Anti-war Leaders at the United States Social Forum Condemn U.S. War on Afghanistan, No Matter the General or Strategy

Press Release

 

Anti-war Leaders at the United States Social Forum Condemn U.S. War on Afghanistan, No Matter the General or Strategy

 

 

Gathered in Detroit today for the US Social Forum, anti-war leaders will address Barack Obama’s replacement of General Stanley McChrystal with General David Petraeus and condemn his strategy of expanding the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. 

 

“No matter who’s in command, no matter what the strategy, the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan is immoral, unjust, and illegitimate,” said Vietnam war resister Carl Dix, citing the repeated killings of civilians by US/NATO forces which have increased with Obama’s deployment of over 100,000 troops.

 

Dix signed a statement recently published in The New York Review of Books titled “Crimes Are Crimes – No Matter Who Does Them” argue that US military killing civilians in Afghanistan are outrages under President Obama’s command as they were under George Bush’s command.  

 

The statement says, “Such measures by Bush were widely considered by liberals and progressives to be outrages and were roundly, and correctly, protested.  But those acts which may have been construed (wishfully or not) as anomalies under the Bush regime, have now been consecrated into “standard operating procedure” by Obama, who claims, as did Bush, executive privilege and state secrecy in defending the crime of aggressive war.”

 

Another signer, David Swanson of warisacrime.org said, “Bringing one general home doesn’t do us a bit of good. General McChrystal should not have been fired, he should be prosecuted for war crimes.  The entire operation is a war crime.  We don’t need an exit strategy.  We need to cease this crime.”

 

“Humanity demands an end to this war.  And it’s our responsibility, as people living in this country, to build mass opposition to it across the country, with the aim of stopping it now, as a new U.S. offensive on Kandahar is being mobilized,” said Debra Sweet, Director of World Can’t Wait.

 

Other signers of the statement in attendance at the USSF are William Ayers, Elaine Brower, Matthis Chiroux, David Swanson, Debra Sweet, Sunsara Taylor, and Ann Wright.