Obama's Peace Prize lecture and a "Just War"

[Barry]

https://www.waccobb.net/forums/waccobb/ImagesforMembers/2009-12-10_1349.pngI've just watched Obama's excellent Nobel Peace Prize lecture.

You can see it here:
President Obama Gets Nobel Peace Prize - Video Library - The New York Times (https://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/12/10/multimedia/1247466064759/president-obama-gets-nobel-peace-prize.html)

And read it here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/world/europe/11prexy.text.html


Coming only days after he escalated the war in Afghanistan, I thought it was a very thoughtful examination of war and peace, including how war can be avoided and when it is necessary.

What did you think?

Please respond only if you have either watched or read his entire lecture.

[Clancy]

I love a good speech by an articulate politician in the same way I love gospel music. I don't take it literally, but it evokes noble feelings that I enjoy.

Unfortunately, our 'wars' are not just, and are not even wars. They're occupations of two third world countries by the most efficient killing machine the world has ever seen, in a ruthless global monopoly game for control of dwindling oil and natural gas supplies. The damn natives just won't cooperate, I can't understand why.

We will soon be 'liberating' Somalia too, and that will also be oh so just, and oh so humanitarian... they have far too much oil, and it's already promised to US oil corporations if only we can pacify those pesky 'terrorists' that 'threaten our way of life'.

Here's another perspective on our occupation of Afghanistan, by Project Censored, that I believe is far more credible than Obama's.
Can Obama Succeed in Afghanistan? | Dailycensored.com (https://dailycensored.com/2009/12/07/can-obama-succeed-in-afghanistan/)




Coming only days after he escalated the war in Afghanistan, I thought it was a very thoughtful examination of war and peace, including how war can be avoided and when it is necessary.

What did you think?

[Tars]

I thought it was a superb speech. He stated his administration's policy on which all future U.S. international interactions will be judged.

He succinctly addressed the fact that, despite the basic human desire for peace, that "evil does exist". And because there is this evil, force must be used to counter it.

Military force should be used just like civilized societies use police force. I was moved by the part of Obama's speech where he called on "friends and allies" to work more closely to fight evil where it appears internationally.

I see encouraging signs from this administration that U.S. foreign policy is beginning a change from only using military might, to a series of policies which emphasize working with and amongst the interantional community.

[zenekar]

I concur with Clancy. Obama is articulate and intelligent but he speaks on behalf of the elite chess masters who divide up the world and rob the resources. It can be witnessed in Copenhagen, simultaneously as Obama was giving his clever acceptance speech. The have not nations are being hoodwinked by the haves.

Yes, evil does exist. How do you define evil? Occupying nations, looting resources, exploiting human labor, causing misery and death for the profit of a few... I would say that is evil. The US has over 700 military bases around the world to protect the interests of the elite that perpetrate this evil.

Like soldiers and the police, the job of politicians is to protect and defend the status quo -- that is, the will of the elite. People will naturally resist and fight back one way or another, against the injustice of occupation and theft on the grandest scale. We call the defense of a nation war, but the real war is the invasion, occupation and looting of resources.

It's time for a worldwide Satyagraha movement.
Definition: Satyagraha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyagraha)

Attila
_



I thought it was a superb speech. He stated his administration's policy on which all future U.S. international interactions will be judged.

He succinctly addressed the fact that, despite the basic human desire for peace, that "evil does exist". And because there is this evil, force must be used to counter it.

Military force should be used just like civilized societies use police force. I was moved by the part of Obama's speech where he called on "friends and allies" to work more closely to fight evil where it appears internationally.

I see encouraging signs from this administration that U.S. foreign policy is beginning a change from only using military might, to a series of policies which emphasize working with and amongst the interantional community.

[enigmaha]

Obama’s Nobel speech was very well-written and delivered. Obama is a very bright man and a gifted speaker. I was moved by much that he said, inclusive of his acknowledgement that there are people dedicatedly working for peace who are more deserving of the prize than himself, in light of the fact that he has two wars in progress at present.

Ironically, the bulk of what he said provides a sound basis for choosing an alternative to using force in Afghanistan!

Obama said, “ We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend.”
“Do unto others as we’d have them do unto us” is a cornerstone of this and ‘ought’ to serve as our moral compass.

Yes, 5,000 innocent people were killed on 9/11. It was a great tragedy and the world’s heart shared our sorrow. Yet, as a person I spoke with in the wake of 9/11 pointed out, “Our foreign policy has come to visit upon us!”

We citizens of America were appalled at such ‘unprovoked’ violence yet the US has been doing exactly the same on foreign soil for many decades and continues to do so even now. We don’t want such things happening here nor should we allow our country to do so elsewhere.

We have been responsible for killing and injuring hundreds of thousands of innocents in their own countries both prior to 9/11 as well as after. Civilian casualties are at 90% in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

There are indeed fanatic madmen comprising theTaliban and al-Qaeda and no, we don’t want them doing more harm. Their numbers are small by comparison to most of the Afghani and Pakistani population. The best way to defeat them is through offering the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan non-biased education and humanitarian aid for themselves and their children so they can overcome the influence of the Taliban from within. The current government in Afghanistan is also corrupt and deeply tied into the opium trade so is not likely to help the people towards this end. It seems we are working in cahoots with that government.

In our military occupation of other countries, as occurred in Vietnam, Panama, Grenada, Iraq, and now Afghanistan, each presiding president has effectively used the same false pretense of us being the good guys who are helping to overcome corruption and ‘fighting evil’ by being there. It just ain’t true. Those were not our real motives. The depiction of there being an ‘evil enemy’ is nothing more than a strategy to engage people’s fear and sense of righteousness. Such propaganda is designed to manipulate public sentiment in order to ‘justify’ being involved in what were, and continue to be, unjust wars where we were/are there to further our capitalistic agenda. In Iraq, it was to secure the oil fields; in Afghanistan it’s to ensure laying a pipeline to carry the oil. Far from helping the people of those countries, we have caused them horrific suffering and destruction. We have not upheld human rights in being there; we have disgraced human rights and our humanity.

World War II was the only war where our involvement and the use of military force were both just and necessary. The subsequent ones have been bluffs with selfish ulterior motives.
This is well depicted in the Oscar winning documentary film “The Panama Deception” which examines how the Bush-Cheney-Powell team used Panama to prepare for the future Iraq invasions.

The film provides analysis of U.S. relations with Panama and a devastating critique of the mainstream media and its complicity with the official government line.
During the attack, the U.S. unleashed a force of 24,000 troops equipped with highly sophisticated weaponry and aircraft against a country with an army smaller than the New York City Police Department.

Right now, in Afghanistan, many thousands of beautiful, loving, peaceful men, women and children are homeless and injured by the bombings by us that have occurred. Many children have lost limbs as well as their parents. The people are living in make-shift refugee camps with insufficient food, water and medical aid. They have been displaced from their homes where they had previously been able to grow food. The US which rightfully ‘ought’ to be providing this aid, is ignoring their need completely. Norman Solomon, a peace activist, recently returned from Afghanistan and witnessed their plight first hand. Where is our moral compass in this? Nonexistent. Where is our commitment to upholding human rights in this? Nonexistent. Obama asserts that we are conducting this war in a humane way but we are not!

The behind the scenes reality of the impact of this war and our real motivations in being there doesn’t get covered by the media.

Obama speaks in idealistic, inspiring terms which win our hearts but, in truth, these ideals are not being practiced by our presence in Afghanistan. They could be if indeed we were there offering humanitarian aid and building schools, clinics, and housing rather than dropping bombs.

I've called and written my senators and representatives to ask them to withhold funding for the troop surge and I encourage you to do the same. We must make our voices heard with the same fervor we used to get Obama into office. Now the message is ‘Enough war!’ There are better solutions!

I wrote to Lynn Woolsey voicing my opposition to the troop surge. The following is an excerpt from her response:
“While I share the President's goal of ensuring that this region can't be used to plan attacks against America and our allies, I disagree with him on how we accomplish this goal. I remain absolutely opposed to sending more combat troops because there is no military solution to the situation in Afghanistan. That's why I'm an original cosponsor of H.R. 3699, a bill that would prohibit any increase in U.S. combat troops serving in Afghanistan. We don't need a surge of combat troops, we need a surge of civilians to provide economic, political, and reconstruction support as we help restore stability in Afghanistan.”

I wrote to Barbara Boxer opposing the troop surge. In her response to me she said: “Thank you for contacting me regarding the situation in Afghanistan. I do not support adding more troops because there are now 200,000 American, NATO and Afghan forces fighting roughly 20,000 Taliban and less than 100 al Qaeda.”

The following offers a much better strategy and use of resources than funding more war.

Nonviolent Peaceforce CEO on Afghanistan:

Another Way in Afghanistan by Mel Duncan | Nonviolent Peaceforce (https://www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org/another-way-afghanistan-mel-duncan)

“I write as a father who has seen his son off to war in Iraq and is now supporting him as he battles the demons he brought home. I also write as Executive Director of Nonviolent Peaceforce, an organization that has recruited and deployed unarmed civilian peacekeepers to war zones in Sri Lanka, Guatemala, the Mindanao region of the Philippines, and Sudan.

I have watched over the years as the powerful wage "wars of necessity" in tired repetition, noting that those making the decision to fight are almost always shielded from the direct consequences of their "necessary" wars. My own experiences have led me to realize that there is no such thing as a war of necessity-only failures of compassion and creativity.

I write this not as an opponent of our nation, our military, or our leaders, but as a friend watching my country on the verge of a colossal mistake. Eight years of a highly militarized and expensive war on terror has not made us safer nor gained us friends in the world. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, we continue to lose popularity. Now we stand to squander the global goodwill earned by electing Barack Obama in much the same way we wasted the worldwide support that followed 9/11.

Some warn that Afghanistan will be Obama's Vietnam. No-Afghanistan will be Obama's Afghanistan. The people living in this region are strong, proud, and not easily subdued by outside troops. Ask the 19th century British or the 20th century Soviets. For that matter, ask Genghis Khan.

If we are to pursue the twin goals of keeping Al Qaeda from using the region to launch terrorism and of stabilizing Afghanistan, we have to shed our unilateral Western military approach. We must engage the entire world, including the Muslim world. First and foremost, we need to support the Afghan people in stabilizing their own country. It is imperialistic folly to believe that such stability can be imposed from the outside. Imposing unfamiliar structures on people ravaged by war simply does not work.

If we provide strategic support to Afghans on five basic local activities-women's empowerment, education, democracy, jobs, and nonviolence-we could play a constructive role in meeting the President's stated goals, one that would generate a lot more friends, leave us more secure in the long run, and be far cheaper than a military surge.

Courageous Afghan women are not only beginning to provide shelter to one another but also creating schools and cooperatives to foster independence. They are organizing for human rights. They will play a major role in reshaping their country and deserve our support. The UN's vast experience in this realm can be called upon for help.

In his bestseller Three Cups of Tea, Minnesotan Greg Mortenson describes ignorance as the true enemy. Peace can be built by working with local communities to build schools. Such secular education, especially for girls, provides a powerful antidote to the Taliban.

Afghanistan ranks 179th out of 180 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index. The Karzai government held on to power as the result of massive election fraud. How many lives will we sacrifice to prop up this government? Instead, we should support grassroots civil society as it builds its own democratic institutions, made not in a Western image but instead reflecting durable cultural and religious values.

Some jobs programs are underway. Local leaders can chart a direction that leads to development and employment at a fraction of the cost of the proposed military build up. Micro-credit programs pioneered by such institutions as Grameen Bank of Bangladesh have demonstrated significant success in stimulating creative entrepreneurship among the poor. Other examples abound.

Finally, the Pashtun people have a strong nonviolent legacy. Abdul Ghaffar Kahn, also known as the Frontier Gandhi, organized over 100,000 "nonviolent warriors" called the Khudai Khidmatgar (Servants of God) who nonviolently resisted the British in the 1930s and 40s. Veterans of this group and their descendants are still active throughout the Pashtun region. With proper support and training, these nonviolent groups could provide security for their fellow countrymen. Well-trained international unarmed civilian peacekeepers could augment this role.

Our country is about to commit thousands of additional soldiers like my son to carry out dangerous and often impossible tasks at a cost of $1 million per GI per year. This enormous figure does not include the cost of serious care and support that many require upon their return, a cost that must be incorporated now so it is not ignored later.

But there is an alternative to this expensive military response. We can help muster the world's resources to assist a people in stabilizing their country and resisting terrorism without armed military at a fraction of the human and financial costs. These nonviolent strategies have a proven record of succeeding where armed conflict has failed. Only a lack of imagination and compassion stand in our way.”

The following is a letter I wrote to Obama earlier this year:

My dear President Barack,

I wept tears of joy when you were elected and shed even more on your Inauguration Day! During your campaign, I had devoted many weeks to registering voters and calling swing states on your behalf. On your Inauguration Day, I finally felt proud to be an American again, after many years of being both ashamed and appalled by the shortsighted and inhumane policies that were being conducted in my country’s name.

I consider you to be a man of high ethics and vision who can be instrumental in helping America once again serve the cause of peace and good will in the world.

I am writing to ask you to strongly reconsider your plan to send more troops to Afghanistan. Another strategy could be adopted that would be far more effective in countering the future of the extremist factions there. Terrorism feeds on ignorance and resentment. Its antidotes are education and love.

I am greatly inspired by the work that Greg Mortenson has been doing in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. By building schools and vocational centers, where education was previously unavailable, he is providing people with an alternative to being indoctrinated by the Taliban and made to believe that growing up to be a suicide bomber is their best option. Most of the people there are not of that mindset and don’t deserve to have the violence of war descend upon them.

War begets resentment and hatred and hence more war. We must adopt measures other than military might to solving problems, whenever possible. Sitting down to talk with the tribal leaders in Afghanistan, who don’t like the Taliban any more than we do, and asking them what they want in terms of assistance and what they consider to be the most effective actions to take, would demonstrate respect for them and would foster them seeing us as allies rather than oppressors. It would cultivate good will. We would be horrified if another country decided to send their troops to our country without our consent. I’m an advocate of ‘Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you.”

It is time to put the horrors of the ghastly illegal war that we perpetrated in Iraq to rest. The destruction that we wreaked in that country, and the suffering we caused to millions of innocent civilians must not be repeated.

War is expensive and is a price we cannot afford to pay any longer. We should invest in peaceful solutions. The state of our economy is a mirror of our misplaced priorities. The money you have allocated for sending troops to Afghanistan could be better spent in helping those struggling here at home.

If you do decide to send our young men and women to Afghanistan, send them there to work on humanitarian projects rather than to fight.

I hope this will help you reevaluate the proper course of action to take in regards to Afghanistan and our foreign policy in general. May you choose wisely!

Your fellow American peace activist,


Dear progressive conscious community, as the saying goes: We are the ones we’ve been waiting for! It is up to us to be guardians of the future and to believe that peace can be achieved in our lifetime. Don’t buy into the rhetoric that says it can’t be done. We must aspire to make it so and not give up our vision for a world beyond war.

I want to believe that Obama is fundamentally a very good man who does want peace but he’s under pressure from the ‘Old Guard’ to follow the war agenda.
Obama needs us to steer him back in the direction of real peace-making by contacting the White House and our representatives in the Senate and Congress and making our voices heard that we don’t want the troop surge funded and we want both wars ended soon! We can create a much better future by doing so! Obama has to contend with the Military Industrial Complex War Machine that underpins America as Empire. He can’t defy such a monster on his own. He needs our assistance. It’s time for a new paradigm shift to occur and it’s up to us to help usher it in!

I highly recommend watching Norman Solomon’s documentary: War Made Easy which “exposes how successive presidential administrations of both parties have relied on a combination of deception and media complicity to sell one war after another to the American people.” This trend is continuing now with the ‘justification’ for the war in Afghanistan. I own the dvd and would be happy to loan it out for viewing.

We can change the future to being one oriented around peace and goodwill! Yes, we can! Believe! And take action! Call your Senators and representatives! Call your local peace and justice centers and mobilize! Do so now!