In reply to “‘Progressive’ Warmongers,” by Justin Raimondo, 04/08/09:

Very good article but I think geopolitics not revenge explains American involvement in Afghanistan . It is important to get this right.

Kirk Hill

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I appreciate Mr. Raimondo writing about the left’s response to Afghanistan. He states “Peace Action is not making a whole lot of noise about this, in spite of the issue’s relative importance. They are confining their opposition to an online petition.” I can see why one might say that with a cursory look at our website. We don’t necessarily publicize all of our work for various reasons. For over 50 years Peace Action has been opposing U.S. imperialism at nearly every turn despite that the abolition of nuclear weapons was our founding issue. While we are not necessarily a pacifist organization, historically we have opposed military action in places where others were silent such as Vietnam and the Balkans. Peace Action was one of the few organizations to vociferously oppose invading Afghanistan in the first place. Since then, we have continued to raise our voice on the issue, perhaps not as much as we would have liked, as working to stop and end the occupation of Iraq, prevent a war on Iran, thwart new nuclear weapons and reacting to a plethora of insane Bush policies has consumed scarce resources. Some of our activists and colleagues have been to Afghanistan, have offices on the ground and plan to go again to talk about the plight of Afghans and to push for nonmilitary solutions.

Being in the heart of the beast in Washington, DC, this year Peace Action’s national office has, with help from other organizations, put together a list of nearly 60 leaders, and held a meeting with 33 of them, to share resources and strategize the best ways to change Afghanistan policy. We have reached out to conservative groups that agree with us like The CATO Institute. We organized 20 organizations to send a letter to congress asking them to sign former presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul’s (D-TX), letter to President Obama asking him to reconsider escalation in Afghanistan. 15 Representatives signed the letter.

We have been pressuring congress to oppose the occupation; to go to Afghanistan and talk to diverse Afghan voices and NGOs other than those pushed by the administration, the Pentagon, the Dept. of State and the Afghan government; to ask the right questions in hearings with the right witnesses; to stop or investigate Air and Predator drone strikes and night raids that tend to kill and traumatize innocent civilians; and provide more funding for Afghan-led humanitarian and development aid and for demining of the United States’ and others’ land mines and cluster munitions.

Our affiliates and other local groups have been pressuring congress too. Additionally, they have been protesting, holding vigils and educating the public on Afghanistan. Our largest and most powerful affiliate, Peace Action West, has been working with Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films, who recently returned from Afghanistan, to speak out against escalation, pressure congress for serious public hearings with progressive voices, publicize segments of his upcoming documentary — Rethink Afghanistan — and organizing grassroots groups in the west.

Last Saturday, on the anniversary of MLK’s Riverside church speech against the Vietnam war and his assassination, United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) organized a 10,000 person — including Peace Action members and affiliates — march against the war in Afghanistan and for more money at as well as other issues that surrounded the NY stock exchange.

As I write, Peace Action affiliates and chapters and members of UFPJ are meeting with Members of Congress in their district, during this congressional break, to demand a end to the Afghanistan war and other issues. This is part of coordinated days of actions going on now from the 6th to the 9th. A good web search will find that Peace Action, our affiliates and colleagues have been in numerous newspapers, on radio and TV shows, speaking out against occupation and escalation, including countless mentions in The Nation.

And yes, we also have a petition which you can find here: http://www.Peace-Action.org. Raimondo is right the petition is not a whole lot of noise, but perhaps the above rises above a whisper. I certainly know many progressives who have been or have become against the occupation of Afghanistan. I think as public opinion continues to sway on the issue, we will see other groups follow our lead. We welcome other organizations to join us as we are up against great resources. My guess is that the budget of all the military bands dwarfs that of the peace movement an perhaps other progressive movements. I look forward to working with others on Peace Action’s main priorities for this year: ending the Iraq and Afghanistan occupations, preventing a war on Iran, abolishing nuclear weapons and reducing the military budget.

Thank you,
Paul Kawika Martin
Organizing, Political and PAC Director
Peace Action & Peace Action Education Fund

In reply to “Wrong Again,” by Nebojsa Mali, 04/09/09:

Allow me to briefly illustrate the absurdity of this article entitled “Wrong Again.” I do this, because I am an avid reader of Antiwar.com and care about its long-term credibility, and because reading this individual just makes me livid every time. It is akin to the ludicrous articles I frequently deconstruct in Canada’s main rag the Globe and Mail about the Israel-Palestine conflict: this individual must be from the same ethnic-hatred motivated and irrational planet. I’ll fondly refer to it as Voltron.

1) “It was seventeen years ago that political disputes between Bosnia’s ethnic groups escalated into civil war, which only ended in November 1995 with a complicated compromise known as the Dayton Accords.”

Anyone who is not a Serb and objective recognizes that what happened was not merely “a political dispute” between parties, but rather the conflict — excuse me — genocide was started by the racist/nazi faction of the Serbian nationalists, that entertained a fantasy of creating an ethnically pure Greater Serbia and unleashed it on the other parties, particularly the “Muslims.” One will recall that Belgrade was not the theater of the massacre but Bosnia was. Whole communities were totally wiped out (more on which later) way before the Western powers finally did anything to stop the carnage. But on Planet Voltron, just like in the Israel Palestine conflict “both sides are to blame.” Who knows who really did what? My favorite is the bringing up of a random anecdotal event to justify the Serbian-orchestrated genocide in Bosnia.

2) “This is a direct consequence of some twelve years of ‘reforms’ implemented by a succession of EU-appointed High Representatives — viceroys, in effect - that distorted the Dayton provisions beyond recognition, gradually building a central government in the name of efficiency and EU accession. In doing so, they have disturbed the very essence of the Dayton compromise: the guarantee to Bosnia’s Serb and Croat communities that they would not be dominated by the Muslims.”

Because Serbia was largely the aggressor in that conflict (though obviously as it progressed no side came out with clean hands) naturally they were treated with some coolness. But not that much considering what the radical Serb nationalists did, they committed one of the most disgusting genocides in modern European history post WW II and so brutal were they, that they forgot that most Bosnians were intermarried (that is, many had Serb relatives or one parent was Serb). He dismisses any notion of finally moving beyond the Dayton Accords. The country is fragmented because, inter alia, Serbia has now created within Bosnia a little enclave called the Republic of Srpska. What is this place? A totally ethnically cleansed region which they now declare as a pseudo-Serbian statelet. He interprets any attempt to change the status quo and affect further integration as “domination by Muslims.” Of course he would, obviously being an ethnic nationalist, he would like to keep the hard-cleansed status quo; after all, cleansing whole regions was not easy. It’s truly sick if you think about it (and don’t live on Voltron).

3) “Meanwhile, the Serb Republic has actually created a business-friendly climate, with lower taxes and simplified regulations, and runs a budget surplus. The Serbs may not be as well off as last year, due to the worldwide economic downturn, but they aren’t broke. The Muslim-Croat Federation, however, is.”

This comment just speaks for themselves, where are his figures for this claim? And even if the claim were true, everyone who is part of the global financial grid is broke, if the Republic isn’t, one wonders from what sources they get their money? Oh and of course, no mention of what the Serb Republic or Republic of Srpska is, and why it’s there in the first place; the usual selective treatment of facts.

4) “The Muslim-Croat Federation, with its voracious, gargantuan bureaucracy and mammoth social programs, is a textbook example of a government that suffocates and strangulates economic activity. The Serb Republic — while certainly not free of excess bureaucracy or onerous regulations — is a paragon of efficiency in comparison. Yet all the ‘reforms’ and initiatives by viceroys and their Imperial backers have focused on abolishing the Serb Republic and making the entire country more like the Federation.”

Desire for integration and unification? How utterly scandalous! Oh and how did the Republic come to be again? Can’t dilute the blood again, the little cleansed atoll must remain! Heil Malic!

5) “Of course the principal problem of many Bosnian citizens is putting food on the table. But the principal problem of Bosnia as a country is that its inhabitants — the three major ethnic communities — cannot actually agree on whether they even want to live together, let alone how.”

No, Malic and people who think like him are the problem. I just love the little reference to the average person just caring about food as he has been on an ethnic rampage for the whole article. Malic and all the ethnic chauvinists who have led this nation — who have for years and years intermarried — in to ethnic warfare and division because they just can’t seem to stop worshiping their totems are the true obstacles to peace in Bosnia and most places in the world. They just won’t stop worshiping their God of Ethnic Purity despite the difficulty in ascertaining what that means because they are essentially all the same people who simply have different religions.

Ironically, Bosnian Muslims were not even that religious, hence the intermarriage and cross cultural celebrations. It was only after the massacre that many more became conscious of their religious affiliations. Oh and if Malic were to make the accusation that the Bosnian Muslims are really closeted Turks, someone would do well to remind him that he’s probably a closeted Turk because there were decades upon decades of intermarriage under Turkish rule. In short, ethnic purity is totally unrealistic; but not on Voltron, anything goes there.

Antiwar.com should continue to be a free speech forum. I’m all for people like this ranting, it makes me feel better about myself both as a human being and as a non-totem worshiper. I like to think that I have evolved past any totems since I was able to think for myself. I don’t care what ethnicity, religion, race, people have. I do however, care about ideas or the lack thereof, and the kinds of ideas that obviously fuel Malic are ones I particularly detest.

Asma Ishak