In Support of a Negotiated Peace

The United States has been at war with Afghanistan for six years. The original intention of the war with Afghanistan was to find and capture Osama Bin Laden. In the years since the original occupation of Afghanistan, the war with Iraq has eclipsed both national and international attention, leaving Afghanistan as America's forgotten war. Much like Korea was in the 1950's, the United States is engaged in a war it cannot win against an enemy it cannot defeat. Recently, rhetoric by both the Democratic and Republican Presidential campaigns has been actively calling for a troop surge in Afghanistan. In addition to costing the United States more money that we cannot afford to pay, this foreign policy decision ignores the obvious repercussions of an extended and increased war with Afghanistan.

These factors, which seem obvious to the average resident of Afghanistan, a country that has been bombed into the stone age, seems to escape the leaders of the free world, the policy wonks at the pentagon, and most of the corporate media. The simple equation goes something like this, more bombs and more military equals more resistance and hence more enemies to be defeated. In this case the enemy is the Taliban, a right wing fundamentalist reaction to Soviet occupation and failed US foreign policy. Here in the United States of America, the Taliban has been labeled public enemy number one, and for the past six years we have been pouring tens of billions of dollars annually into defeating an enemy that was created out of our own failed international policy under the Reagan administration.

Today the Taliban numbers in the thousands or perhaps tens of thousands and is perceived as a real threat to both the United States and the occupying administration in Afghanistan. Although the US death toll remains relatively low in relationship to the war in Iraq, the death toll could mount significantly if US forces are redirected to that area or even brought in from further depletion of US reserves based stateside or in other parts of the world. In addition, the people of Afghanistan are tired of US occupation. They have been occupied continuously by one or another occupying foreign power since 1979. Afghanistan is a country that has not known peace in almost two generations.

The specter of fear and nationalism lives on in the long tried US war on the Taliban. It is now 2008 and the United States still hasn't caught Osama Bin Laden, but we have managed to an entire country. The international community is calling on the United States leadership to step back from its rhetoric about increasing the troops in Afghanistan. They are calling for a negotiated peace, led by the United Nations, between the United States and the powers that be in Afghanistan. For every day that we stay in Afghanistan, for every bomb we drop, for every gun we fire, for every civilian we torture and for every innocent villager we accidentally kill we create yet another recruit for the Taliban and make the resistance to US occupation that much stronger.



It is time for the United States to remove its forces from Afghanistan and bring the troops home now from the Middle East. The failure of US leadership for the past eight years has been obvious to the entire international community. We are behaving as an occupying power and have not succeeded in our missions. We never found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and we never found Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan and yet somehow US foreign policy continues to occupy these two zones, taking hundreds of billions of dollars from our national budget at a time of looming economic recession when Americans need jobs at home and investment in America. Now is the time for a negotiated peace and an immediate withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.

LaOnf - The Iraqi Nonviolence Movement

There is a growing movement of resistance in Iraq, a movement of nonviolence, and I believe that this approach of non-violent resistance is the solution to the dilemma of how to win in Iraq. I learned about LaOnf (pronounced La-oonf) recently at the Gandhi-King nonviolence conference in Memphis, Tennessee. The conference is an annual gathering of activists and non-violence advocates who present papers and network on the subject of non-violence on an international level. The conference is held annually in Memphis, Tennessee on the campus of Christian Brothers University because this was where Arun Gandhi chose to call home. The conference is also held in Memphis in honor of the Revered Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who was murdered in Memphis while working to organize sanitation workers in 1968.

LaOnf is translated as non-violence in Arabic and is reflective of a growing ideological framework in Iraq that is neither pro-occupation nor pro-militia but rather is pro-peace and anti-violence. This movement is composed of organizations and individuals with different ideological and political backgrounds, gathering around the idea that non-violence is the most effective way to struggle for an independent, democratic and peaceful Iraq. This movement is not a political party nor is it an organization. It is a free gathering of people and any Iraqi who shares the same ideology is welcome to join it.

Nonviolence is a relatively old concept in international relations and world history whose roots go deep into human history. The most prominent movements for non-violence in recent history include the liberation of India from the British through non-violence led by Gandhi and the desegregation of the American South through the leadership of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Iraq is ripe for a practical non-violence movement. It is clear that American leadership in Iraq has failed and that Iraqis want the United States out of Iraq. The United States is the visible symbol of occupation in Iraq and throughout the Middle East. As the global purveyors of imperialism and militarism, the United States is not in a position to provide leadership in the formation of a new Iraqi state. LaOnf recognizes the need for resistance to occupation but provides a unique avenue to democratic self-determination through the rejection of violence.

LaOnf is a growing movement in Iraq. This movement believes that the correct solution to Iraqi self-determination is non-violent struggle, which is made real through supporting a peaceful movement of activists from throughout the nation with the support of the international community. LaOnf rejects occupation and war as a means of building democracy. As a peaceful movement of non-violent resistance, LaOnf celebrates the historical culture of non-violence in human history with a special focus on non-violence as a traditional movement within the Islamic world and the Middle East. LaOnf looks forward to becoming a major focal point in Iraq to defend the right of citizens to use non-violence as a means to struggle for democracy, equality and respect for human rights. LaOnf works to promote the widespread culture of non violence as an effective means of resistance to the occupation of Iraq.

In the waning years of the US occupation and with a new administration on the horizon in Washington D.C. it is critical at this point in history for Americans to become aware of the non-violent movement within Iraq. The current administration presses for continued US leadership in Iraq. This leadership has failed and the Iraqi experiment in democratic leadership has failed under US guidance. It is not even clear whether there is widespread support within Iraq for the current representative government. The next administration has a unique opportunity to support an indigenous movement that has the best intention for the Iraqi people at the heart of its organization. By supporting LaOnf while at the same time withdrawing US military forces from Iraq, the United States could show that it supports in principle the idea of Iraqi self-determination. By making amends and providing economic aid for reconstruction and infrastructure development, the United States could once again show that it has the best intentions of the global community at heart. LaOnf is an idea whose time has come. Non-violence and peaceful resistance to warfare and occupation is the solution to the social and humanitarian dilemma that has become the nightmare that is Iraq, and by supporting this movement the United States has an opportunity to redeem itself in the eyes of the international community.

For more information on LaOnf and the growing community of non-violent peace activists within Iraq who reject both US Occupation and Militia Rule please visit: www.laonf.net

Greens Hold Fund Raiser in Nashville

Enjoy live Jazz with Bill Humble and Dave Trevins; and a special appearance by Ken Frasure.

October 25, 7-10PM

Revive Cafe
1707 Church Street
Nashville

Fundraiser for:

John Miglietta candidate for US Congress
Chris Lugo candidate for US Senate