Caro presidente Obama......

[rossana <rossana at comodinoposta.org>]

Da un sito di ragazze femministe ( http://www.allgirlarmy.org/ )

Ho un'ultima domanda presidente Obama, l'Afghanistan è il Vietnam?

Obama si impegna a mantenere segrete le armi nucleari di Israele
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/02/president-obama-has-reaffirmed-a-4-decade-old-secr/

Ieri il Senato ha approvato 128 miliardi dollari per le guerre in Iraq e 
in Afghanistan.

Stop Funding Endless War
Wednesday 07 October 2009

On the war's eighth anniversary, we urge our president, our Congress and 
our country to cut the military purse strings and reject an escalation 
of violence in Afghanistan.

  Yesterday, the Senate passed $128 billion for the wars in Iraq and 
Afghanistan. This appropriation could fuel a "surge" in deployment of US 
troops to Afghanistan; Gen. Stanley McChrystal recommends an increase of 
up to 40,000 soldiers.

  If the American people had voted on this latest defense spending 
bill, they might well have rejected the funding. Most polls find that a 
definitive majority of Americans oppose an escalation of combat troops 
in Afghanistan. A recent McClatchy survey found that only 35 percent 
favored sending more troops.

  This widespread public skepticism is understandable, given the war's 
mounting fatality rate. In August, one American died in Afghanistan 
every 14 hours. September also took a heavy toll, and 17 US soldiers 
have already died in Afghanistan in October.

  President Obama has lately shown well-warranted caution in preparing 
to deploy more US troops, and remains wary of McChrystal's calls for a 
quick escalation. Still, he has not wavered in his support for the war.

  "If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger 
safe haven from which al Qaeda would plot to kill more Americans," the 
president said less than two months ago. "So this is not only a war 
worth fighting. This is fundamental to the defense of our people."

  In the lead-up to last year's election, we hoped that Obama's hawkish 
rhetoric on Afghanistan was simply a savvy campaign choice, intended to 
capture the votes of "moderates," who feared the prospect of a 
soft-on-terror commander in chief. Now we wonder whether Obama has 
succumbed to his own warlike words.

  Though the Obama administration has rebranded the "war on terror" as 
"Overseas Contingency Operations" (or - to distance the name even 
further from its brutal reality - "OCO"), its ill-conceived mission and 
methods remain the same.

  Truthout calls on the Obama administration and Congress to embrace a 
firm shift in mindset and engage in the critical thinking necessary to 
end the war by peaceful means.

  How to prompt this transformation? Last month, Congressman Dennis 
Kucinich suggested a logical first step toward halting the military 
machine in Afghanistan: cutting its purse strings.

  "If the Obama administration refuses to bring this war to an end, 
then Congress should use the power of the purse, granted by the 
Constitution, to end the war and bring our troops home," Kucinich said.

  As Congress debates the much-needed health care reform legislation, 
Republicans argue that we cannot afford a massive new spending bill with 
the economy in its current condition. They neglect to mention the string 
of gargantuan war appropriations bills that have plagued our budget for 
eight years. America needs to take care of our needs at home before we 
continue to pour billions of dollars into an unwinnable war.

  As members of the Senate and House go into conference to decide the 
fate of the defense spending bill in the coming weeks - and as they 
consider additional war funding for 2011 over the next few months - we 
hope they will recognize the futility of escalating violence and the 
urgency of searching for peaceful means to end the conflict.

  President Obama has called the Afghan conflict a "war of necessity." 
We entreat Congress and the administration to reframe the official story 
on Afghanistan and reveal the true necessity at hand: to stop funding 
directionless violence and bring the troops home.