On April 15, 1967, 400,000 people marched from Central Park to the UN building in New York City to protest the Vietnam war, where they were addressed by critics of the war such as Benjamin Spock, Martin Luther King, James Bevel, and Jan Barry Crumb, a veteran of the war. On the same date 100,000 marched in San Francisco.
What happened to this country? This abyss we have falling into, silently accepting endless war in Afghanistan, billions upon billions spent in an unwinnable war, and a nation remains mostly silent.
What would it take to get you out in the streets protesting this war? So much loss of lives and at a cost of 2 billions dollars a week. Can you sit back silently, and if so, for how much longer?
There are some voices in congress speaking out. Will you contact your representatives and tell them it is time to end this war?
Come fall we start our 12th year of war in Afghanistan. Each week of war in 2012 costs about $2 billion.
Not much has changed over the past year there, except for more deaths, more destruction, more chaos, more maimed. More billions spent. We will soon have even another new general named to lead the war. But nothing changes. The corruption continues. The opium production is up. Year after year after year, we lose so many lives in this endless war, and little changes.
The Afghans are not yet ready to defend their country, though we have spend almost 50 Billion Dollars in training them. Some do stay and fight, but far too many desert and some defect to the Taliban. When they desert there are no penalties, no accountability, just money down the drain spent to train them. When they defect, (as in the latest 12 police who defected to the Taliban, they gave them equipment we paid for, such as "rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine-guns, radios and police vehicles, including two Humvees" to use against our troops.
Here on dkos few care to talk about the war, nor is it even mentioned by either candidate for president.
And congress never lacks the votes for funding wars.
Can you imagine if we could take to the streets 500,000 strong?
There is a Time to Break the Silence Martin Luther King
When Silence is Betrayal.......
President Obama said when the Afghans stand up, we can stand down.
The US and other countries have been training the Afghans for more than a decade. After 11 years and almost 50 billion dollars spent by just the USA alone in just training alone, they are still not up to task. So year after year this training goes on. For just the past 2 years alone, the US have spent over 20 billion dollars in training. The Afghans still can operate only with the hands-on support of Western forces
If this war continues until the Afghans will be ready to stand up, based on the past 11 years, how many more years will we have to stay in Afghanistan?
Congressman Jim McGovern addressing congress in July 2012 along with 14 others in congress..........
It’s regrettable that this war is not more of a priority in public debate. And it is unconscionable that debating this war is not a top priority for this Congress.
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This year marks the 12th consecutive appropriations season that the United States has been fighting and funding the war in Afghanistan.
And for what, Mr. Chairman, for what?
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Sometimes it is easy to forget that we are still deep in war in Afghanistan.
Members of the Afghan military and security forces continue to turn their guns on our troops and murder them.
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According to the Pentagon, 154 Active Duty soldiers committed suicide in the first 159 days of this year – that’s almost one per day. And as for our veterans, the VA estimates that a veteran dies by suicide every 80 minutes.
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Each week of war in 2012 costs about $2 billion. If the Pentagon’s “enduring presence” means thousands of troops remaining in Afghanistan after 2014 for who knows how long, then we are looking at a trillion dollar war.
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Meanwhile, we’re cutting funds for our schools, preparing to slash billions of dollars from the safety net that’s supposed to keep our own people out of poverty; watching our roads, bridges, water systems and infrastructure decay; and we’re told there’s no money to invest in health care and scientific research.
57% of all federal discretionary spending to the military, at a time when some want to cut spending on food stamps, claiming there is not enough money.
15 members of Congress spoke for 90 minutes, on July 18th, on the FY 2013 Defense Appropriations Act in pursuit of one goal:
End the war in Afghanistan. Bring our troops home.
Before the next bill comes up for more war funding, will you make your voice heard?