opinion
It’s Time To End Our Costly Afghanistan War
P
resident Obama addressed
the nation on June 22 to
explain his strategy for troop
withdrawal in Afghanistan. Of the
100,000 U.S. troops currently
deployed there, the announced
drawdown of 10,000 soldiers by
year’s end and another 23,000 by
September 2012 does little to end
the longest war in U.S. history.
Under this plan, approximately
70,000 troops will remain in the
country, roughly twice as many as
when Mr. Obama took office in
January 2009. According to the
president, these troops will be
removed “at a steady pace”
through 2014. In the meantime,
the human and financial costs of
this war will continue to grow.
There is no military solution to
the complex and long-standing
sociopolitical problems facing
Afghanistan and the region. As
long as a U.S. policy of large-scale
military aggression continues,
Afghans will resist what they per-
ceive as another foreign invasion
and occupation of their country.
We need a new vision and
approach in Afghanistan. This
starts with a cease-fire and a full
withdrawal of U.S. combat forces.
To lay the groundwork for domes-
tic stability and security,
Afghanistan needs an Afghan-led,
V ETERANS foR P EAcE
Brian J. Trautman
Afghan-owned
reconciliation
process and the diplomatic and
humanitarian support of a broad-
based international coalition.
Since 2001, 1,657 U.S. soldiers
have been killed in Afghanistan.
Nearly 11,200 American soldiers
have been wounded. The exact
number of Afghans and Pakistanis
killed and maimed due to this war
is unknown, but a Brown
University study put the figure at
tens of thousands. A large propor-
tion of these casualties are the
result of strikes by unmanned aer-
ial vehicles (drones), which many
in the international community
argue are illegal. The deadliest
month for Afghan civilians since
the war began occurred last May.
Just this month the U.S.-led coali-
tion in Afghanistan admitted to
killing innocent women and chil-
dren during an airstrike on insur-
gents, and indicated that they are
investigating a separate case of
civilian causalities. These are
common and unpreventable occur-
rences in any war, and the war in
Afghanistan is no different. Since
World War I, there have been far
more civilian casualties than mili-
tary casualties in the major wars
involving the U.S., and the ratio
gets greater with each new war.
Support among Americans for
the war in Afghanistan has
dropped considerably since last
year. A new survey from the Pew
Research Center shows that a
ed to continue the war. The letter
also calls on the Congress “to redi-
rect our national priorities away
from militarism and towards
social justice here at home.”
According to National Priorities
Project, the cost of the war in
Afghanistan since 2001 is now
more than $432 billion, and rising
at a rate of about $2.3 billion a
End the War, Not Just the Surge
As long as a US policy of military
aggression continues, Afghans will
resist what they perceive as another
foreign invasion
majority (56%) of Americans want
troops pulled from Afghanistan as
soon as possible. The U.S.
Conference of Mayors passed a
resolution on June 20 that called
on leaders in Washington to “bring
war dollars home to meet vital
human needs.” Veterans For Peace
recently signed on to a letter urg-
ing members of Congress to sup-
port an amendment to the FY12
Defense Appropriations Bill that
would eliminate the funding need-
week. A total of $459.8 billion has
been appropriated for the war
through the end of the current fis-
cal year (Sept. 30). For the same
amount of U.S. taxpayer money,
the following could have been
provided: 7.0 million elementary
school teachers for one year, or;
94.6 million people receiving low-
income healthcare for one year, or;
82.8 million students receiving
Pell Grants of $5,550. Over the
past decade war spending has con-
tributed to a massive national debt
and record budget deficits at the
federal, state and local levels. The
economic crisis has some lawmak-
ers advocating for austerity meas-
ures that would slash funding for
essential public social services,
which would further damage our
economy and hurt Americans
already struggling to make ends
meet.
The Obama administration must
refocus its priorities and strength-
en its commitment to the
American people. The President
touched on this subject briefly in
his speech, stating that “We must
invest in America’s greatest
resource—our people. We must
unleash innovation that creates
new jobs and industries.”
However, a shift from rhetoric to
reality will require Mr. Obama and
the Congress to move a significant
amount of federal spending away
from the military and toward the
urgent needs of American commu-
nities. Bringing the war in
Afghanistan to an immediate end
is a good start.
Brian J. trautman is a u.S.
army veteran, peace educator and
activist, and member of Veterans
For Peace. he resides in albany,
n.Y.
Give America a Jobs Program That Works
B ENNETT
c ollEgE
Julianne
Malveaux
W
hile a Department
of Education pro-
gram embraces “a
race to the top”, our nation’s
current stance toward our 14
million officially unem-
ployed people represents
nothing less than a race to
the bottom. We are content
to report, month after
month, unemployment rates
in excess of nine percent, to
use questionable language
to describe tepid perform-
ance, and to assuage our-
selves with myths that the
economy is in recovery
because GDP growth is up.
Imagine that one of our chil-
dren came home from
school with a report card
that showed a drop from a
C- to a D, and she reported
her grades as “substantially
unchanged”. She would,
substantially, find her
allowance cut, her study
hours increased, her privi-
leges restricted. But when
high unemployment contin-
ues month after month, an
unsatisfactory outcome in
and of itself, we hear non-
sense and platitudes.
Fourteen million people
are just the tip of the ice-
berg. When we look at
those who are discouraged,
dropped out of the labor
market, and all of that, we
are looking at something
closer to 20 million peo-
ple. Among African
Americans we are look-
ing at more than one in
four without work, and
in inner cities, we are
looking at nearly one in
two men who do not
work. Employers won’t
create jobs, government
won’t create jobs, and
rhetoric won’t put people
back to work.
Then, what are we to do?
If traditional job creation
will not fill the void, we
must consider the possibili-
ty of encouraging entrepre-
neurship so that people can
be trained to create jobs for
themselves. Enslaved peo-
ple were some of our
nation’s original entrepre-
neurs. What kind of job cre-
ation ability did it take for
some of us to purchase our-
selves. Throughout our his-
tory, there are people who
never joined the Fortune
500, but who created jobs
and opportunities for them-
selves and for others
through entrepreneurship.
Elizabeth Keckley, the
seamstress who bought her
freedom and worked for
Mary Todd Lincoln, and
others in Washington, is an
example of the kind of
entrepreneurial ability so
many of the formerly
enslaved
exhibited.
Thomas Day built a furni-
ture manufacturing compa-
ny in North Carolina in
1837. Elijah McCoy, “the
real McCoy” invented the
lubricating cup that became
an essential part of locomo-
tive manufacturing in 1872,
and made millions from that
invention. AG Gaston was
an entrepreneur with inter-
ests in insurance, funeral
homes, broadcasting, public
relations, banking, and the
hospitality industry. And
the list goes on. All these
folk are African American,
many are little know, and
each of them is a story of
inspiration for someone
who is out of work.
Entrepreneurship will not
replace traditional employ-
ment; indeed, entrepreneurs
create employment opportu-
nities for those who do not
have them. Even as this
administration
grapples
with our tepid economy, it
seems that there ought to be
some conversation about
encouraging entrepreneurs
to create value in an econo-
my that seems to devalue
the lives, and efforts of at
least 20 million of our citi-
zens, those who want to
work but can find nothing.
It is interesting that some
banks were described as
“too big to fail”, but we
have easily tolerated failure
in the labor market.
Julianne Malveaux is
President
of
Bennett
College for women. her
book,
Surviving
and
thriving: 365 Facts in
Black economic history, is
available at www.lastword-
prod.com.
We honor the many
accomplishments of
African Americans.
July 13, 2011 The Portland Skanner Page 5