[PAA-Discuss] [codepinkhouston] FW: Bringing Osama bin Laden to Justice?

[donald cook]

I believe we in the GP have been talking something  similar, Lee.  I am CCing David Wager, GP Treasurer, who is the lead on this. -- Don
 


From: leeloe at igc.org
To: discuss at paa-tx.org
Date: Wed, 4 May 2011 18:38:55 -0500
Subject: [codepinkhouston] FW: Bringing Osama bin Laden to Justice?









I believe that the houston peace community should hold a candlelight vigil to light the way to peace and not vengence, love and not hate, and dedicate ourselves continue to be work together and create greater understanding of what is possible if we "study war no more". Mother's Day might work if we did it near dusk so the candles could be seen. Any ideas? Lee Loe



From: the Peace Farm [mailto:peacemaker at peacefarm.us] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2011 4:45 PM
To: the Peace Farm
Subject: Bringing Osama bin Laden to Justice?




 
 

 

----- Original Message ----- 

From: War Resisters League 

To: cletus at arn.net 

Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 12:43 PM

Subject: ADV: Bringing Osama bin Laden to Justice?

 










 





Not Justice, Not Victory: Just Another Murder in the Name of Peace
May 2, 2011

"I keep thinking of how awful it was to hear that there were people actually celebrating on 9-11. Now I look at the TV and see the same thing."
-Family member of a man killed in the World Trade Center of September 11, 2001.


The reported killing of Osama bin Laden by a CIA operation in Pakistan represents neither justice nor victory, and should be no cause for celebration.

It has been nearly ten years since September 11th, 2001. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed. More than six thousand members of the United States military have been killed. Trillions of dollars have been wasted. Tens of thousands of men, women, and children have been detained and imprisoned in the “war on terror.” Torture is now an acceptable component of U.S. foreign policy. Racism is more deeply entrenched in our culture.

Eight years to the day (May 1, 2003) after President George W. Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, he called the killing of bin Laden a "victory for America."  Heads of State around the world added to a chorus of congratulations to President Barack Obama and the United States. Crowds gathered in New York City, Washington DC, and other places around the country waving American flags, singing patriotic songs, and chanting “USA, USA.”

This hateful euphoria demonstrates a nation bent on revenge, not justice.

Originally sponsored by the U.S. and now on lists of U.S. military targets, supporters of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda will be emboldened by these events. Our call for an end to violence applies to all sides of the so-called "Global War on Terror," and echoes responses recently posted on independent Afghan Facebook pages. 

In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech
in 1964, Martin Luther King said: "Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace.....If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation." 

If we are to move beyond revenge, aggression, and retaliation, we must end the wars, declared and undeclared, which are currently being waged by the United States. 
It is beyond time to bring the troops home. The White House must begin a swift withdrawal of U.S. forces abroad.

We must not celebrate the death of one accused of mass murder while justifying or ignoring the death of hundreds of thousands due to our own violence.

In the barbarism of war, what had been unthinkable at one moment becomes routine the next.  We must end the cycle of violence now.
Resources for more information: 
Rethink Afghanistan: Osama bin Laden is Dead: Bring the Troops Home
http://rethinkafghanistan.com/
Justice or Vengeance: by Phyllis Bennis
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05/02-3
On Osama Bin Laden’s Death: by Chris Hedges
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05/02-2
The New Yorker’s coverage and commentary
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/05/osama-bin-laden-analysis.html
Death of Osama Bin Laden 'pretty irrelevant': Robert Fisk
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/05/02/3205479.htm
Other Fisk writings:
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/asia-pacific/march-2007-robert-fisk-on-bin-laden-at-50-2635035.html
Pro-democracy Afghan Facebook page, "Love Afghanistan"
http://www.facebook.com/LoveAfghanistan

“What Happens if We Stay in Afghanistan?” by the South Asia Solidarity Initiative
http://www.southasiainitiative.org/content/what-happens-if-we-stay-a-0
War Resisters League Statement on September 11, 2001
http://www.warresisters.org/node/449





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