Richard Becker is the Western Regional Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism). The Party for Socialism and Liberation is a member of ANSWER.
Rebutting the claims of President Obama and other
top U.S. officials of “improved security,” death and destruction in Afghanistan
are spiraling as the tenth anniversary of the U.S./NATO war approaches.
On Aug. 6, 30 U.S. and eight Afghan troops were
killed when their helicopter was shot down in Wardak province in eastern
Afghanistan. It was the highest single-day death toll for U.S. troops since the
war began on Oct. 7, 2001. The U.S. casualties were all special operations
forces, 24 of them Navy Seals. Since the beginning of August, at least 41 U.S.
troops have died in battle.
Panetta says “Stay the course” — echo from Vietnam
Responding to the helicopter shoot-down, recently
appointed Secretary of “Defense” Leon Panetta said, “We will stay the course to
complete that mission, for which they and all who have served and lost their
lives in Afghanistan have made the ultimate sacrifice.” Easy for Panetta to
say, living in luxury thousands of miles away from the front lines of an increasingly
brutal and seemingly endless war.
The same day, U.S. troops attacked a home in Helmand
province, killing eight Afghan civilians, including women and children, adding
to a record-high civilian death toll in the country.
Tens of thousands of Afghans have been killed since the war began. On Aug. 5, police opened fire killing at
least four people in Qalad protesting another U.S. attack that killed three civilians.
According to a U.N. report, 1,462 civilians were killed in the first half of
2011, 15 percent more than in the corresponding period in 2010.
More than 2,600 U.S. and other NATO troops have been
killed and more than 12,000 wounded—many suffering catastrophic brain trauma or
amputations. An article in the March 4 Washington Post reported that U.S. military
doctors now call double-leg amputations with accompanying genital injuries the “signature
wound” of the Afghanistan war.
In just the last few weeks, many top Afghan
officials have been assassinated, including the mayor and police chief of
Kandahar and the brother of U.S.-installed Afghan president Hamid Karzai.
What we can do
At a time when health, education and other vital
government programs are being slashed or eliminated altogether, the war in
Afghanistan devours $330 million per day. A recent study estimated that the
total cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will exceed $4 trillion—$4,000,000,000,000.
The only way to end the bloody and rising carnage in
Afghanistan is to immediately withdraw all U.S. and NATO troops and aircraft.
The ANSWER
Coalition has called for a protest and die-in on Oct. 7 in San Francisco,
starting at the Federal Building, 7th and Mission Sts. To endorse and get
involved, go to www.ANSWERSF.org, or call
415-821-6545. In Washington, D.C., ANSWER is part of the “Stop the Machine”
coalition, which is organizing a series of actions beginning at Freedom Plaza on Oct. 6 (visit www.AnswerCoalition.org for details). Actions
are also planned in Los Angeles and other cities to mark the 10th anniversary
of the war.
Only the people can stop the war—join us!
