February
25, 2010
Dear
CODEPINKer,
For
those who know or have lost a loved one serving in Afghanistan or
Iraq, this weeks milestone of the 1000th US death in Operation
Enduring Freedom struck deep. However, it is not just
the family members of soldiers and countless Afghan families for
whom these two wars are an open wound. The coffers of our towns,
states and nation are bleeding; domestic programs which enrich and
lift up the lives of Americans are being cut at an alarming rate
with hardly any debate. Our tax dollars have purchased Predator
and Reaper Drones, padded the pockets of Eric Prince
and Blackwater mercenaries, Halliburton and the too-big-to-fail
banks at the expense of our communities, our main streets,
our small businesses, our neighbors homes.
As we proceed with our current military offensive in Helmand Province
-- the very one touted by McChrystal, our President, Pentagon officials
and the media as the first step toward victory in Afghanistan
-- let's not foget the thousands of Afghan civilians who have died
in Operation Enduring Freedom, including 39
civilians just last weekend from another disastrous NATO
airstrike.
Won't
you join us in writing to NATO Command and General Stanley McChrystal
to tell them that this is an unacceptable toll?
What
will we get for the billions of dollars that Congress is poised
to fork over with the next bloated Defense budget? Will that money
lead to peace and bring our loved ones home? Not as long as President
Obama continues this hopeless escalation by using flawed military
logic to make his decisions about Afghanistan (and Iraq.) There
is simply no way that Afghanistan will be set on the road to peace
as long as the budget funds military aggression when it should be
funding development.
With the economic crisis, including the dilemma about how to pay
for healthcare, more and more people on both the left and even the
right are suggesting we end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. At
the recent CPAC conference, Cong. Ron Paul said we cant afford
to maintain an empire and called for an end to the warfare
state. Let General McChrystal and NATO Command know
TODAY, as we hit 1,006 dead, that their strategy will only bring
more devastation and loss to those on all sides of the conflict.
With
love and outrage and hope,
Dana, Emily, Farida, Gael, Gayle, Janna, Jodie,
Medea, Nancy, Rae and Whitney
PS
- Brownbaggers
not Teabaggers! Here's a great way to put pressure
on your Congressperson to stop funding war: Join with Progressive
Democrats of America Brownbagger vigils across America!
Vigils at Congressional district offices happen on the
third Wednesday of each month. The next vigil will be March 17.
Find a vigil near you here
or start your own!
- Kudos
to Kelly in Mississippi who
joined her local brownbag in vibrant pink (insert photo) and to
Joellen in Detroit whose brown bag vigil doubled in size from
one month to the next --from 16 people to 32! Her group aims to
get 64 people next month!
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