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International Action Center Statement on Afghanistan

Tell the 1%: 

Not one more atrocity –

U.S. OUT of Afghanistan!

Money for jobs, not war and occupation!

The blood-curdling action of a U.S. sergeant who stormed into the homes of Afghan civilians and blew away 16 people, including children, is not an isolated one as the Pentagon war makers are projecting. Even President Barack Obama’s “apology” cannot hide the fact that maintaining U.S. troops in Afghanistan is the broader crime.

This heinous act is the culmination of 10 years of U.S. war atrocities against the Afghan people. It’s not that slaughtering unarmed civilians including children up close is more criminal than bombing them from a helicopter or a drone. But this recent massacre has exposed the true nature of the crime of occupation before the world – even before the people of the United States.

So many horrible acts by U.S. troops have been blamed by the Pentagon brass on the individual soldier’s state of mind. But they all fit a tragic pattern rooted in colonial occupations. Soldiers urinating on the bodies of captured Afghans showed the utmost contempt for the people the White House claims to be helping. Burning the Quran showed contempt for their beliefs. And now, breaking into their homes and murdering children breaks down all boundaries to unspeakable horror.

Editorials in the big business press express the trepidation that the people of the U.S. are fed up with this war, and will demand it stop especially in the midst of no jobs; massive foreclosures; closings of schools, health care facilities and more – all caused by a global capitalist economic crisis that only benefits the bankers and bosses – the 1%.

The top generals and politicians are making a desperate attempt to buy more time in Afghanistan by talking about executing the soldier charged with this heinous slaughter.

The generals may try to scapegoat the sergeant, but the higher the rank, the more true responsibility exists for the crime. These soldiers have been trained to become professional killers with the help of racist indoctrination from their superiors against the Afghan people.  It is no wonder that the Afghan people feel such deep hatred and disgust for their occupiers.U.S. soldiers have a moral and political obligation to refuse criminal orders to oppress the Afghan people – and mutiny.  U.S. soldiers need to be brought home NOW and provided with mental and physical health care, good paying jobs and full benefits like all workers need and deserve.

Mobilize in the streets to end occupation abroad & at home

From Palestine to Afghanistan, racist violence is the lifeblood of any occupation. This truth also holds in the police-occupied neighborhoods in the U.S. – in the Bronx, the south side of Chicago, Miami, D.C., etc. The 99% here are natural allies with the 99% in Afghanistan and all over the world, and we all have the same enemy, whose headquarters are located just south of Zuccotti Park.

The time is now to get out to the people and mobilize them to demand that U.S. and NATO troops leave Afghanistan now.

On March 23-25, organizers will attend the United National Antiwar Coalition’s national conference in Stamford, Conn., to plan the next steps against this war.
On May 20, anti-war forces will gather in Chicago to confront the top meeting of NATO. U.S. and other NATO generals and leaders  – those who give the orders to kill  – will be there in one place.
Join the International Action Center and its allies to tell them: U.S.- NATO troops get out!

Washington, pay reparations to the Afghan people!

Statement issued by International Action Center

iacenter.org

212-633-6646

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