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May 2011

After OBL: McGovern/Jones Push for Real Withdrawal Plan

Submitted by Robert Naiman on 6 May 2011 - 5:20pm

Following the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, the floodgates opened in Washington this week for reconsideration of U.S. plans to continue the open-ended war in Afghanistan.

Now Representatives Jim McGovern and Walter Jones have introduced the "Afghanistan Exit and Accountability Act," bipartisan legislation that would require the President present to Congress a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and a clear end date for the war. It would require the President to submit quarterly reports to Congress on the progress of troop withdrawal, as well as the human and financial costs of continuing the war. The President would also have to report how much money U.S. taxpayers would save if the war were brought to an end in six months, instead of five, ten, or twenty years.

Other Members of Congress have spoken out this week against indefinite continuation of the war, including Senators Dick Durbin , Richard Lugar, and Robert Menendez; (jointly) Representatives Lee, Ellison, Grijalva, Woolsey, and Waters; Representative Barney Frank; and Representative Cliff Stearns.

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JFP 5/5: Floodgates Open on Afghanistan Withdrawal

Submitted by Robert Naiman on 5 May 2011 - 11:02am

Just Foreign Policy News
May 5, 2011

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Go Straight to the News Summary

I) Actions and Featured Articles

*Action: Send a Letter to the Editor on Afghan withdrawal and drawdown
Senator Boxer has introduced a bill requiring the President to establish a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan - a timetable with an end date. A real deadline for US withdrawal would facilitate meaningful peace talks. More visible Senate criticism of the endless war can move the White House to a substantial drawdown of U.S. troops this summer. Send a letter to your local newspaper - we've provided "talking points."
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/s186/lte
[Update: Bernie Sanders is now a cosponsor of the Boxer bill.]

The War Is Over. Start Packing!
No doubt there will be a window of relief now, in which many will be willing to give the U.S. the benefit of some doubt about its future plans. But if the war continues as it has, public opinion will soon ask, "We got our man. Why are we still there?"
http://www.truthout.org/war-over-start-packing/1304352151

MoveOn: Afghanistan: Bring Our Troops Home
"President Obama, we need to end the war in Afghanistan. Please keep your commitment to begin an accelerated withdrawal of troops in July."
http://pol.moveon.org/afghanistan_drawdown/index.html

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JFP 5/3: Palestinians sign reconciliation deal; pressure builds for Afghan withdrawal

Submitted by Robert Naiman on 3 May 2011 - 8:08pm

Just Foreign Policy News
May 3, 2011

Support the Work of Just Foreign Policy

Go Straight to the News Summary

I) Actions and Featured Articles

*Action: Send a Letter to the Editor on Afghan withdrawal and drawdown
Senator Boxer has introduced a bill requiring the President to establish a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan - a timetable with an end date. A real deadline for US withdrawal would facilitate meaningful peace talks. More visible Senate criticism of the endless war can move the White House to a substantial drawdown of U.S. troops this summer. Send a letter to your local newspaper - we've provided "talking points."
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/s186/lte
[Update: Bernie Sanders is now a cosponsor of the Boxer bill.]

The War Is Over. Start Packing!
No doubt there will be a window of relief now, in which many will be willing to give the U.S. the benefit of some doubt about its future plans. But if the war continues as it has, public opinion will soon ask, "We got our man. Why are we still there?"
http://www.truthout.org/war-over-start-packing/1304352151

Katrina vanden Heuvel: With bin Laden Dead, Time to End the 'War on Terror'
It is time to stop defining the post 9/11 struggle against stateless terrorists a "war." http://www.thenation.com/blog/160310/osama-bin-laden-dead-its-time-end-war-terror

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JFP 5/2 bin Laden Death Brings Calls for Afghan Pullout

Submitted by Robert Naiman on 2 May 2011 - 8:59pm

Just Foreign Policy News
May 2, 2011

Support the Work of Just Foreign Policy

Go Straight to the News Summary

I) Actions and Featured Articles

*Action: Send a Letter to the Editor on Afghan withdrawal and drawdown
Senator Boxer has introduced a bill requiring the President to establish a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan - a timetable with an end date. A real deadline for US withdrawal would facilitate meaningful peace talks. More visible Senate criticism of the endless war can move the White House to a substantial drawdown of U.S. troops this summer. Send a letter to your local newspaper - we've provided "talking points."
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/s186/lte

The War Is Over. Start Packing!
No doubt there will be a window of relief now, in which many will be willing to give the U.S. the benefit of some doubt about its future plans. But if the war continues as it has, public opinion will soon ask, "We got our man. Why are we still there?"
http://www.truthout.org/war-over-start-packing/1304352151

Amanda Terkel: Mission Accomplished: Is It Finally Time To Leave Afghanistan?
Amanda Terkel rounds up responses from those questioning the logic of remaining in Afghanistan following bin Laden's death.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/02/bin-laden-reactions_n_856320.html

Kim Jensen: The case against the Colombian free trade pact

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The War is Over. Kiss a Nurse and Start Packing

Submitted by Robert Naiman on 2 May 2011 - 11:52am

We got our man. Wave the flag, kiss a nurse, and start packing the equipment. It's time to plan to bring all our boys and girls home from Afghanistan. When the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks rolls around, let the world see that we are on a clear path to bringing home our troops from Afghanistan and handing back sovereignty to the Afghan people.


With more Sherlock Holmes than Rambo, and judging from press accounts, not much role for the 100,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, U.S. intelligence tracked Osama bin Laden to a safe house in a well-appointed suburb of Pakistan's capital and a small U.S. force raided the compound. Press reports say Osama bin Laden was killed in a firefight in the compound and that his body has been buried at sea, in accordance with Islamic tradition that expects a burial within 24 hours.

Success typically has many authors, and I don't doubt the ability of some to argue that our occupation of Afghanistan has contributed to this result. Perhaps it will turn out that some prisoner captured in Afghanistan by U.S. forces contributed a key piece of information that helped investigators find bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

And of course it will be argued, correctly, that Osama bin Laden's death is not necessarily the end of al Qaeda nor of groups inspired by al Qaeda; indeed, that there will be an incentive now for al Qaeda and al Qaeda-inspired groups to retaliate and to prove that they can still carry out actions against the United States.

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