Dear Friends,

Congressman Kucinich is making a major impact in his challenge to the escalation of the war in Afghanistan. See the following:

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Dear President Obama,

Do you really want to be the new "war president"? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do -- destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they've always heard is true -- that all politicians are alike. I simply can't believe you're about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn't so.

It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other way around. That's the way General Washington insisted it must be. That's what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to invade China. "You're fired!," said Truman, and that was that. And you should have fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed services, but we f*#&in' hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of WMD (he has since sought redemption).

So now you feel backed into a corner. 30 years ago this past Thursday (Thanksgiving) the Soviet generals had a cool idea -- "Let's invade Afghanistan!" Well, that turned out to be the final nail in the USSR coffin.

There's a reason they don't call Afghanistan the "Garden State" (though they probably should, seeing how the corrupt President Karzai, whom we back, has his brother in the heroin trade raising poppies). Afghanistan's nickname is the "Graveyard of Empires." If you don't believe it, give the British a call. I'd have you call Genghis Khan but I lost his number. I do have Gorbachev's number though. It's + 41 22 789 1662. I'm sure he could give you an earful about the historic blunder you're about to commit.

With our economic collapse still in full swing and our precious young men and women being sacrificed on the altar of arrogance and greed, the breakdown of this great civilization we call America will head, full throttle, into oblivion if you become the "war president." Empires never think the end is near, until the end is here. Empires think that more evil will force the heathens to toe the line -- and yet it never works. The heathens usually tear them to shreds.

Choose carefully, President Obama. You of all people know that it doesn't have to be this way. You still have a few hours to listen to your heart, and your own clear thinking. You know that nothing good can come from sending more troops halfway around the world to a place neither you nor they understand, to achieve an objective that neither you nor they understand, in a country that does not want us there. You can feel it in your bones.

I know you know that there are LESS than a hundred al-Qaeda left in Afghanistan! A hundred thousand troops trying to crush a hundred guys living in caves? Are you serious? Have you drunk Bush's Kool-Aid? I refuse to believe it.

Your potential decision to expand the war (while saying that you're doing it so you can "end the war") will do more to set your legacy in stone than any of the great things you've said and done in your first year. One more throwing a bone from you to the Republicans and the coalition of the hopeful and the hopeless may be gone -- and this nation will be back in the hands of the haters quicker than you can shout "tea bag!"

Choose carefully, Mr. President. Your corporate backers are going to abandon you as soon as it is clear you are a one-term president and that the nation will be safely back in the hands of the usual idiots who do their bidding. That could be Wednesday morning.

We the people still love you. We the people still have a sliver of hope. But we the people can't take it anymore. We can't take your caving in, over and over, when we elected you by a big, wide margin of millions to get in there and get the job done. What part of "landslide victory" don't you understand?

Don't be deceived into thinking that sending a few more troops into Afghanistan will make a difference, or earn you the respect of the haters. They will not stop until this country is torn asunder and every last dollar is extracted from the poor and soon-to-be poor. You could send a million troops over there and the crazy Right still wouldn't be happy. You would still be the victim of their incessant venom on hate radio and television because no matter what you do, you can't change the one thing about yourself that sends them over the edge.

The haters were not the ones who elected you, and they can't be won over by abandoning the rest of us.

President Obama, it's time to come home. Ask your neighbors in Chicago and the parents of the young men and women doing the fighting and dying if they want more billions and more troops sent to Afghanistan. Do you think they will say, "No, we don't need health care, we don't need jobs, we don't need homes. You go on ahead, Mr. President, and send our wealth and our sons and daughters overseas, 'cause we don't need them, either."

What would Martin Luther King, Jr. do? What would your grandmother do? Not send more poor people to kill other poor people who pose no threat to them, that's what they'd do. Not spend billions and trillions to wage war while American children are sleeping on the streets and standing in bread lines.

All of us that voted and prayed for you and cried the night of your victory have endured an Orwellian hell of eight years of crimes committed in our name: torture, rendition, suspension of the bill of rights, invading nations who had not attacked us, blowing up neighborhoods that Saddam "might" be in (but never was), slaughtering wedding parties in Afghanistan. We watched as hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were slaughtered and tens of thousands of our brave young men and women were killed, maimed, or endured mental anguish -- the full terror of which we scarcely know.

When we elected you we didn't expect miracles. We didn't even expect much change. But we expected some. We thought you would stop the madness. Stop the killing. Stop the insane idea that men with guns can reorganize a nation that doesn't even function as a nation and never, ever has.

Stop, stop, stop! For the sake of the lives of young Americans and Afghan civilians, stop. For the sake of your presidency, hope, and the future of our nation, stop. For God's sake, stop.

Tonight we still have hope.

Tomorrow, we shall see. The ball is in your court. You DON'T have to do this. You can be a profile in courage. You can be your mother's son.

We're counting on you.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

Afghanistan FUNDING!

Congress is close to final passage of the $625.8 billion 2010 Defense Budget, which contains approximately $128.2 billion to conduct the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq through September 2010.

So far the White House has offered no timetable and no "exit strategy" for Afghanistan. On the contrary, General McCrystal is calling for tens of thousands of additional American troops and a long-term commitment, which could tie the United States down in Afghanistan for years to come.

This is the original meaning of a "quagmire"--when every step taken makes it harder and harder to move. At this rate, we will never leave Afghanistan. Members of Congress need to get a powerful message from us that we need a different policy in Afghanistan--one that emphasizes diplomacy and humanitarian assistance. Without a plan to bring the war to an end, Congress should not give another "blank check" to the White House for continued fighting.

Progressive Democrats of America, United for Peace and Justice, CODEPINK, Just Foreign Policy, and Voters for Peace believe that a public outcry is vitally important now, when the Pentagon is exerting pressure on the President and
Congress to escalate a costly, destructive, and ultimately unwinnable war.

Join the National Call-in Day September 30 and tell your Senators to unite with Sen. Russ Feingold and and ask your Congressional Representatives to vote against the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill. When making this call, urge them to cosponsor Congressman James McGovern's H.R. 2404 that would require President Obama to provide an exit plan from Afghanistan no later than December 2009. Prepare for your call by checking the list of co-sponsors of the McGovern bill. Watch Representative McGovern as he calls for an exit strategy and in case you missed it, please sign Tom Hayden's Afghanistan petition here.

Take action on the September 30 National Call-in Day:

No Exit Strategy? Stop the Funding!

Call the Capitol Hill Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

Working for peace,

The media is reporting that President Obama will make a final decision on his Afghanistan strategy next week. He is faced with widespread evidence of failure and a history of a country that has proven time and again to be "the grave yard of empires." It is time to bring U.S. troops home.

The Afghan war will decrease U.S. security, result in the deaths of U.S. soldiers and Afghanis, and further drain the U.S. budget. The slow withdrawal from Iraq has barely begun and the timetable will take almost as long as all of World War I - if the deadline is not extended. U.S. troops are overextended and exhausted. Afghanistan is a bigger challenge than Iraq. Iraq is 168,000 square-miles, with a population of 26 million. Afghanistan is 250,000 square miles with 30 million people. Pakistan adds over 310,000 square miles and 162 million people to the equation. 

Voters for Peace joins with September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows in urging an alternative, non-military strategy. Take this opportunity to write President Obama, provide him a link to their report and make the following points that summarize their report. Go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ and copy the material below in their comment form while adding your own comments.

Ten Reasons to End the Occupation of Afghanistan
1. US and NATO occupation creates civilian casualties, angering Afghans.
2. Military occupation has hampered humanitarian aid and reconstruction efforts.
3. Afghan women continue to face violence and oppression under the occupation.
4. US policy has empowered warlords, drug lords and the Taliban.
5. The occupation contributes to violence and destabilization for ordinary Afghans, including refugees.
6. NATO allies and military leaders are questioning the occupation.
7. US troop casualties in Afghanistan are on the rise.
8. Afghans are calling for a negotiated end to the war.
9. Military escalation will only increase the violence, and potentially lead to a wider war involving nuclear-armed Pakistan.
10. Military occupation of Afghanistan does not curb terrorism.

Recommendations for a Changed US Policy
1. Set a swift timetable for the withdrawal of US and NATO military forces, to be substituted by UN forces for short-term security.
2. Immediately cease air strikes on targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
3. Support negotiations between all parties involved in the conflict, including Afghan women leaders.
4. Reform humanitarian aid and reconstruction funding efforts to prioritize Afghan organizations over foreign contractors. Ensure that funded projects address the needs and requests of Afghans and are not simply pet projects of foreign donors.
5. Invest in long-term aid that increases self-reliance such as sustainable agriculture efforts.
6. Immediately discontinue the use of Provincial Reconstruction Teams, which are costly, inefficient, and have militarized the aid process.
7. Standardize, increase, and publicly document compensation to Afghan families and communities affected by US military actions.
8. Sign the treaty to ban cluster bombs, pay for cluster bomb and landmine clean up in Afghanistan, and pledge never to use these weapons again.

Their full report which goes into greater detail on all these issues can be viewed at: http://www.peacefultomorrows.org/downloads/Afghanistanprimerjan09final.pdf.

Go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ and copy the material above in their comment form.  Add your own comments as well. Tell the president to end the war.

It is time to recognize that war is not going to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan or Pakistan. U.S. troops should be brought home now, not just from Iraq, but from Afghanistan as well. U.S. national security and economic stability depends on ending the military conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Sincerely,

Kevin B. Zeese
Executive Director

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• No new troops!
• Immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan
• Money for Human Needs Not War!