September, 10 2009, 12:48pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
9/11 and Afghanistan
WASHINGTON
KATHARINA FEIL
Feil is with September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, an organization founded by family members of those killed on September 11th who have united to turn their grief into action for peace.
The group released a statement: "As the 8th anniversary of the loss of our loved ones approaches, we at September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows remain hopeful that the world and our nation will stop all violent acts in the names of our loved ones. We advocate now as we did on that fateful day that the response to evil must not be more evil, that it must be a response that envisions, not just peaceful tomorrows, but peaceful todays. It is beyond time."
MALALAI JOYA
In 2005, Joya became the youngest person to be elected to the new Afghan parliament, representing Farah province. Since then, she has survived repeated assassination attempts. Her forthcoming book is "Raising My Voice.
In a recent article she wrote: "More than ever, Afghans are faced with powerful internal enemies -- fundamentalist warlords and their Taliban brothers-in-creed -- and the external enemies occupying the country.
"Democracy will never come to Afghanistan through the barrel of a gun, or from the cluster bombs dropped by foreign forces. The struggle will be long and difficult, but the values of real democracy, human rights and women's rights will only be won by the Afghan people themselves. So do not be fooled by this facade of democracy."
NORMAN SOLOMON
Solomon is the author of War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death. Recently back from Afghanistan, he wrote: "Last year, while the U.S. government was spending nearly $100 million a day on military efforts in Afghanistan, an Oxfam report put the total amount of humanitarian aid to the country from all sources at just $7 million per day."
Solomon is executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. This week, he debated Afghanistan policy with former Assistant Defense
Secretary Lawrence Korb. Audio is here.
A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.
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