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Another Grim Milestone of 8 Years of War Quickly Approaches: 8 Years of War - No More; Jobs not Wars Center City Phila. Planned
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| 02.06.2010
...Another milestone of eight years of war is before us as we face the 1,000th U.S. combat death in Afghanistan... 8 Years of War - No More; Jobs not Wars
1,000 U.S soldiers dead in Afghanistan is not just another number, but a representation of the toll of war for parents, daughters and sons, wives and husbands here in the U.S., and thousands of miles away in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Untold thousands of civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan have been killed over the past eight years. Pakistanis now, as part of the war, face near daily remote-controlled CIA drone bombing strikes that have killed 708 civilians just over the past year. These drones, based in Afghanistan and built by Lockheed Martin and other U.S. weapons profiteers, are directed from the continental U.S. through space by satellites (also built by Lockheed Martin). "For each al Qa'eda and Taliban terrorist killed by US drones, 140 innocent Pakistanis also had to die. Over 90 per cent of those killed in the deadly missile strikes were civilians”, claim Pakistani authorities. No less, of course, and far more than we can really know, the people of Afghanistan face an escalating war, with the deployment of 30,000 more U.S. troops, sent by the second President and Commander-in-Chief to preside over the U.S. war in Afghanistan. By the fall of 2010, the Pentagon will have 100,000 U.S. combat forces in Afghanistan (and an equal number of private U.S. “contractors”). Another milestone of eight years of war is before us as we face the 1,000th U.S. combat death in Afghanistan. Another time of mourning and remembrance is almost upon us. We don’t know the exact day, undoubtedly a matter of days, perhaps a week or so, but another protest in Philadelphia of the escalating war in Afghanistan and yet another vigil for peace is being planned. So plan to stand together with us as the names of the war dead are read, and as all (!) the war dead are remembered and mourned. Plan to toll the bell of peace for all the war dead in Afghanistan, and Pakistan, as well as the casualties of war right here at home – the billions of dollars squandered ($100 billion a year in Afghanistan, $1 million per year per soldier in Afghanistan, on top of a price tag that is reaching $1 trillion, that could easily have covered real health care reform for all uninsured Americans and gone a long way to re-building the U.S. economy). Plan to toll the bell for all the people forgotten and the millions of jobs lost to an utterly war-torn economy (civilian spending has always created more jobs than spending on war, one statistic today is that the $1 million spent per soldier per year in Afghanistan is equal to the cost of employing sixteen full time construction workers a year). Citing the impact of World War I in ending the Progressive Era, World War II in killing the New Deal, the Korean War in terminating Harry Truman's Fair Deal program and the Vietnam War in crushing Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, Boston University historian Robert Dallek told President Obama at a White House meeting last year, "war kills off great reform movements." “War Is [still] Not The Answer” for either the U.S. or Afghanistan. Funding for the war must cease for the sake of peace and development in Afghanistan and economic justice in the United States. Read Norman Solomon’s excellent piece Don’t Call It a ‘Defense’ Budget in Common Dreams, http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/02/02 Plan to join us the next working day after the 1,000th U.S. military death in Afghanistan, 5p.m., Phila. City Hall west side, 15th & Market. Visit www.icasualties.org and www.brandywinepeace.com regularly. Robert M. Smith, staff coordinator, Brandywine Peace Community
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