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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=labor.educator@gmail.com href="mailto:labor.educator@gmail.com">The Labor
Educator</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=undisclosed-recipients:
href="mailto:undisclosed-recipients:">undisclosed-recipients:</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Monday, April 30, 2012 8:32 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Thinking of Labor's Future: What Have Our Two Wars Cost
Americans? And What Have We Gained for Our Efforts?</DIV></DIV>
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<CENTER><FONT size=+1>Thinking of Labor's Future: May 1, 2012<BR>
<H1>What Have Our Two Wars Cost Americans? <BR>And What Have We
Gained for Our Efforts?</H1>
<H2>“Thinking about Labor’s Future”</H2></FONT>
<P><FONT size=+1><I>(The Second in a Series of
articles)</I> <BR></FONT></P>
<H3><I>By Harry Kelber</I></H3></CENTER><BR><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=+1>
<P>The average American has little understanding of why the United States
went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, except to be told that it was
essential we use our military to wipe out Al-Qaida, the Taliban and other
world-wide militants that were threatening the . security of the United
States and its people.</P>
<P>Without the public’s actual consent, the Bush administration spent
hundreds of billions of dollars in an unsuccessful attempt to crush
Al-Qaida in Iraq, and President Obama continued the fight in Afghanistan,
where the Taliban remains as a powerful military presence, despite the
addition of U.S. troops there.</P>
<P>But questions persist. Why do we intend to stay in Iraq, even though we
are pulling out our combat troops? What are our goals in Afghanistan? What
do we expect to gain from the two wars, assuming we can claim complete
victories?</P>
<P>And what about Al-Qaeda? Has the Obama administration decided to
continue the attacks on this worldwide movement until it is completely
destroyed? Is this a realistic goal for an America that is still trapped
in an economic crisis?</P>
<P>It is to the discredit of the AFL-CIO that it gave Bush, and then
Obama, a “blank check” to pursue their war policies, without any comment
from organized labor, favorable or otherwise. AFL-CIO leaders decided that
the wars In Iraq and Afghanistan were not “labor issues” and would cause
division and conflict within labor’s ranks if they were openly
discussed.</P>
<P>The AFL-CIO went further by banning any news of the wars, including
Libya and the U.S. tensions with Iran, from appearing on the labor
federation’s web sites, official statements and in its 2012 election
agenda.</P>
<P><B><I>Future Unions Must Be Involved in U.S. Foreign Policy</I></B></P>
<P>The next generation of unions and their leaders must speak out when the
United States is confronted with “war or peace” decisions. It should not
be left to appointed diplomats to make decisions that can have a serious
impact on the lives of working people. There must be “no blank
checks!”</P>
<P>Unions should be penny-wise on how it spends taxpayers’ money on the
kind of “nation building” experiments that were employed in Iraq and
Afghanistan, where billions of dollars were lost in waste and corruption.
Think of what those billions could mean for cities and towns in the U.S.
on the verge of bankruptcy?</P>
<P>And future AFL-CIO leaders must open up their web sites to allow their
members to discuss whatever issues affect working people.</P>
<P><I>The third in our series on “Thinking about Labor’s Future” will be
posted here on Tuesday, May 8, 2012, and on our two web sites: </I><A
href="http://www.laboreducator.org/"
target=_blank>www.laboreducator.org</A><I>and </I>on <A
href="http://www.laborsvoiceforchange.org/"
target=_blank>www.laborsvoiceforchange.org</A>.</P>
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