HOPE ≠ WARCall for March and Rally on Anniversary of Afghanistan War
Saturday, October 3, 2009 (tentative date)
When Pres. Obama was elected on a platform of HOPE, the American people expected a speedy end to the Iraq war. They expected negotiations to settle the Afghanistan and Israel/Palestine conflicts and reduce tensions with Iran.
They did not expect the new administration to delay exit from Iraq until 2012, or to escalate the war in Afghanistan by sending 21,000 more troops, as he has done. They did not expect an increase in drone strikes in Pakistan which have already killed 335 people, or the U.S. to strong-arm the Pakistani military into an operation which has left over two million internal refugees.
They did not expect military spending to continue to increase, with over $100 billion appropriated for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in June 2009.
The administration’s policy review has resulted in a plan for a protracted counter-insurgency war in which human development aid and negotiations serve only as window dressing on a war policy targeted at defeating the Taliban on the battlefield and dominating Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the central Asia region.
