Help our "leaders" rethink Afghanistan

By Jeanie Keltner

We are making a terrible mistake in expanding this incredibly cruel and unwinnable war in Afghanistan. (“Envoy resists troop buildup,” Sacramento Bee, 11/12/09)

We are not there to protect our country from terrorist attacks: General Petraeus admits Afghanistan has fewer than 100 Al Qaeda, and most experts say the Taliban fights against the foreign troops occupying Afghanistan (us), and against the corrupt Karzai government, and has no intent or capability to attack outside their borders. They’re only a threat to us when we are there.

In fact, using military force in Afghanistan is actually creating more terrorists—as our drones bomb their little mud houses and kill their children—by mistake of course, but that matters little to the wailing women.
 
(If it's the oil and gas pipeline route that U.S. troops are protecting, the corporations that will benefit from the pipeline should hire private Blackwater soldiers to protect their investments and let our troops come home.)

It certainly shows the power of the military industrial complex that the President is considering escalation against the advice of experts and pundits from left and right and more than 60% of the populace here at home. Not to mention our disastrous economic situation—and each soldier “costs”  one million per year. Military leaders don't want to "lose" and military contractors like the billions in contracts.

Do check out “What Obama is up against” by: Russ Baker, t r u t h o u t (02 Nov09)—to be clearer about the extent of war machine and how afraid our leaders are of its power, how much we need to pressure them—to empower them.

I implore readers to go to RethinkAfghanistan.com It's powerful information from experts in many fields and from Afghanis in their fields (make sure you watch the segment on civilian casualties about 30 minutes into the video—see if you can hold back tears).

Then let that feeling move you—at least—to a phone call or email or two.

Jeanie Keltner served on the editorial board of the print version of Because People Matter. She hosts  the popular cable TV program Sacramento Soapbox!
 

Comments

[mary swisher]

GOOD FOR JEANNIE! GOOD FOR BPM FOR PRINTING IT. The Bee is so lame on important issues.

[Tom King]

Among the merits of this excellent piece, so cooly precise and thorough, is its restraint: Jeanie Keltner holds back the impulse to shout that we are in the hands of a "war president" not evil but weak and cowardly.