PEACE WRITES MOVEMENT TO OBAMA: END THE AFGHAN WAR

Dear Mr. President:

According to press reports, you intend to decide, sometime in November, whether or not to send tens of thousands of American soldiers to Afghanistan. We are writing in advance of that decision to add our voices to those of Sen. Feingold, many House Democrats, and of a clear majority of Americans in urging you not to escalate this war, but rather to announce an immediate cease-fire followed by a withdrawal of all US troops in the fastest way consistent with the safety of our forces. We urge you to end the policy of using Predator drones to assassinate Pakistani civilians in their own country, in defiance of all concepts of international law. We also call upon you to cease all covert CIA and Pentagon operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran.

No vital American interest is at stake in Afghanistan. Former Marine and State Department official Matthew Hoh is right: the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan have come to be viewed as invaders and occupiers, and the resistance they encounter has nothing to do with international terrorism.  

This war is futile, and now doomed to failure. There is no military solution to the problems that beset Afghanistan. Afghanistan and the rest of this tragically war-torn region need a Marshall Plan of peaceful economic development, through which some of the 15 million unemployed workers in our own country could find productive jobs. We have no confidence in the advice being given to you by military leaders like Gen. McChrystal, who has been implicated in torture in Iraq.

Many of us supported your candidacy because we viewed you as the best chance for ending the wars of the Bush era. We applauded your rejection of the rhetoric of fear and division that was the stock in trade of Bush and Cheney. We are alarmed by the way that rhetoric has crept into your public pronouncements since your August address in Phoenix.

Your decision on Afghanistan will represent the decisive turning point of your presidency. If you turn away from war, you will provide a profile in courage that will solidify your support and open up a new perspective for progressive reforms in our country. You will honor the spirit of John F. Kennedy, who was searching for an exit strategy from the Vietnam war.

If you opt for a wider war, the resulting heavy casualties will destroy confidence in your leadership among your own most devoted advocates. Hundreds of billions of dollars will be poured down a rat hole, and will no longer be available for any reform and renovation of American society, which will increasingly fall behind the economic strength of other countries.

Your domestic agenda will be halted, in the same way your predecessor Lyndon B. Johnson was crippled by the Vietnam war. Escalation of the Afghan war, in short, would be an act of political suicide for you, and of national suicide for our country.

We are keenly aware of the difficulties and animosities you face, and we have long done everything possible to give your administration the benefit of the doubt, even in the face of repeated disappointments. But we now approach the moment of truth: will you be a great progressive president, or will you prove too weak to turn away from the bankrupt policies institutionalized and entrenched under Bush and Cheney?

Therefore, we want you to know our attitude before you decide on the proposed Afghan escalation. If you choose to escalate, we will oppose this policy with all the energy we possess. We will act to mobilize the largest possible anti-war demonstration in Washington, DC and other cities before the end of 2009, and continuously thereafter. We will support anti-war candidates of any party in the 2010 elections. If you are still waging the Afghan war in 2011, we will be forced to seriously consider backing an explicitly anti-war primary candidate to challenge you during the Democratic primaries.

We therefore respectfully urge you to act in the spirit of your 2008 campaign – the spirit of hope and change, neither of which can survive the continuation or expansion of the hopeless Afghan war.

Signed by the following anti-war organizations and peace activists

(Please endorse by responding to author. Thank you.):

Laurie Dobson, Maine Independent U.S. Senate Candidate 2008, Camp Alex for Peace, Maine

Cynthia McKinney, DIGNITY

Herb Hoffman, Maine Independent U.S. Senate Candidate 2008, Veterans for Peace, Maine

Bruce MarshallAct Independent, Peace Candidate, Vermont

Sue Serpa, Jobs for Afghans, Massachusetts

A great letter, in my opinion. If appropriate please disseminate.

Harold Trainer

I would like to endorse Laurie's letter.

Prof. William R. Woodward

Cynthia Papermaster, former Candidate for U.S. Congress, CA-13

Carol Wolman, MD

2008 Green Candidate for Congress, CA District 1

I would gladly sign this letter. Thanks, Amy Harlib

I heartily endorse!

Kevin Barrett, 2008 Libertarian Candidate for Congress, WI-3, Wisconsin

Pat Westwater-Jong, Massachusetts

gala.travel@comcast.net

an awesome letter Barry Aleshnick Bush Indictment Council, Vermont

a beautiful letter Denise Pentilla, Maine

I will gladly sign your letter Leslie Bell, Hillary Voters for McCain

Captain Ron Fisher US Navy (retired), WeThePeopleNow.org, Virginia

Emily Peyton, Brattleboro Indictment Initiative, Vermont

Jerry Call One of the Baucus 13, Maine Healthcare Reform

Helmut Becker, Canada

Ellen Brown, California

Michele Thomas

Great job! Thanks, Marian Galbraith, California

Please...urge him to live up to his Nobel prize, including NOT sending more troops to

Afghanistan... Thank you, Pamela Allee, Oregon

Sean Mulligan, Georgia

Lynne Williams, current Green Independent Party Candidate for Maine's Governor, Maine

Jamilla El-Shafei Save Our Water, Maine/Washington D.C. Protest Organizer, Maine

Mike Hammer, Texas

John Hazard,

Minnesota

Bob Smith(Big Tree) New Broom Coalition

Leslee Goodman, Washington

Ellen Brown, Economist, California

Charles Feldman, Rhode Island

Alan McConnell, Maryland

It's great! Lee Loe, Texas

Laurie's Letter is indeed the opening shot to making War Itself Obsolete and to Pursue the Rightful Interests of Humanity and the Planet as a Whole -- The Women of The Spiritual UN / http://www.thespiritualun.org, Amber in Virginia

Suzanne Hedrick, Maine

Martha's Vineyard Peace Council, Massachusetts

Chris Fried, Massachusetts

I, too, agree that we, the people, should strongly urge the Pesident to follow the path of peace and not continue the old Bush policies of aggression against the Afghan people.

Beverly Harris, Texas

Renay Davis, California

Wren Osborn, California

Dan Dewalt, Patriotic Response to Renegade Government, Vermont

Author's Website: www.dobsonforsenate.com

Author's Bio: Laurie Dobson is a writer, planner, mother, gardener, anti-war activist and caregiver who is FEC registered, running in the 2008 for the US Senate as an Independent Candidate in Maine. She lives at the 'Old Cape Farm' in Kennebunkport, with her husband, youngest daughter, and the dogs, cat, ducks and chickens, where she recently hosted Camp Alex during the August Peace Rally which marched to the Bush Compound to Protest the Iraq War. She has been active in the Democratic Party and served in 2004 as the Southern Vermont Volunteer Coordinator for the Kerry Campaign. She ran previously on an anti-war, FDR-style reconstruction policy in 2002 for State Rep. in CT. For more information about Laurie and her "Campaign Declared for Conscience", and also to view her platform and to contribute, visit the campaign website: www.dobsonforsenate.com. There are blog postings on the site. Her blog archives can be viewed at http://lauriedobson.blogspot.com. and also http://whatwechoose.blogspot.com She asks all Mainers to help her campaign and requests their vote this coming November! Please lend your support by contacting the campaign at the website or by writing at the website or at: Dobson for Senate PO Box 7098 Cape Porpoise, ME 04014 or call at 207-967-0432

www.opednews.com/articles/Put-Obama-on-Notice-Agains-by-laurie-dobson-091112-430.html