November 30, 2009
President Barack Obama
The White House
Washington, D.C.
Dear President Obama,
We are forwarding to you the accompanying letter from the leaders of 38 antiwar organizations, insisting that you turn from the path of war in Afghanistan before it is too late. The signatories write to express how strongly they and their constituents oppose any escalation in Afghanistan and how thoroughly any such action will alienate the American electorate, which takes this issue extremely seriously.
This is an historic document.
Not in decades has the antiwar movement coalesced so completely around one demand,
nor committed itself with such unanimity in determined resistance to the policy of a
Presidential Administration. You will note that these same groups brought millions onto
the streets before the U.S.
war in
Iraq , although at the
time they lacked majority public
support.
Now, with the U.S. population already majority-opposed to your intended actions, this coalition, uniting veterans, peace activists and religious leaders, urges you not to repeat President Johnson's mistake of committing the nation to a war he knew full well it could not win, persuaded by advisers that withdrawal was not, for him, an option. Withdrawal was the right option then, and it is the only option now.
Most Sincerely,
(signed)
Michael McPhearson, Executive Director
Veterans For Peace
Mike Ferner, President
Veterans For Peace
*******************
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 Austin, Antiwar.com
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 Foundation
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
Kevin Martin, Exec. Director, Peace Action
Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, Chair-Elect, World Parliament of Religion
Sheila Musaji, Editor, The American Muslim
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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