December, 10 2008, 03:08pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK co-founder, 415-235-6517
Jodie Evans, CODEPINK co-founder, 310-621-5635
CODEPINK Disheartened by US Military Killing of Afghan Police
States an Increase in Troops Would Increase Civilian Deaths
WASHINGTON
The murder of six Afghan police and one civilian, as well as injury to a dozen others, at the hands of U.S. military Monday in Afghanistan is disheartening and upsetting, said CODEPINK Women for Peace leaders today in response to the story. It is a sad sign of what will come with an increase in U.S. troops in that country.
Such accidents -- the deaths of innocent Afghan civilians -- are bound to occur in far greater numbers if the U.S. sends more troops to Afghanistan, leading to more violence, more suffering and more recruits for the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
"If there's a surge, there will be a surge in the killing of innocent people," said Jodie Evans, CODEPINK co-founder. "There is no military solution in Afghanistan."
At the height of the U.S. invasion in 2001, hundreds of innocent Afghan civilians were killed and maimed by U.S. "smart bombs." Seven years later, they continue to be killed and maimed. According to a 2000 Human Rights Watch report, the number of Afghan civilians killed by U.S. and NATO air strikes nearly tripled from 2006 to 2007.
U.S. soldiers are also dying in greater numbers, about 153 so far this year and the Taliban has grown stronger.
"President-elect Obama must rethink his call for sending more troops," said co-founder Medea Benjamin, who has traveled several times to Afghanistan and maintains contact with Afghan women's groups. "Our military presence is a recruiting tool for Al Qaeda and is part of the problem, not part of the solution. There must be a negotiated settlement with the more moderate elements of the Taliban, with Afghan women being part of these negotiations so they can stand up for their rights."
Many top military and foreign policy experts are starting to oppose the idea of sending more U.S. troops into Afghanistan, as President-elect Obama has called for. Among them is former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, who has said that we run the risk that our military presence will gradually turn the entire Afghan population against us. Others acknowledge that it will be impossible to conquer tribal forces in a vast, rugged, thinly populated country like Afghanistan and the tribal areas of Pakistan and that a negotiated settlement is the only "solution."
For questions or interviews with Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin or (retired) Col. Ann Wright, please call Jean Stevens at 508-769-2138.
CODEPINK is a women-led grassroots organization working to end U.S. wars and militarism, support peace and human rights initiatives, and redirect our tax dollars into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming programs.
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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday that he is "deeply concerned" by Israel's "recent and extensive violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," including a ground invasion and airstrikes carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in the war-torn Mideastern nation.
Guterres "is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria" and has stressed the "urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Israel claims its invasion and bombardment of Syria—which come as the United States and Turkey have also violated Syrian sovereignty with air and ground attacks—are meant to create a security buffer along the countries' shared border in the wake of last week's fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid the IDF's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed or wounded more than 162,000 Palestinians and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
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Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
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