Santa Cruz County to Hold Vigil at Military Recruiting Center in Honor of Father’s Day 2009




The Peace Community of Santa Cruz County invites you to:
A Vigil in Honor of Father’s Day 2009
On Friday June 19th, From 3-6PM
In front of the Military Recruiting Center*
2121 41st Avenue, in Capitola, CA 95010

The wars go on,
in Iraq AND in Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan, the troop levels continue to mount, and yet MANY EXPERTS who have served within the system are saying that there is NO military solution possible in Afghanistan.

Retired Army Colonel Ann Wright, who then became a career United States Diplomat and was assigned to set up the American Embassy in Afghanistan during October of 2001, has said:

“President Obama is making a huge mistake. There is no military solution available in Afghanistan. Only diplomacy, negotiation, and rebuilding the government and the infrastructure can bring resolution in Afghanistan.”

Yet, American soldiers continue to die and be grievously wounded,
And the people of Afghanistan suffer the same.
Not just combatants, but babies, children, fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, brothers, sisters, cousins, friends……

And the same continues in Iraq as well.

Around the world, in every culture, in every country, within every spiritual tradition, those left behind, or to care for the permanently wounded, grieve deeply, intensely, a gnawing hole that takes so, so long to heal, and to forgive…

Our Fathers, our Grandfathers, our Sons, our Brothers, our boys, our men feel this loss, this rending apart of the family, as terribly as any Mother or Grandmother, Daughter or Sister, woman or girl.

Let us come together, then, in honor of this Father’s Day 2009,
to say to our men, our boys,
that we respect and cherish their emotions, their sensitivity,
their deep commitment and caring for the well being of the children
and the grandchildren, for families and friends, and the very Earth itself,
and that we stand with them in working toward
a more Peaceful and Loving World.

This is a tie that binds us, that creates common ground around the Planet, throughout the Global Village, culture to culture, country to country, religion to religion. Let us see it clearly and nurture its growth.

Please join the Peace Community of Santa Cruz County for:
A Vigil in Honor of Father’s Day 2009
On Friday, June 19th
>From 3-6PM
In front of the Military Recruiting Center*
2121 41st Avenue, in Capitola

Signs or banners that draw attention to the current situation in Afghanistan would be especially appreciated – we will have extras available!

Colorful group flags or banners also speak strongly of the commitment and involvement of the larger community!

Please invite, friends, family, coworkers, partners,
and pass this info along to groups that you are part of.

If your group or congregation would like to be listed as a cosponsor, please send an email to this address:

meadowwolf@baymoon.com

*the Recruiting Center is located next to Burger King, just before the corner of Clares Street and 41st Avenue – there is lots of parking in the lot at the back of the building, or on the street behind. Please car pool! County Buses also go to Capitola Mall and it is an easy two block walk from there!

Peace Now, and Forever!

This Vigil is cosponsored by (a growing list): People United for Peace of SC County, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom of Santa Cruz and Pajaro Valley, CodePink Santa Cruz, Western Workers Labor Heritage Festival, the Santa Cruz Peace Chorale, the Resource Center for Nonviolence, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship of SC, Santa Cruz Friends Meeting (Quakers), the Truth in Recruiting Network, the Peace and Freedom Party of SC County, Families Against War, the Santa Cruz Peace Coalition, the United Nations Association of SC

COALITION LETTER TO PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS: REGARDING THE 2009 SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS




Dear Progressive Caucus Member:

The undersigned organizations and concerned individuals have worked closely with the Progressive Caucus to prevent and to end the Iraq War. We appreciate your leadership on this issue and your continued efforts to ensure the removal of all U.S. troops from the country. We are also grateful for all that the Caucus, collectively and individually, has already done to speak out against the widening war in Afghanistan, which contradicts both our national security and our national values.

At this critical moment, your continued leadership to help reverse the downward spiral of the security situation in Afghanistan is urgently required. We urge you to oppose the expansion of the war in Afghanistan; require the Obama administration to present and implement an exit strategy; and to press for a greater investment in Afghan-led development efforts and regional diplomacy to stabilize the country.

We also urge you to press for an immediate end to U.S. air raids that continue to kill and maim Afghan civilians and destroy Afghan property. What is euphemistically termed ‘collateral damage’ not only takes civilian lives but also inflames Afghans’ hostility to the U.S. and wins new supporters for the Taliban. According to the UN Assistance Mission, U.S. strikes produced 64% of all civilian deaths caused by the U.S., NATO, and Afghan forces in 2008. Just this week, ‘collateral damage’ from U.S. air strikes took another 100 innocent lives, according to Afghan officials.

Secretary of Defense Gates, Secretary of State Clinton, National Security Advisor Jones, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mullen, and even President Obama himself, have each acknowledged that the internal conflict in Afghanistan cannot finally be won by military means. They have publicly agreed that it will have to be won — if it can — by dramatic improvements in the economy, the political system, government services, and the courts.

The President’s FY 2009 supplemental funding request would clearly widen the war in Afghanistan. We urge Congress to restructure the package to focus funding on the expanded diplomacy, development assistance, and international cooperation that are key to ending these conflicts and promoting a stable peace in the wider region. To defeat the Taliban and stabilize the country, the U.S. must enable the Afghan people to develop public services and an effective justice system essential to create political stability and support for the government; to develop agricultural alternatives to drug crops; and to root out corruption.

Given these objectives, the ratio of military to non-military funding in the Administration’s $83.4 billion supplemental budget makes little sense. More than 90% of the funds allocated for Afghanistan in the supplemental is for an escalation of war-fighting by U.S. military units. It would widen — not wind down — the war there. That contradicts the Administration’s own admission about how the ‘war’ will be won or lost.

President Obama has agreed that the U.S. must convince Afghans we have “no interest or aspiration to be there over the long term.” Yet our troop escalation, increased operational tempo, and expansion of large bases suggests just the opposite.

In light of these concerns, we believe that the Congress should restructure the supplemental spending in several critical ways:

Require the administration to set a date certain for withdrawal.
Prohibit any further Predator and other missile strikes and aerial bombing likely to result in civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Approve the $7.1 billion in funding for the international affairs budget, including: $3.7 billion for humanitarian aid, development initiatives, and diplomatic support in Afghanistan.
Oppose all new funding for combat in Afghanistan and, at a minimum, dramatically change the proportion of funds for war-fighting compared to those for development, stabilization, and diplomatic cooperation.
Now is the time to reverse direction in Afghanistan so that the U.S., as President Obama envisioned, “forge a hard-earned peace” there.

Signed (as of 6:00PM ET, May 11, 2009):

United For Peace and Justice