Afghanistan legislative update

Dear friends,

As you have heard, the $92 billion supplemental appropriation bill for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will come before Congress as early as Wednesday and quite possibly be voted on quickly.  While the peace movement does not have the votes to defeat the bill at this time, our ability to attach conditions to it can limit the Administration's war policy.   The vote will be an important indicator of our strength, setting the stage for even fiercer debates about Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and the whole U.S. war policy which are sure to come over the next months.  

Our protests against the war have not been without effect.

Representative Jim McGovern of Worcester (right) has introduced an amendment which will require the President to report to Congress with an exit strategy for the U.S. military forces in Afghanistan no later than December, 2009.   While it won't stop the war as we demand, this measure would frame the debate and force the Administration to address the peace perspective.   The bill has 41 co-sponsors including Massachusetts Reps. Tierney, Olver, and Delahunt; Shea-Porter and Hodes of New Hampshire; Pingree of Maine; and Welch of Vermont.

Reps. Barbara Lee (left), Maxine Waters, and Lynn Woolsey of California wrote an op-ed last week which criticized the over 90% military funding in the bill and called for "increased regional diplomacy, a decrease in our military presence and a focus on development effort".

The Congressional Progressive Caucus held a series of six forums on Afghanistan, featuring speakers with a wide range of views, including war skeptic Rory Stewart of the Carr Center at Harvard.   Sen. John Kerry held hearings which featured antiwar Prof. Andrew Bacevich of BU and antiwar Marine Cpl. Rick Reyes.

Now we are making our final push to call for votes against the supplemental.   UFPJ, supported by UJP, are organizing a National Call-In Day this Tuesday, May 12 to let Congress know that while we support funding for the safe withdrawal of troops, and for diplomacy, economic assistance and humanitarian aid, we oppose more money for war.   While calling for votes against the supplemental, we also urge Reps to co-sponsor the McGovern bill which requires an exit strategy.

• At a time of economic crisis and multiplying domestic needs, the 2009 Supplemental is an appalling waste of our money.
• The Supplemental funds the increase of troops to Afghanistan, escalating the war rather than ending it.
• The Supplemental places no restrictions on American bombings in either Afghanistan or Pakistan, despite the disproportionate harm to civilians.
• The Supplemental maintains a high level of American troops in Iraq for the duration of FY 2009.

Go to the National Priorities Project for information on the local costs of the war in Afghanistan.

Click here to see the OMB analysis of the War Supplemental funding request (in PDF) and click here for analysis of the Supplemental from the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

Call your Congressperson on Tuesday, May 12 and ask him or her to vote NO on the Iraq/Afghanistan Supplemental appropriation and YES on the McGovern exit strategy bill.

UJP will feature a reportback from the Marigold Fund, a locally based development project in Takhar province, Afghanistan, which models the approach we recommend, Thursday, May 14, 7:00 p.m. at 2161 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge.    

At that meeting we will also have the latest updates from the legislative arena in Washington and a professionally facilitated training program on using new and old media to get the word out about the Afghanistan peace issue.   Join us this Thursday!

United for Justice with Peace is a coalition of peace and justice organizations and community peace groups in the Greater Boston region. The UJP Coalition, formed after September 11th, seeks global peace through social and economic justice.
ujpcoalition@gmail.com	617-491-4UJP	www.justicewithpeace.org