[R-G] Biggest State Party to Obama: Get Out of Afghanistan

[Suzanne de Kuyper]

An interesting developement, but the Afghan War is not about Afghanistan but
about getting and holding onto, for ever, Middle East power, about Empire.
Will the California Democratic Party statement make a difference?  Only if
there is a discussion and if it rivets on the real reason for the Afghan
'War'.    suzannedk at gmail.com

On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 1:39 AM, Sid Shniad <shniad at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> http://original.antiwar.com/solomon/2009/11/16/biggest-state-party-to-obama/
>
> November 16, 2009
>
> *Biggest State Party to Obama: Get Out of Afghanistan*
>
> Norman Solomon
>
> This week begins with a significant new straw in the political wind for
> President Obama to consider. The California Democratic Party has just sent
> him a formal and clear message: Stop making war in Afghanistan.
>
> Overwhelmingly approved on Sunday by the California Democratic Party’s
> 300-member statewide executive board, the resolution is titled "End the
> U.S.
> Occupation and Air War in Afghanistan."
>
> The resolution supports "a timetable for withdrawal of our military
> personnel" and calls for "an end to the use of mercenary contractors as
> well
> as an end to air strikes that cause heavy civilian casualties." Advocating
> multiparty talks inside Afghanistan, the resolution also urges Obama "to
> oversee a redirection of our funding and resources to include an increase
> in
> humanitarian and developmental aid."
>
> While Obama weighs Afghanistan policy options, the California Democratic
> Party’s adoption of the resolution is the most tangible indicator yet that
> escalation of the U.S. war effort can only fuel opposition within the
> president’s own party – opposition that has already begun to erode his
> political base.
>
> Participating in a long-haul struggle for progressive principles inside the
> party, I co-authored the resolution with savvy longtime activists Karen
> Bernal of Sacramento and Marcy Winograd of Los Angeles.
>
> Bernal, the chair of the state party’s Progressive Caucus, said on Sunday
> night: "Today’s vote formalized and amplified what had been, up to now, an
> unspoken but profoundly understood reality – that there is no military
> solution in Afghanistan. What’s more, the vote signified an acceptance of
> what is sure to be a continued and growing culture of resistance to current
> administration policies on the matter within the party. This is absolutely
> huge. Now, there can be no disputing the fact that the overwhelming
> majority
> of California Democrats are not only saying no to escalation, but no to our
> continued military presence in Afghanistan, period. The California
> Democratic Party has spoken, and we want the rest of the country to know."
>
> Winograd, who is running hard as a grassroots candidate in a primary race
> against pro-war incumbent Rep. Jane Harman, had this to say: "We need
> progressives in every state Democratic Party to pass a similar resolution
> calling for an end to the U.S. occupation and air war in Afghanistan. Bring
> the veterans to the table, bring our young into the room, and demand an end
> to this occupation that only destabilizes the region. There is no military
> solution, only a diplomatic one that requires we cease our role as
> occupiers
> if we want our voices to be heard. Yes, this is about Afghanistan – but
> it’s
> also about our role in the world at large. Do we want to be global
> occupiers
> seizing scarce resources, or global partners in shared prosperity? I would
> argue a partnership is not only the humane choice, but also the choice that
> grants us the greatest security."
>
> Speaking to the resolutions committee of the state party on Saturday,
> former
> Marine corporal Rick Reyes movingly described his experiences as a warrior
> in Afghanistan that led him to question and then oppose what he now
> considers to be an illegitimate U.S. occupation of that country.
>
> Another voice of disillusionment reached party delegates when Bernal
> distributed a copy of the recent resignation letter from senior U.S.
> diplomat Matthew Hoh, sent after five months of work on the ground in
> Afghanistan. "I find specious the reasons we ask for bloodshed and
> sacrifice
> from our young men and women in Afghanistan," he wrote. "If honest, our
> stated strategy of securing Afghanistan to prevent al-Qaeda resurgence or
> regrouping would require us to additionally invade and occupy western
> Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, etc. Our presence in Afghanistan has only
> increased destabilization and insurgency in Pakistan where we rightly fear
> a
> toppled or weakened Pakistani government may lose control of its nuclear
> weapons."
>
> Hoh’s letter added that "I do not believe any military force has ever been
> tasked with such a complex, opaque, and Sisyphean mission as the U.S.
> military has received in Afghanistan." And he wrote: "Thousands of our men
> and women have returned home with physical and mental wounds, some that
> will
> never heal or will only worsen with time. The dead return only in bodily
> form to be received by families who must be reassured their dead have
> sacrificed for a purpose worthy of futures lost, love vanished, and
> promised
> dreams unkept. I have lost confidence such assurances can anymore be made."
>
> From their own vantage points, many of the California Democratic Party
> leaders who voted to approve the out-of-Afghanistan resolution on Nov. 15
> have gone through a similar process. They’ve come to see the touted reasons
> for the U.S. war effort as specious, the mission as Sisyphean, and the
> consequences as profoundly unacceptable.
>
> Sometime in the next few days, President Obama is likely to learn that the
> California Democratic Party has approved an official resolution titled "End
> the U.S. Occupation and Air War in Afghanistan." But will he really get the
> message?
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