Monday, November 30, 2009
Dear friends,
Unfortunately, we are expecting an announcement on Tuesday from President Obama that more troops will be sent to Afghanistan. The phone calls we began last week are still important, but more actions are needed. Pax Christi USA is joining with many of our partner groups in calling for the next several days to be "days of action" on Afghanistan. There are a number of actions we encourage you to take over the course of the next several days as you are able.1) Continue to make phone calls to the White House at 202-456-1111 and tell President Obama:
No additional troops to be sent to Afghanistan.
Start the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
Begin serious diplomacy and dialogue with all parties to the conflict, internal and external, as well as independent Afghan women leaders, without preconditions.
Redirect the tens of billions of dollars spent yearly on Afghanistan war funding to human needs in Afghanistan and at home.
2) Flood your local media with letters to the editor and so forth against the escalation. Post comments on local and national media websites, blogs, and elsewhere. Use the bullet points above.
3) Organize or participate in local actions. Several different sites are hosting information on actions and events or allowing you to post your own action or event. Check out these two sites:
To find an event near you, go to the sites of
To add your own event at these sites, go to The World Can't Wait or United for Peace and Justice.
4) Change your Facebook status to "President Obama, please: No escalation in Afghanistan."
5) Tomorrow, Veterans for Rethinking Afghanistan will be traveling to the White House, delivering a petition to President Obama before he announces his decision. Please sign the petition online here. You can also post the petition to your Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=http://rethinkafghanistan.com/#petition) or tweet the petition to your friends: "Vets to Obama: Do Not Escalate in Afghanistan: "http://rethinkafghanistan.com/. To listen to the voices of the Veterans, check out the video on YouTube by clicking here. Pax Christi USA has signed several letters and petitions to the President asking him to chart a new direction in Afghanistan, one that does not include an escalation of troops and lays out an exit strategy. You can add your name to the petition mentioned above in #5 and this letter initiated by Sojourners too. To see the letter we signed from the Afghanistan Policy Working Group, click here. Thank you for your steadfast commitment to bringing peace to Afghanistan. Take action in any way possible this week. More efforts are still in the work and I'll keep you updated in the days ahead.
In peace,
Johnny Zokovitch
Director of Communications, Pax Christi USA
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