[Peace-discuss] On Helping - If Not On Killing - Is America a Quitter?

[Robert Naiman]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/on-helping---if-not-on-ki_b_573058.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/12/93317/4916
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/574
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/46990

<http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/46990>

When President Obama visited Afghanistan in March, he assured U.S.
troops<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-makes-surprise-visit-afghanistan-meets-karzai/story?id=10148074>
that
"the United States of America does not quit once it starts on something."

But according to Sunday's *New York Times*, it ain't necessarily
so<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/world/africa/10aids.html>.
When it comes to combating AIDS in the world's poorest countries, the
greatest nation on earth has apparently decided to cry "Uncle."

Clinics in Uganda are turning people away, on orders from the U.S.
government. A U.S.-run program in Mozambique has been told to stop opening
clinics.

Why? According to lying U.S. officials, we don't have the money to maintain
our commitment. Budgets are tight. We had to bail out Wall Street.

But the numbers on offer don't make any sense. Michel Sidibe, executive
director of Unaids, says there is a global shortfall of about $17 billion
for controlling the epidemic. The expected U.S. share of such a shortfall
would be about a third, or $5.6 billion.

Meanwhile, Congress is about to be asked to fork over $33 billion in our tax
dollars for more war in Afghanistan. This $33 billion would only pay for
four months of the war, until the end of the fiscal year, when next year's
appropriation will become available.

So on an annual basis, we're being asked to spend almost 20 times more on
killing in Afghanistan than it is claimed that we don't have to help stop
Africa and Haiti from being decimated by AIDS.

Or, to put it another way: if we could end the war in Afghanistan, then
every year we'd save $99 billion compared to the world in which the war
continues. We could use $5.6 billion to pay what we owe on controlling the
AIDS epidemic, and have $93.4 billion left for domestic job creation, tax
cuts, going to the beach, whatever ya want.

But it's not just about the money. It's also about focus. The stupid, cruel,
brutal, and pointless war in Afghanistan is sucking up political oxygen that
could be used for good - like combating poverty and disease.

And we know how to the end the war. The war will start to wind down as soon
as the U.S. agrees to the policy of establishing a timetable for military
withdrawal and begins serious negotiations with the senior leadership of
Afghanistan's insurgencies.

Members of Congress could easily do something about this. They could pledge
to vote no on $33 billion for more war, and they could sign on as
co-sponsors <http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/video/feingold-mcgovern> to
the Feingold-McGovern bill, which would require the President to establish a
timetable for military withdrawal. Already, nearly half of the House
Democratic Caucus is on the bill.

And President Obama could easily do something about this too. When he meets
with President Karzai today, he could agree to President Karzai's request
that the U.S. should fully back Afghan government peace talks with the
Afghan Taliban, as leaders of the U.S. peace movement are calling on Obama
to do <http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/573>.

Meanwhile, AIDS treatment advocates are fighting back against the apparent
decision of U.S. officials to "cut and run" from the fight against AIDS in
Africa. Tomorrow night, activists will confront President Obama and Speaker
Pelosi <http://www.healthgap.org/press/uganda_memo.htm> at a $15,000 per
person dinner in New York. Many of these activists are the same folks that
forced President Clinton and Vice-President Gore to get off their hands on
treatment for global AIDS in the late 1990s. With public support, they will
prevail.

-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org

Urge Congress to Support a Timetable for Military Withdrawal from
Afghanistan
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/feingold-mcgovern

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