NATIONAL CALL-IN DAY for PEACE through JUSTICE
Wednesday, October 24th
White House Comment Line: (202) 456-1111
Secretary of State Comment Line: (202) 647-657
Congressional Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Because the U.S. has chosen to bomb Afghanistan, one of the most tragic
and war ravaged countries in the world, the Washington Peace Center and
the National Coalition for Peace and Justice (a coalition of the
nation's largest peace and justice organizations) urge you to join the
growing international movement demanding the there be "No More
Victims."
We urge you to unite with thousands of concerned citizens from across
the country and call President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Colin
Powell and your senators and representatives and ask them to:
(1) Exercise the Rule of Law, not the Rule of Force, in bringing those
responsible for the September 11th attacks to justice. War is not the
answer.
(2) End the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan to allow aid workers to return
and restore the delivery and distribution of essential aid to Afghan
civilians. Food drops and bombs are not the answer.
(3) Strongly support the United Nations' special representative,
Frances Vendrell, and the UN-led peace process in Afghanistan.
(4) Defend civil liberties and condemn attacks on American Arabs,
Muslims, Sikhs and all.
The National Call-In Day has been endorsed by the National Coalition for
Peace & Justice, which includes Peace Action, War Resisters League,
Fellowship of Reconciliation, Education for Peace in Iraq Center,
Women's Association for Nuclear Disarmament, Pax Christi, American
Friends Service Committee and other national organizations.
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Talking Points on Afghanistan
Although the humanitarian food drops might play favorably at home, they
are mostly symbolic and are a disaster for humanitarian workers in the
region who are at risk if they are not seen to be impartial. On Monday
October 8th, Doctors Without Borders, the Nobel Prize winning relief
group, condemned the food drop on Monday as 'military propaganda'
designed to justify the air strikes. According to Dr. Jean-Herve Bradol
of Doctors Without Borders, airdrops of food and medical aid are of
"little real value to the Afghan people", are "potentially
dangerous" and will likely "cause real problems for truly
independent non-governmental aid organizations who are less likely to be
perceived as impartial actors in the future."
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/2001/us_10-2001.html.
Before the air strikes, UN agencies and independent relief organizations
were still able to get some food convoys into Afghanistan. Now the
delivery of aid has become nearly impossible. Already the International
Committee of the Red Cross has witnessed the bombing of one of its
warehouses in Kabul, injuring one staff member.
Although it has gone largely unreported, Afghanistan is in the grip of a
three-year drought, the worst in decades, affecting over 50% of the
population. Even before the war, much of Afghanistan was on the verge of
starvation. The displacement of people increases this risk.
United Nations humanitarian aid agencies predict as many as 1.5 million
Afghans will seek refuge in Pakistan and other neighboring countries,
but many are more likely to move within the country's borders (USA
Today, 10/10/01).
By the end of the year, up to 7.5 million Afghan civilians will be
entirely dependent on food aid to survive the winter. By impeding the
delivery and distribution of aid, the U.S. war may cause massive
civilian casualties. As Dominic Nutt, emergency officer for Christian
Aid, plainly stated: "It's as if a mass grave has been dug behind
millions of people. We can drag them back from it or push them in. We
could be looking at millions of deaths."
Although U.S. Defense officials have said the mission only targets
military assets, civilians are being killed. Last week in Kabul, a U.S.
guided missile destroyed the office of the Afghan Technical Consultants
(ATC), the oldest and largest anti-mine organization funded by the UN in
Afghanistan. Four UN mine disposal workers were killed. Following the
attack, the UN Coordinator of Afghanistan, Mike Seckett, appealed to the
international community to meet its obligation to protect innocent
civilians while military strikes were going on. A New York Times
journalist also reported more civilian casualties in a village in Karam,
on the hills of eastern Afghanistan (New York Times, 10/13/01).
What happened on September 11th was a crime against humanity, and when
there is a crime, those who are responsible must be held accountable and
brought to justice, but without harming great numbers of people.
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Washington Peace Center
1801 Columbia Road NW, Suite 104
(202) 234-2000; fax (202) 234-7064
wpc@igc.org
http://www.washingtonpeacecenter.org
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 90083
Gainesville, FL 32607
(352) 337-9274
http://www.space4peace.org
globalnet@mindspring.com
Above downloaded and edited (punctuation) by DDE, 10/22/2001 22:45CDT from
http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?itemid=13312991.