As some of you may know, I have posted a couple of diaries regarding the kidnapping of one of my dearest friends, Clementina Cantoni, the CARE aid worker who has been working in Afghanistan for 3 years.
I have written and called my two Democratic US Senators (Boxer and Feinstein) and have contacts with their staffs. I worked for Sen. Feinstein as an intern some years ago, and co-hosted a fundraiser for Sen. Boxer last year. I have asked each to issue a simple public statement supporting Clementina, the work she has been doing in Afghanistan on behalf of thousands of Afghan widows, and the Afghan and Italian authorities who are working hard to secure her release from her captors.
Note: I have not asked either Senator to lobby the Administration, the State Department or the Military to do anything. I simply want these Senators, who have spoken at length about the importance of women's rights and the condition of women in Afghanistan, to lend their moral support to a person who is on the front lines trying to make those wonderful statements a reality for thousands of Afghan women who lived under the most horrific conditions under the Taliban.
The answers I received back from the Senators' offices were disappointing. One said they would not issue a statement because Clementina is an Italian national, even though Italy is a US ally, Clem works for an American company (CARE), and she is ostensibly advancing the goals of US foreign policy in Afghanistan. Another Senate staffer said that Clementina did not have sufficient connections to California....as if that should matter in a foreign policy issue.
As much as I detest Republicans and believe that we live in a neo-fascist state thanks to their extremism, I know that if I had been a Republican activist and had made the proper contacts with Tom Delay's staff and took this issue to his office, I would've received a different response. Republicans back up their own. Democrats don't. I am a Democratic activist and I believe in this party. However, when Democrats dismiss their own with flippant and intellectually dishonest responses on a matter of life and death, they'll get no love from me.