ted’s burial today is a perfect opportunity to remember the best that the family has given us.

Photo Coverage

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:31:00 +0000

Procession for Senator Edward M. Kennedy. http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/08/27/us/20090827-KENNEDY_index.html

Schedule of Events Surrounding the Funeral of Senator Edward M. Kennedy

timnolan7@gmail.com (timnolan7) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:33:00 +0000

Senator Edward M. Kennedy will lie in repose at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum beginning, Thursday, August 27, 2009.

The Senator will be joined throughout the day and night by a civilian honor guard of family, friends, and current and former staff.

He will also be joined by a military honor guard.

Visiting hours for the public will be on Thursday evening from 6:00 p.m.to 11:00 p.m. and on Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Public wishing to sign the condolence books can do so from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Thursday.

The Museum will close on Thursday at 3:00 p.m. and re-open on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

Parking and Transportation

The Public is encouraged to use public transportation to the Kennedy Presidential Library. Special shuttle service will be available from the JFK/UMass T Stop on the MBTA Red Line from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on Thursday and from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Friday.

Free Satellite Parking will also be available at the Bayside Expo Center from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on Thursday and from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Friday. Special shuttle service will be available for those parking at the Bayside Expo Center to the Kennedy Presidential Library.

Please Note: There will be no parking available to the public at the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

No backbacks will be allowed in the building.

Thursday Motorcade Route to Boston

Click here for map of motorcade.

Senator Kennedy will travel Route 3 North to Route 93 North into Boston. (Approximately 3:00 p.m.)

Senator Kennedy will exit at Government Center, and travel down Hanover Street into the North End, past St. Stephen's Church, where his mother Rose was baptized and her funeral mass celebrated.

The Kennedy BrothersContinuing down Hanover and crossing over the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, the park Senator Kennedy joined community leaders in creating that gives mothers and their children green space in the heart of the city. The park sits on the same land young Rose Fitzgerald enjoyed as a child.

Senator Kennedy will pass Faneuil Hall where Mayor Menino will ring the bell 47 times.

Continuing to Bowdoin Street, Senator Kennedy will pass 122 Bowdoin, where he opened his first office as an Assistant District Attorney and President Kennedy lived while running for Congress in 1946.

The motorcade will pass the JFK Federal Building where Senator Kennedy's Boston office has stood for decades, and then travel to Dorchester Street into South Boston and to the JFK Presidential Library.

People who wish to honor Senator Kennedy are urged to line the motorcade route at the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, City Hall Plaza and the Boston Common, in front of the Statehouse on Park Street.

The motorcade will arrive at the JFK Library at approximately 4:00 pm.

The Library will open to the public for visitation at 6:00 pm on Thursday.

For more information, visit these websites.

www.tedkennedy.org

www.kennedyinstitute.org