June, 07 2010, 01:26pm EDT
The War in Afghanistan Reaches New Milestone: Longest War in US History, Surpasses the Vietnam War
Brave New Foundation Teams Up With TrueMajority To Demand A Withdrawal Date For Afghanistan
LOS ANGELES
As the
Afghanistan War replaces the Vietnam War as the longest war in U.S.
history, Brave New Foundation and
TrueMajority today called on President Obama and Congress to ensure a
responsible troop withdrawal from Afghanistan complete no later than
December 2011. Brave New Foundation and TrueMajority released a new
video
marking the milestone featuring leading experts, including: former
military
analyst Daniel Ellsberg, Malou Innocent of the CATO Institute, author
Tom
Hayden and historian Christian Appy speaking to the Vietnamization of
Afghanistan and to the staggering cost to Americans totaling almost $300
billion and over 1,000 American lives.
As of Monday, June 7, 2010, the U.S.
will have been in Afghanistan
for 104 months, more than eight-and-a half years, surpassing the war in
Vietnam. In
his December 2009 West Point speech, President Obama announced a U.S.
military withdrawal from Afghanistan
would begin in July 2011. However, he set no end date, leaving open the
possibility that U.S.
combat troops could remain there indefinitely.
The call for a firm withdrawal end-date comes as Congress
debates spending another $33 billion on troop escalation in Afghanistan.
The
video is available at:
"It
is a real tragedy that Afghanistan
has now become the longest war in American history. This war has gone
on
long enough, and it's time to end it. We have already spent almost $300
billion dollars on Afghanistan
and have lost over 1,000 American lives, all for a war that is not
making us
safer." Director, Robert Greenwald, Brave New Foundation
"I
think of this war as Vietnamistan. It's essentially the same form of
war:
fighting people who are mainly motivated by the determination to expel
foreign
invaders from their country."Daniel Ellsberg, Former US
Military
Analyst, RAND Corp
"[President
Obama] has not promised or pledged how many troops he promises to take
out or
leave behind, so it's very ambiguous. I wouldn't be surprised if we are
in this
region for the foreseeable future."Malou Innocent, Foreign
Policy
Analyst, Cato Institute
"Afghanistan becoming the longest
war in our history forces us to ask: Just how long is long enough? How
much
money is too much? How many more lives is this worth? The answer is that
the
war in Afghanistan
has already cost us too much - and it's up to Congress to bring home the
troops
and refocus our priorities." Matt Holland, Online Director
TrueMajority/USAction
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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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