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Jan 2 2010 Biden in Baghdad: Mujahideen Army [WHO?] attacks Green Zone

Curiosity killed the cat, perhaps, but digging a little deeper into the news may provide us with the means of ensuring that our children live in more peaceful times. Inspecting the results of our occupation of Iraq may yield insights into more effective ways of realistically participating in the world we live in.

U.S. Vice President Biden flew into Iraq and was greeted with 4 rocket attacks targeting the Green Zone. The only reported casualties were 2 innocent civilians killed and  5 wounded when one of the rockets exploded in a nearby apartment complex.

The Mujahideen Army , Jaish al-Mujahideen, claimed responsibility. Who are these killers? What is their self-justification? They are part of the underground Baathist and Islamist militant 'Iraqi Resistance' groups that formed in late 2004 in response to the occupation. They are nationalists and are dedicated to fighting the U.S. presence in the country. [START]

Many of its weapons were originally stolen from abandoned Iraqi army depots. They specialize in small-scale mortar, rocket, IED, and sniper attacks, as opposed to spectacular suicide car bombings. During 2006, its most noteworthy operations were the downing of U.S. Apache helicopters with shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles.

They have more recently sought to distance themselves from certain other insurgent groups. Their December 2008 press release insisted that they "have neither joined in the Awakening movements, nor in the methodology of fanaticism, of which [Al-Qaida is] the central pillar."

Their 17th of March 2005 Open Letter to the American Public urged the American people to take matters into their own hands and overthrow the "criminals" that currently ran their government. The letter reviewed the lies of the Bush administration and  showed a familiarity with American history and respect for the American people, placing blame entirely on the Bush administration, which it believes rigged the 2004 election.

The Mujahideen Army is dedicated to jihaad, but not opposed to political participation. Overtures to the government to enter the political process have not, however, been acceptable to Iraq's rulers.

Jaish al-Mujahideen issued a statement in May 2006 a condemning needless ethnic and sectarian warfare between Iraqis and blamed the American occupation for the strife between  Sunnis, Shiites, Arabs, Kurds, Muslims, and Christians. It concluded, "We must work courageously and with a sense of national and religious responsibility for the sake of future generations, so that we may spare them of the evils of ethnic and racial extremism and segregation." [Global Terror Alert]

We make no apologies for Jaish al-Mujahideen. They are a fact of life, born of the occupation. They have chosen, for whatever reasons, a violent path that helps nothing, harms the innocent, and prolongs the agony of the Iraqi people.

So what do we get out of this research? Another sets of details that verify that American interference into the lives of other nations, over the past 50 years, has caused more harm than good, has created more enemies than friends, and has made our lives less secure.

We don't need isolationism any more than we need occupationism. We need intelligent, rational, and above all compassionate support for the peoples of the world. We owe it to our children to create more peaceful tomorrows by ending our funding of violent solutions and instead putting our vast resources and creative energies into non-violent strategies and tactics.

Dec 26 2009 News of Iraq - Why tell only part of the truth?

It's question time again. Today the media showed great alarm about the bombing of innocent Shi'ite pilgrims who died from bombs set by ...? Unknown assailants. Some Western media, including the UK's Guardian,  went so far as to label the bombing 'sectarian', although no evidence of the perpetrators has come forth. 

What most of the media failed to let us know about were today's other 10 bomb blasts, 5 of which were in Baghdad. Why would news outlets hide the truth about the other bombs?

I must admit that I am stumped. What comes to mind are rather simplistic answers, none of which really make sense to me, but maybe one will resonate with you...

1) We are so embarrassed by our failure to shape a reasonably safe environment after expending a trillion dollars [and so many, many lives of innocent Iraqis, not to mention the thousands of Americans who died needlessly in this farce of a war] that we cannot speak of the truth of the horrors we unleashed,

or

2) Owners of the media judge that their reading audience is so ashamed of the actions of the U.S. government that they will not buy newspapers that keep telling the sad truth.

Got any other ideas? Add them as comments or send them on to mail@121Contact.org

Peace to you and yours in these waning days of 2009.

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Also on Saturday, three policemen and two civilians were wounded when a roadside bomb struck a police patrol in Baghdad' southeastern district of Zaafaraniyah, the police said.

#2: An Iraqi police official says a roadside bomb has killed three Shiite pilgrims in eastern Baghdad in the latest round of violence to strike worshippers during a revered Shiite observance. The official says Saturday's bomb was planted near a tent that offered drinks and food to pilgrims. He says 16 people were injured. A medical official confirmed the casualty figures.

#3: A member of the Baghdad local council escaped an assassination attempt when an improvised explosive device that targeted pilgrims in the east of the capital city who were heading for the holy Shiite city of Karbala, the council chief said on Friday. “Sabbar al-Saadi escaped the IED blast in the area of al-Maamil. He was rushed to a nearby hospital and his health condition is stable,” Kamel al-Zaydi told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. Meanwhile, a source in Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr’s office in Baghdad said Sheikh Amjad al-Saadi, the office’s relations director, and a driver were wounded in the explosion, adding the local officials were inspecting the Husseini processions that were heading to Karbala, where Shiite Muslims are celebrating the Ashuraa.

#4: Three people were killed and seven others wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) attack targeted a Shiite procession in Baghdad on Friday evening, a security source said.
“The IED left three pilgrims killed and seven others injured in the eastern Baghdad district of al-Rashad, when they were going on foot in a procession heading for Karbala,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#5: Two persons were killed and eight others wounded in an improvised explosive device attack that targeted a procession of Shiite pilgrims heading to the holy city of Karbala to celebrate the Ashuraa. “Two civilians were killed and eight others wounded in the attack that took place near the Baghdad al-Jadida (New Baghdad) area, in the southeastern part of the city,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: Mahmoud Hussein al-Obiedi, a Sunni chieftain, was killed in a bomb explosion outside his house in Baghdad's western suburb of Abu Ghraib, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.


Tuz Khurmato:
#1: Elsewhere, a policeman and four civilians were wounded when an explosive charge hidden in a garbage container detonated near a police checkpoint in the town of Tuz Khurmato, some 90 km east of Tikrit, the capital city of Salahudin province in north of Baghdad, a provincial police source said.


Mosul:
#1: Iraqi forces defused a car bomb that was meant to target security forces in eastern Mosul on Friday, a local security source within the Ninewa Operations Command (NOC) said. “The police managed to dismantle a car bomb that was parked in the area of Bazwaya, on the main street that leads to Bartala district, eastern Mosul city, without incident,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The explosive vehicle was meant to target the security forces heading for Bartala that has recently witnessed disputes between Christians and ethnic Shabaks,” the source added.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: In separate incident, Mallooky al-Jumaily, a police Lieutenant General, was killed in the morning by a bomb explosion in front of his house in the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, a anonymous source from the city police told Xinhua.

A civilian man was killed on Saturday morning when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near his house in central al-Falluja district, a local police source said. “An IED planted on the roadside in al-Jumhouriya neighborhood, central Falluja, went off right after a civilian man stepped out of his house, killing him instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Dec 5 2009 Iraq Christmas, Iraq Muharram, Iraq has no holiday from death,

The winter 'celebrations' of Muharram and Christmas have arrived in Iraq. The former celebrates a month in which fighting is forbidden (haram), and the latter celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. 14 explosions and a spate of assassinations mark the holidays.

Ah, Baghdad, the City of Peace.

Ah, well, sometimes things don't go the way they should. The violence is once again on the rise and the innocent Iraqis continue to pay the price of the destabilization that the U.S. brought to their nation.

[photo from timesonline]

Now the killing is as complicated as ever.

Factions loyal to the Maliki government point to the violence as a reason maintain a U.S. presence, which coincidentally props up their regime. 

Forces opposed to the Maliki government use the violence as proof that the current regime is unfit to protect the people.

Iran loves an unstable Iraqe because it is no longer a containment to Iranian influence in the region.

Al Qaida, remnants of Baathist cells, disaffected disbanded militiamen, gangs of unemployed, gangs of hopeless...pick and choose. 

And the criminals? They are ecstatic. Kidnappings, especially of children, are on the rise with prices of $100,000 common for the return of a beloved child. There's no politics here, only the ease with which criminals can avoid arrest because of the general chaos. Ditto smuggling, child prostitution, theft, and other lucrative activities that at least have the ability of providing sustenance to the masses of unemployed who see no other viable alternatives. Starvation is a real threat in these days of hopelessness. Don't underestimate the effect of rising crime organizations on the reconstruction efforts. Iraq is not the first nation to watch as criminals fill the security void left by departing occupiers.

And how will it sort itself out? We wont know until the invader leaves and the Iraqis settle their own business. The U.S. government has pressured Maliki to build a unity body to rule the nation, but his willingness to let go of power that way seems nonexistent. 

Leave? [URUKNET]The recently passed 636 billion military spending bill (395 members voted for it, 34 against it) only covers operations through September 30, 2010, and doesn't include the monies US President Obama will need for his Afghanistan 'surge.'  Much of it is for high-tech apparatus that is absolutely useless in the war against small terrorist actions. 

 

The fledgling peace movements within Iraq receive no support from the Obama's administration, and the paltry support that NGO's are able to funnel to the pacifists, reconcilliation movements, etc. is not enough to make a difference.

The solution will probably be bloody but it will be their own solution and they will learn to live with it.

Reported security incidents Dec 25, 2009

Baghdad:
#1: Five people were killed and 22 others wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in the eastern Baghdad district of Sadr City on Thursday, a local security source said. “The IED went off near a funerary gathering in Sector 42, Sadr City district, eastern Baghdad, leaving five people killed and 22 others wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Three people were killed and eight others wounded on Thursday when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in al-Zaafaraniya, southeastern Baghdad, a local security source said. “An IED went off near a Shiite funerary gathering in the area of Sa’eeda, al-Zaafaraniya neighborhood, southeastern Baghdad, killing three and wounding eight others,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: One civilian was killed and four others were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in eastern Baghdad on Friday, a police source said. “The bomb, planted by gunmen in al-Shamaiya region in eastern Baghdad, went off, killing a civilian and injuring four,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Unknown gunmen slew on Thursday a prominent figure in Jalawlaa, said a local security source in Diala province. “The victim is Shokor Tayyeb. His daughter, Amal, is a candidate of the Kurdistan Alliance List participating in the upcoming parliamentary election,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said that the armed men stabbed Tayyeb with knives before slitting his throat.


Karbala:
#1: An improvised explosive device went off near a Shiite procession of pilgrims visiting the holy city of Karbala for the Ashuraa but nothing was said about possible casualties, according to eyewitnesses on Thursday. “A blast targeted a Husseini procession in the area of Bab Baghdad on Maytham al-Timar street in Karbala city. The blast, based on initial information, was the result of an IED,” the Aswat al-Iraq news agency correspondent reported.

Twenty-two Shiite pilgrims were killed or wounded when three gas cylinders exploded in the holy Shiite city of Karbala on Thursday, a security source said. “Three gas cylinders that were used to prepare dinner meals for the pilgrims reviving the Muharram 10th anniversary, or Ashuraa, exploded near a Husseini procession, leaving a number of them killed or wounded,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A roadside bomb wounded four civilians in Kerbala, 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Baghdad on Thursday night, police said


Shirqat:
#1: Gunmen opened fire on a local pro-government militia checkpoint on Thursday night, killing one and wounding two others in Shirqat, 300 km (190 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: Unidentified gunmen opened fire southwest of Kirkuk city, killing a civil servant of the electricity department in al-Rashad district, a senior security source in Kirkuk said on Thursday. “Gunmen in a vehicle opened drive-by fire on the civilian who was also in his car,” Brig. Sarhad Qader, the chief of the Kirkuk Districts’ Police Department (KDPD), told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Sinjar:
#1: Three Peshmerga forces were killed on Friday and ten were wounded in a car bomb explosion in Sinjar, according to a security source. “A car rigged with explosives went off on Friday (Dec. 25) targeting A Peshmerga forces vehicle patrol between al-Rabieaya and Sinjar districts, western Talafar, killing three and injuring ten,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

A suicide bomber detonated a car laden with explosives and killed one soldier from the minority Kurds' Peshmerga military and wounded 14 others near Iraq's border with Syria in northern Nineveh province, said Khaled Abdala, a local leader from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). A different source from the KDP said the explosion was not a suicide attack, but a remotely detonated car bomb, and put the toll at one killed and 10 wounded.


Mosul:
#1: A high-ranking member of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's Baath Party was on Friday fatally shot in a suburb of the northern Iraqi town of Mosul, witnesses said. Ahmed Kamel al-Badrani, a former officer in Hussein's feared military intelligence apparatus, was gunned down in front of his home in the western Mosul district of Amil, witnesses told the German Press Agency dpa.

#2: Update Two people died late Thursday of wounds sustained in the suicide explosion that targeted chairman of the Talafar council, raising the fatalities to four, a medical source said on Friday. “The two bodyguards were seriously wounded in the explosion that took place last Monday (Dec. 21),” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: US forces killed an insane man in west of Mosul city, a security source said on Friday. “The forces killed an insane man late Thursday (Dec. 24) in Tal Abta district, west of Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The 17-year-old young man appeared in front of the US patrol holding a plastic gun,” he said, noting that the forces thought he is a gunman and killed him.

#4: Update The final toll of the double explosions in the city of Hilla on Thursday rose to 25 dead and 105 wounded, a police source said on Friday. “A police force managed to defuse a number of bombs in the same area on Thursday (Dec. 24),” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The explosions killed 25, including 14 policemen, and wounded 105, including 35 cops,” he added. A police source had said yesterday (Dec.24) that 12 persons were killed, including member of the Babel council Neaamat al-Bakri, and 50 others were wounded, including Commander of anti-explosive department Colonel Taleb al-Shemri and two of his aides, when a car bomb and an improvised explosive device went off in central Hilla.

#5: Three employees were killed on Friday by unknown gunmen in western Mosul, a police source said. “Unknown gunmen opened fire on a number of the census employees in al-Hay al-Senaai region, western Mosul, killing three of them,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#6: Police found the body of a woman who had been suffocated to death in western Mosul, police said.

#7: An attacker threw an explosive at an Iraqi police patrol, killing one civilian and wounding another in central Mosul, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Two gunmen were arrested while attempting to plant an improvised explosive device (IED) in central al-Falluja city on Thursday, a local security source said. “The Falluja police forces, acting upon intelligence tip-offs, arrested two gunmen while emplacing an IED near a checkpoint in al-Andalus neighborhood, central Falluja,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A sticky bomb exploded on Friday inside a car in eastern Falluja, without leaving casualties, a police source said. “The bomb, stuck to a civilian vehicle, went off on Friday morning (Dec. 25) on a road in al-Karma district, eastern Falluja, without causing casualties,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: Anbar emergency police chief survived an attempt on his life on Friday morning in southern Falluja, according to a police source. “Unknown gunmen on Friday morning (De. 25) opened fire on the motorcade of Colonel Ghazi al-Dulaimi using light weapons in al-Aameriya district in southern Falluja,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Policemen clashed with the attackers and managed to injure and arrest one of them,” he added. “The colonel was not hurt, while the gunmen fled to unknown place,” he said.

Dec 23, 2009 Salaam from Baghdad, the city of pain, hope, and magic tales...

Salaam from Baghdad, the city of pain, hope, and magic tales... This message is sent to all of my loved ones, to the people whom I do really love and care about, whether living inside or outside my Iraq, and since you're reading this message then you're surely one of them ! :)... This is to wish you and all of your loved ones a very special Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year Inshallah... I do really hope and pray that the year 2010 will be full of happiness, joy, love, success, peace, and warmth for you and for all of your loved ones, Amen... I also do really hope and pray that you'll always keep me in your thoughts and prayers, I do really need you to stand by my side, this is really a very difficult time period for both me and my Iraq, absolutely nothing seems to be going in the right direction, you put all of your faith and hope in something and all what you get in return is mere disappointment and a broken heart... But I am hanging in there, and trying my very best to keep my hope and faith in a better tomorrow alive, sometimes I succeed in that, other times I fail, but hey, at least I am trying here eh ?! :)... May be all of this fighting and struggle are what make us ordinary Baghdadis what we really are... May be all of this madness, mess, and disappointment are what urge us to move forwards and keep pushing us in the right direction... May be we do need to feel really sad sometimes or most of the time so that when it's time for us to feel happy at last we just cherish every second of it, I really do not know, after all the darkest hour of the day is right before dawn comes around eh ?! :)... What I do really know for sure is that I do really and urgently need all of my good and true friends (and you're surely one of them) to stand by my side and make me feel less alone during this really harsh time... You, my true and good friend, are my consolation... If you're happy then I am happy, so please just be happy OK ?! With my love... Your friend forever, Lubna in Baghdad...

Dec 21 2009 Dear President Obama, please don't forget Iraq

[This is excerpted from Peace Action's letter we endorsed. It is technical, and pinpoints Obama's previous promises to help.
You can write your own...if you are willing to take the few minutes to help.  We know you care, now let's see you take the simple action of writing to Obama. We know he listens to mail!]

Dear President Obama,
We urge you to continue non-military support of Iraqis. Lasting success in Iraq depends upon strengthening Iraqi civil society, addressing the refugee crisis, and providing meaningful development. We must ensure that ending the U.S. military operations does not lead to ending the U.S.
humanitarian and development assistance. 

Please fulfill your promises to support the millions of displaced Iraqis.

Any successful plan for helping displaced Iraqis must examine these three
elements:

* Local Integration and humanitarian aid: The U.S. government, in coordination with the Iraqi government and host governments, should push for more efficient systems for visas, residency and access to education and healthcare.
* Resettlement: Resettlement is an essential tool for protecting the most vulnerable Iraqis and for sharing the burden of hosting them. We urge you to commit to accepting 50% of the Iraqi refugees identified by the UNHCR for resettlement.
* Voluntary Repatriation: The U.S. government should work with Iraq, Syria, Jordan and other host countries to help displaced Iraqis return home.

In a report published this July, the State Department's Inspector General recommended ending the Provincial Reconstruction Teams by 2011.  Eliminating the Provincial Reconstruction Teams requires a transitional plan to handover the reconstruction work to Iraqis and to fund Iraqi NGOs, especially Community Based Organizations.


II. The Budget

We ask you to fulfill your promise by increasing the funds allocated in the FY11 budget for the State Department's Population, Refugees, and Migration Bureau (PRM) and for USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA).

In addition, we ask that you support the U.S. Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (ERMA) fund to meet unexpected urgent refugee and migration needs. Money appropriated to the ERMA fund remains available until expended, creating an important backup emergency reserve.

We would also recommend that the federal agencies involved in the resettlement process, including the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migrations (PRM), and other
relevant offices in the Department of Homeland Security are well-coordinated and adequately funded to ensure a smooth and efficient resettlement process.

Finally, the U.S. government should urge the Iraqi government to spend more of its resources on displaced Iraqis inside Iraq and in the region. The U.S. government should also encourage regional governments and organizations to participate in funding projects aimed at helping displaced Iraqis.

In loving kindness,

Bruce Wallace and Noor

121Contact.org

Dec 18 2009 LaOnf = Nonviolence in Iraq, of Iraqis, for Iraqis, by Iraqis

[from Will Waddell in Politics] " 'Iraq' is a misnomer in the state sense. The term al-'Iraq actually means the shore of the great river. It has been used by Arab geographers since the eighth century, but only came to mean a particular country situated in the alluvial plain formed by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers since the 1920s...Iraq has always been a country of disharmonious parts welded together only through the liberal application of force. "

Given this background it is heartening to see that Iraqis are now facing the reality of their history with a non-violent movement that encompasses the entire nation.

Thanks to Ali H. Sahib we have a first-hand account of a movement that is growing in Iraq. Over the past year the growth of internal peace activism has been marked by less resistance and more acceptance. The ­Iraqi civil-society organization LaOnf (which means “no violence” in Arabic) is a network of Iraqi activists building a nonviolence movement to resist occupation, terrorism and corruption in Iraq. 

 Although 266 applications from Iraqis for attendance were received, the budget could only support participation by 125 representatives from 17 out of Iraq's 18 provinces, and 20 from other nations. 32% were women. 

Members from around the nation shared their experiences  and became aware of each other as part of a larger non-violence movement. 

Meeting with those from outside Iraq allowed for valuable sharing of experiences both on the ground and organizationally. 

[The final report of Iraqi Non-violence Forum Iraq, ErIraq, Erbil, Shaqlawa 6-11 Nov, 2009, by Ali H. Sahib, is available in PDF format by request to: mail@121Contact.org]  

Presentations focused on Iraq-specific aspects of non-violence and included discussions of the cultural basis of violence and non-violence in Iraq's history as well as the present.

Practical aspects of introducing non-violent means were the focus of much of the discussions. Education at home and in school was noted as a critical factor. A group of
students from Salahaden University attended the forum to get experiences in voluntary works in civil society organizations, peace and nonviolence.

Workshops were held to train people in non-violent methods.

It was noted that the Maliki government has been less than open to this movement and still puts bureaucratic obstacles in its path, making it difficult to get official permissions for activities, etc.

Among the goals for the coming year:

• capacity building
• a series of advocacy campaigns throughout Iraq
• writing the charter and electing the board of directors
• further understanding of the challenges facing the non-violence movement in Iraq
• update the website and generally improve communications
• organizing more workshops

We'll try to keep you informed about LaOnf in the coming year. There may be ways in which you can help them, and we'll let you know about such opportunities.

In loving kindness,

Bruce and Noor

121Contact throught the walls of political violence

Dec 9 2009 GroundZero in Baghdad

                       

New York City September 11 2001          Baghdad December 8 2009

So you must have some idea of what they are going through now; of what we unleashed upon them;

of what we are about to unleash upon the innocent of Afghanistan.

Violence is not really the answer. The pain and devastation we inflict will not make us safer.

Please, Mr. President, bring our troops home and use the great money for works of peace, not death.

In loving kindness,
Bruce and Noor

Dec 8 2009 Baghdad erupts in Bombs-a precursor to Afghanistan's future? Dear President Obama

Just as the Iraq's leaders put the final touches on rules to govern the upcoming elections, Baghdad erupted in a spate of bombings which at last rough count have killed over 125 people and wounded over 450 [BBC News]. Mosul and Anbar also reported deaths and maiming from bombings and assassinations.

All indications are that alQaeda is behind the latest violence [BBC News, NYTimes]. Thankfully the Iraqis no longer turn to sectarian revenge for these attacks. They have come to know alQaeda as the enemy, and not each other. Unfortunately the Maliki government seems unable to stop these deadly and disruptive attacks, further weakening both the government's credibility and the general feeling of security that had been growing in recent months. 

While civilian deaths in 2009 are about 1/4 the highest levels of 2006-7, the current rise is disconcerting and destabilizing. The next elections are scheduled for March, 2010 and will require stability if they are to be accepted as valid. 

And now we deepen our engagement in Afghanistan, supporting a repression of the various Taliban groups and their allied alQaeda cells. As we ramp up our efforts we create more recruits for alQaeda by our violence. More and more innocent civilians will die from our weaponry and each will bring more into the fold that hate us deeply enough to join forces with the Taliban and alQaeda. When we pull out they will be on the rise again--no matter how long we stay. That is the sad ugly truth. The Taliban, unlike alQaeda, are native to Afghanistan and so do not inspire the 'resistance mentality' we saw in Anbar as the Awakening Councils took up arms against alQaeda in Iraq. While some tribal leaders have resisted the Taliban, they are few in number and rarely successful in stopping the Taliban from taking over large areas of the country.

Our destruction of Iraq's innocent civilians, their culture, infrastructure, and security should not be replicated in Afghanistan. Our incursion into Iraq has cost us lives, liberty, and a great deal of money. It has also generated more enemies who are against the U.S. and willing to kill innocent Americans while they seek revenge. We have no need to do this again in Afghanistan.

Dear Mr. President,

Please do not use violence to try and alter the political situation in Afghanistan. We can predict the result: more deaths of innocent civilians which generate more enemies of the U.S. who are willing to kill us for revenge. And the dollar cost: about 10 billion US dollars a month!

We should take half the military budget and put it to aiding the Afghans with civilian, infrastructure, and training programs. We can help build schools, hospitals, and roads. Then we can use the other half, about 5 billion US dollars per month, to help Americans into jobs, better health care, and improved education.

We can become a model for peaceful solutions, and not an example of the folly of violence.

In loving kindness,
Bruce Wallace
121Contact.org

Dec 3 2009 Obama fails to learn from Iraq. Let's kill some Afghans next (and maybe some Pakistanis, too).

Let's try not to be distracted by Obama's call for a limit to our Afghanistan involvement. His actions have a recent history of falling far short of his promises, and his logic is much weaker than his charismatic presence in the media.

Winning the hearts and minds of Afhganistan's population will not be accomplished by killing and maiming its citizens.

Iraq provides evidence that the US is incapable of enforcing internal peace in external nations. We might have learned this in Vietnam, but we didn't. In Iraq we have a recent, current, and bleeding example of the futility of trying to impose from the outside what only the people on the inside are capable of.

The initial cause of Iraqis losing their security was our invasion. The initiator of Iraq's plunge into violence was our occupation. Any Iraqi gains in security are the result of Iraqi actions, not US troop violence. The 'surge', without the coinciding attacks on Al Qaida by the tribal leaders in Anbar would merely have been more of the same: more US troop targets for the resistance to aim at; more US killing of civilians for Al Qaida to recruit on; and more denial of the basic truth that the Iraqis must solve their own problems. The Iraqis have a long way to go, but since we've toned down our violence so has their violence been reduced, and now they are beginning to face their own realities. More so each day that we pull more troops out.

Don't be distracted. The 2010 American 'violence-as-solution' in Iraq and Afghanistan is budgeted at about 12 billion US dollars (Afghanistan will cost more than Iraq this year). This doesn't count the billions given to mercenaries who fight without accountability nor the further billions spent by the CIA in its covert, i.e., illegal, actions along the Afghan/Pakistan border. [Older readers and history buffs will be reminded of covert actions in Laos and Cambodia, I'm sure.]

Let's not be distracted by the fact that we may actually be able to secure two Afghani population centers and the single road that joins them. The majority of the population will be unprotected, resentful of our perceived occupation, and more and more willing to join the resistance that is growing every day.

Obama's notion that Al Qaida needs a safe haven in Afghan/Pakistan territory in order to plot our destruction is another weakness in his logic. He ignores the fact that the major planning was done in Europe and the USA, with the scheme only presented for approval to Al Qaida in Afghanistan after it was defined. The pilot training took place in the US!!!!

Each day we fight Obama's wars we enable Al Qaida and its like to become stronger. We provide them with recruits by our actions. We make ourselves weaker by focusing on a specific geographical area when the real danger is disseminated.

Don't think for a minute that when we kill innocent civilians in Iraq or Afghanistan or Pakistan that the resentment stays within those borders. Some of it grows right here, in the good old USA. We should take the billions upon billions we spend to kill and maim and use that money to grow friends instead of enemies.

Nov 17 2009 Fight Taliban or care for thousands who hunger in the U.S.?

We weren't going to post Wright Salisbury''s latest article because it doesn't talk about Iraq. We deplore the American penchant for denial, and each new debacle seems to enable the U.S. public to ignore the disasters we have caused in the past. In some ways our incursion into Afghanistan serves to take our minds off the devastation we brought to the Iraqi people. 

Our use of violence in Afghanistan as well as Iraq helps us ignore the growing number of American families who simply do not have enough to eat. We are talking about some 49 million Americans, according to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

However, Wright's impassioned piece deserves to be read. We agree with him. We think  you should take the time to see if you do also. And if so, then take at least the minimal action of letting your elected representatives know how you feel. It will only take you a few minutes, and the lives you save and the pain you help avoid will be worth it.

Boots on the ground or food on the table?

 ... and a house to live in, and clothes to wear, and affordable health care?  Which is it going to be, President Obama?

 

At $1,000,000 per year to put a soldier in Afghanistan and unemployment topping 10%, which do we value more — fighting a war almost certainly doomed to failure or feeding, clothing, housing and providing health care to our own people?

 

Seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it?

 

Think outside the box, Mr. President

 

Just because you inherited two wars from your mentally- and morally-challenged predecessor, you are not obliged to continue them.  Back in the 60’s, people used to ask, “What if they gave a war and nobody came?”  That was in the Vietnam era, when young people were being drafted.  Lyndon Johnson sat in the White House suffering severe depression as people marched out front, chanting, “Hey, hey, LBJ. How many kids did you kill today?”

 

He was so depressed, he declined to run for another term, and Richard Nixon became the next president. Hardly an improvement.

 

But that did put an end to the Selective Service System.  From then on, if we fought a war, we would not draft college kids.  We would use our National Guard, which was peopled by middle class folks who wanted to earn a little extra money.

 

Do something unprecedented: Use your head.

 

I’m serious.  No one has ever declared a war over before his country was definitively defeated.  No one.  Not Germany, not England or Spain or Portugal of France.  Be the first to admit that your country can’t win a war and, more than that, recognize your error and end the war in Afghanistan and our continued presence in Iraq.

 

You have every excuse in the world, and except for a few right wing nuts, you would be applauded for saving the country from disaster.  If you need a reason to give the American people for the decision, here are six reasons, any one of which alone provides sufficient grounds for ending the war.

 

1) Our allies don’t want to send more than token forces, if that.  What do they know that we don’t?  Well, for one thing, they know the war is very unpopular with their people.  A majority of Americans also think we should get out of Afghanistan.

 

2) Our country is not at peril from the Taliban, and Al Queda is a stateless organization that can find sanctuary elsewhere and is doing so.

 

3) What is so special about Afghanistan?  If we are freeing people from oppression, why did we not intervene in Rwanda, where a million people were killed in a war between the Tutsis and the Hutus?

 

4) The government of Harmid Karzai is deeply unpopular and untrusted by the people of Afghanistan, because it is corrupt and shows no tendency whatever to change its ways.

 

5) We can’t allow more of our young people to be killed or wounded in wars of questionable necessity.

 

6) And finally, we can’t afford this war.  Our economy is in tatters.

 

Don’t be fooled by reassurances from our military commanders.  Generals fight.  That’s what they do for a living.  But tell them to stop fighting and they will stop, because you are the Commander in Chief.

 

You decide, Mr. President.

 

Wright Salisbury lost his son-in-law, Edward Hennessy, Jr. in the 9/11 attack.  He is also the founder of The Alliance for Jewish-Christian-Muslim Understanding, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to building bridges of understanding between people of different faiths.