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<P><B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: medium">From the MADRE Press
Room</SPAN></B></P>
<P></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: medium">From
Mumbai to Washington: Now is the Time to Renounce the War on
Terror</SPAN></B></P>
<P></P><BR>
<P></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: medium">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." <BR><BR>Think about it: since
the weird semantic banner was first unfurled, <A
title=http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=vCGE6n35Kb0GcQhR69QXkfnl6CeDyLQH
href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=vCGE6n35Kb0GcQhR69QXkfnl6CeDyLQH">the
number and ferocity of terrorist attacks has only increased</A>. 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 <A
title=http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=pVvDMdDXeoztf82MSTNYhvnl6CeDyLQH
href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=pVvDMdDXeoztf82MSTNYhvnl6CeDyLQH">fuel
support for groups that use terrorism</A>. 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. <BR><BR>And who can blame them? After all,
George Bush and Dick Cheney <A
title=http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=wlVbPnufzToo/FW6oGzVtvnl6CeDyLQH
href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=wlVbPnufzToo%2FFW6oGzVtvnl6CeDyLQH">literally
declared the whole world to be their battlefield</A> - 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. <BR><BR>Now, the Indian government is poised to go
down the same road. Leaders of India's main opposition party, the
Hindu-nationalist BJP, are <A
title=http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=2JBr+hA0udHGYP2mB5f7b/nl6CeDyLQH
href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=2JBr%2BhA0udHGYP2mB5f7b%2Fnl6CeDyLQH">demanding
that their government act like the US did after 9-11</A>. They see no
reason that India shouldn't avail itself of the same strong-arm tactics
that the Bush Administration has enjoyed-and legitimized. <BR><BR>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).
<BR><BR>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. <BR><BR>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. <BR><BR>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."</SPAN></P>
<P></P><BR><BR>
<P><I><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: medium">*This piece by MADRE's
Communication Director Yifat Susskind was also published on
</SPAN></I><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: medium"><A
title=http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=c5iUl0XDJ3VS7ZMBYewzuvnl6CeDyLQH
href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=c5iUl0XDJ3VS7ZMBYewzuvnl6CeDyLQH"><I>ZNet</I></A><I>,
</I><A
title=http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=pVvDMdDXeoxoAYhHpSvNwfnl6CeDyLQH
href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=pVvDMdDXeoxoAYhHpSvNwfnl6CeDyLQH"><I>Common
Dreams</I></A><I>, <A
title=http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=clqeOfrsFj/9cMqpNhM+zvnl6CeDyLQH
href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=clqeOfrsFj%2F9cMqpNhM%2Bzvnl6CeDyLQH">BuzzFlash</A>
and </I><A
title=http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=XFbwmJU62GIF4XGoq3CP6vnl6CeDyLQH
href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=XFbwmJU62GIF4XGoq3CP6vnl6CeDyLQH"><I>CounterPunch</I></A></SPAN><I><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: medium">.</SPAN></I></P>
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