Waging Peace, Page 50

Countrywide Protests Against U.S. Troop Escalation in Afghanistan

ACTIVISTS FROM the ANSWER Coalition, CODEPINK, and other peace and justice groups held a spirited anti-war rally on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009 in front of the White House. Following the evening protest, concerned citizens, many of whom helped elect Barack Obama president based on an anti-war platform, gathered to watch the president’s address on Afghanistan.

Activists in Berkeley, CA, Bangor, ME, Boston, MA, Chicago, IL, Detroit, MI, Hartford, CT, Killeen, TX, Los Angeles, CA, New Haven, CT, New York, NY, Orange County, CA, Phoenix, AZ, Pittsburgh, PA, Portland,  OR, Providence, RI and San Francisco, CA took to the streets on Dec. 1 to oppose the escalation of the U.S. war in Afghanistan.

“This is a defining moment for the Obama administration,” Brian Becker, national coordinator for the ANSWER Coalition, said. “Obama has chosen to widen and expand the war on Afghanistan rather than end it. One the great ironies is that here we are nine months into the Obama administration... and yet there are more troops combined in Iraq and Afghanistan than at any time during the Bush tenure.”

“The United States cannot solve Afghanistan’s problems with military solutions,” said CODEPINK co-founder Jodie Evans, who recently returned from a fact-finding trip to Afghanistan. “Adding troops will lead to more civilian casualties, which will lead to more recruits for the Taliban—and a protracted war that the American people don’t support. This is not the ‘hope’ so many voted for.”

According to CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin, “The people of Afghanistan are looking for diplomatic and economic support, not soldiers, and the American people are looking for a way out of our economic morass. Spending a million dollars per soldier for another 30,000-plus soldiers is only deepening our economic crisis. Enough is enough.”

—William Hughes