[Peace-discuss] U.S. Out of Afghanistan Now

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Dispelling some of the mendacious fog about how the "Obama team is really 
rethinking Afghanistan" (when all they're doing, of course, is trying to find 
the best way to enforce their colonial control).  --CGE]

"The organizers of the October 7th protests note that the war and occupation of 
Afghanistan is linked to U.S. interests in controlling strategic energy 
resources and markets in central Asia."

	Students to Protest Afghan War on 25 Campuses (Oct. 7)
	Posted: 06 Oct 2009 08:20 AM PDT

	From the Students for a Democratic Society Antiwar Working Group:
	Demonstrations mark 8th anniversary of Afghan War -–
	demand immediate U.S./NATO withdrawal

Students on 25 campuses across the United States will protest eight long years 
of war against and occupation of the people of Afghanistan, on Wednesday October 
7. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), a nation-wide student organization 
committed to activism for peace, justice and equality, are organizing the protest.

“We are outraged by the daily loss of life and devastation caused by the U.S. 
military in Afghanistan,” Daniel Ginsberg-Jaeckle, a member of SDS in Milwaukee, 
WI. “For eight years this occupation has brought nothing but misery, poverty and 
suffering to the Afghan people. The U.S. and NATO need to get out now.”

The protests come on the heels of the largest loss of life for U.S. occupation 
forces in a year. On Sunday October 4, anti-occupation fighters in Afghanistan 
killed nine U.S. soldiers in a series of attacks. So far, 869 U.S. troops are 
dead in Afghanistan since the occupation began in 2001 – with over a quarter of 
those killed in the past ten months alone. There are over 4,000 U.S. wounded.

U.S. and NATO occupation forces do not keep track of civilian casualties, but 
many estimate that U.S. air strikes and gunfire have killed tens of thousands of 
Afghanis. Just last month, U.S. air strikes killed over 90 Afghan civilians in 
the northern Afghan village of Omar Kheil. A similar strike in Farah province on 
May 4 this year killed 147 civilians.

“The U.S. occupation is a disaster for Afghanistan, just like it is for Iraq. 
The Afghan people will never have stability and peace until the U.S. leaves”, 
said Stephanie Taylor, a member of SDS at the University of Minnesota.

The organizers of the October 7th protests note that the war and occupation of 
Afghanistan is linked to U.S. interests in controlling strategic energy 
resources and markets in central Asia. Jenae Stainer, an SDS organizer in 
Tuscaloosa, Alabama explains, “Our government wants to keep us ignorant about 
the real reasons and true costs of war both at home and in Afghanistan. That is 
why organizing to stop the war is so important.”

Organizers of the October 7th actions say they will continue to initiate 
demonstrations to protest the occupation of Afghanistan until all U.S. and NATO 
forces leave the country. “We will keep speaking out and organizing to support 
the people of Afghanistan in their struggle for independence from U.S. 
occupation,” said Ginsberg-Jaeckle. “We will continue to demand that the U.S. 
government stop spending money on war and occupation, and fund people’s needs 
here at home, including education, housing, jobs, and healthcare.”

	U.S. Out of Afghanistan Now!
	Fund Education, Not Occupation!

The SDS Anti-War Working Group exists to help coordinate national SDS anti-war 
activity. For more information, please contact Daniel Ginsberg-Jaeckle at 
608-658-5480. More information, reports, and organizing materials are available 
on the SDS Antiwar Working Group’s homepage.