[Peace-discuss] Kinzer: Surge Diplomacy, Not Troops, in Afghanistan

[C. G. Estabrook]

But letting our "senators and congress members know what we think" depends upon 
our knowing what we think.  There seem to be two schools of thought:

	(1) those who say we don't yet know what Obama might do (!), so we should ask 
him politely to be nice; or

	(2) those who say that the US government is waging a criminal war throughout 
the Middle East, so we should oppose it as vigorously as possible.

If the second group is right (and I think they are) we should rather be 
addressing our fellow citizens, exposing the real nature of the war against the 
media misrepresentations, and organizing opposition.  Addressing senators and 
congress members is relatively pointless: they know what the situation is, 
unlike the propagandized populace. --CGE


Jenifer Cartwright wrote:
> EXACTLY!!! No point in pissing and moaning in-house...Let's let the 
> world -- or at least our senators and congress members -- know what we 
> think, even if it seems futile for now! Make phone calls, send emails 
> and post cards, sign on-line petitions. Not as much fun as peace-discuss 
> list rants, but potentially more effective. 
>  --Jenifer 
> 
> --- On *Mon, 12/8/08, Robert Naiman /<naiman.uiuc at gmail.com>/* wrote:
> 
>     From: Robert Naiman <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com>
>     Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Kinzer: Surge Diplomacy, Not Troops, in
>     Afghanistan
>     To: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu>
>     Cc: "Peace-discuss List" <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>     Date: Monday, December 8, 2008, 3:50 PM
> 
>     So, you're against promoting a vigorous national debate? I mean,
>     suppose we don't think a threat of civil unrest is plausible. Then why
>     bother do anything, right? Might as well go back to bed.
> 
>     On Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 3:40 PM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at uiuc.edu>
>     wrote:
>     > The problem is that the new administration is committed to this plan -- as
>     > they have said for a while.  It seems that a national debate would have to
>     > be quite vigorous -- involving a threat of civil unrest, as in 1968 -- to
>     > blunt the incoming administration's enthusiasm.
>     >
>     > (The Pentagon Papers describe how the Pentagon told President Johnson in
>     > 1968 that it could not send more troops to Vietnam and still have enough
>     to
>     > control the US domestic population.  But we've not gotten to that
>     point
>     > today.)
>     >
>     >
>     <http://www.stwr.org/the-un-people-politics/noam-chomsky-on-1968-/-vive-la-revolution.html>
>     >
>     >
>     > Robert Naiman wrote:
>     >>
>     >> USA Today reports that Gen. McKiernan - top U.S. commander in
>     >> Afghanistan - "has asked the Pentagon for more than 20,000
>     soldiers,
>     >> Marines and airmen" to augment U.S. forces. McKiernan says U.S.
>     troop
>     >> levels of 55,000 to 60,000 in Afghanistan will be needed for "at
>     least
>     >> three or four more years." He added: "If we put these
>     additional
>     >> forces in here, it's going to be for the next few years. It's
>     not a
>     >> temporary increase of combat strength."
>     >>
>     >> We should have a vigorous national debate before embarking on this
>     >> course. Contrary to what one might think from a quick scan of the
>     >> newspapers, there are knowledgeable voices questioning whether
>     >> increasing the deployment of U.S. troops to Afghanistan is in our
>     >> interest, or is in the interest of the Afghan people.
>     >>
>     >> Bestselling author and former longtime New York Times foreign
>     >> correspondent Stephen Kinzer argues the opposite in this five minute
>     >> video...
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>
>     http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/kinzer-surge-diplomacy-no_b_149364.html
>     >>
>     >> http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/12/8/15317/1502
>     >>
>     >> http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/38127
>     >>
>     >> --
>     >> Robert Naiman
>     >> Just Foreign Policy
>     >> www.justforeignpolicy.org
>     >> naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
>     >>
>     >> Ambassador Pickering on Iran Talks and Multinational Enrichment
>     >> http://youtube.com/watch?v=kGZFrFxVg8A
>     >> _______________________________________________
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>     >> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>     >> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
>     >
> 
> 
> 
>     -- 
>     Robert Naiman
>     Just Foreign Policy
>     www.justforeignpolicy.org
>     naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
> 
>     Stephen Kinzer: Surge Afghanistan Diplomacy, Not Troops
>     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e24UHABpWE8
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>