[PAA-Discuss] Why Mumbai means we should renounce the war on terror

[Juli3 at aol.com]

>From the MADRE Press  Room 
>From  Mumbai to Washington: Now is the Time to Renounce the War on  Terror 

Right now, while the horror of the  attacks in Mumbai is reverberating around 
the world and tensions between  India and Pakistan are mounting, there is a 
crucial move that  President-elect Obama could make to chart a positive course 
forward.  Obama should renounce the "war on terror." 

Think about it: since  the weird semantic banner was first unfurled, _the  
number and ferocity of terrorist attacks has only increased_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=vCGE6n35Kb0GcQhR69QXkfnl6CeDyLQH) . Mumbai 
 is just the latest battle-front. And in the seven years since George  Bush 
put the world on notice with his "you're either with us or with the  
terrorists" declaration, the US has actually managed to _fuel  support for groups that 
use terrorism_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=pVvDMdDXeoztf82MSTNYhvnl6CeDyLQH) . That's because the "war on  terror" has led 
millions of people to conclude that the US is an even  greater threat to their safety 
and freedom than Al Qaeda and other  violent fringe groups.  

And who can blame them? After all,  George Bush and Dick Cheney _literally  
declared the whole world to be their battlefield_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=wlVbPnufzToo/FW6oGzVtvnl6CeDyLQH)  - and forever.  
Under the banner of the "war on terror," the US has overthrown a  sovereign, if 
nasty, government (Iraq), trampled the UN Charter (the  2003 invasion), 
tortured prisoners ("enhanced interrogation techniques"  to quote the Bush 
Administration and the Nazis), openly armed and funded  death squads (the "Salvador 
Option"), and lowered the bar on  governments' accountability to human rights 
standards and civil  liberties worldwide. 

Now, the Indian government is poised to go  down the same road. Leaders of 
India's main opposition party, the  Hindu-nationalist BJP, are _demanding  that 
their government act like the US did after 9-11_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=2JBr+hA0udHGYP2mB5f7b/nl6CeDyLQH) . They see no  
reason that India shouldn't avail itself of the same strong-arm tactics  that the 
Bush Administration has enjoyed-and legitimized. 

Here's  the reason: terrorist attacks are not acts of war to be responded to 
in  kind, but crimes against humanity. As crimes, they should be  investigated 
and the perpetrators tried and prosecuted. We have the body  of international 
laws and institutions needed to pursue genuine justice  in the wake of 
terrorist attacks. Let's use them. And let's dust off the  tradition of peaceful 
cooperation between governments (we're going to  need it anyway, to deal with the 
global recession and climate change).  

The lessons of the past seven years are that there is no  military solution 
to terrorism; that a militarized response only feeds  the same constellation of 
forces that produce support for terrorism;  that a war on terror enhances the 
power of extremists on both sides and  shuts down the space for dialogue, 
diplomacy and decency. 

That's  the message we need to deliver loud and clear to President-elect 
Obama  and his new foreign policy team. We may not be able to undo all of the  
damage inflicted by the Bush Administration, but we can demand a new  direction, 
starting with a forceful human-rights based response to the  atrocities in 
Mumbai. 

Many people in India and Pakistan are  calling for just such a response from 
their governments. Those of us in  the US should demand no less of the 
incoming administration. The best  thing President-elect Obama could do to chart a 
new and improved US  foreign policy is to renounce the "war on terror." 


*This piece by MADRE's  Communication Director Yifat Susskind was also 
published on  _ZNet_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=c5iUl0XDJ3VS7ZMBYewzuvnl6CeDyLQH) ,  _Common  Dreams_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=pVvDMdDXeoxoAYhHpSvNwfnl6CeDyLQH) , _BuzzFlash_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=clqeOfrsFj/9cMqpNhM+zvnl6CeDyLQ
H)   and _CounterPunch_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=XFbwmJU62GIF4XGoq3CP6vnl6CeDyLQH) . 
 
 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=mU9Lt26YAGm49RiOSvyhS/nl6CeDyLQH)  
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