Invitation - Brainstorm on Responding to Endless War 11-12-14, 5;30PM

[IHar...@afsc.org]

“To replace the old paradigm of war with a new paradigm of waging peace,
we must be pioneers who can push the boundaries of human understanding.
We must be doctors who can cure the virus of violence.
We must be soldiers of peace who can do more than preach to the choir.
And we must be artists who will make the world our masterpiece.”
~Paul Chappell

Please forward to others who might be interested!

Dear Peacemakers,

Last week American Friends Service Committee’s Kansas City Program Committee members met to discuss KC program goals and to determine whether we could adjust work to include greater focus on the Endless War now escalating in Iraq and Syria.

We have decided to begin planning public education and mobilization work that will go beyond symbolic demonstrations.

We would like to join with others to develop creative campaigns to mobilize and educate the community and create real debate and pressure to change endless war policy. We recognize that war profiteers and their representatives in our government are skilled at invoking fears and humanitarian crisis to justify war. We also recognize that U.S. intervention in Iraq and Syria and elsewhere generated the conditions that created ISIS and great suffering in the Middle East. Also true is the fact that these military interventions by the U.S. are strengthening ISIS and extremists instead of weakening them.

So, we invite you to join us in thinking creatively about new action to oppose U.S. militarism and to envision a brighter peaceful future.

Please join us on Wednesday, November 12 at 5:30pm at the AFSC office, 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO.

Spread the word and RSVP me at afs...@afsc.org that you plan to join us on November 12.

Thanks for your commitment to peace.

Sincerely,
Ira

Ira Harritt
Kansas City Program
American Friends Service Committee
4405 Gillham Rd., Kansas City, MO 64110
816 931-5256 | www.afsc.org/kansascity
----------------------------------------------------


FYI, Here are some interesting articles:

Who will save the baby on the mountaintop? Raed Jarrar, Acting in Faith Blog
http://www.afsc.org/friends/who-will-save-baby-top-mountain

"Something in the Air: ‘Isolationism,' Defense Spending, and the US Public Mood” -- Carl Conetta, Project on Defense Alternatives of the Center for International Policy, 14 October 2014.
Executive Summary: http://comw.org/pda/fulltext/Something_in_the_Air_ExecSum.pdf

The United States is No. 1 – But in What? By Lawrence Wittner
American politicians are fond of telling their audiences that the United States is the greatest country in the world. Is there any evidence for this claim?
Well, yes. When it comes to violence and preparations for violence, the United States is, indeed, No. 1. http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/10/13/united-states-no-1-what

Sanders: Real Fear Not ISIS, But 'Perpetual Warfare Year After Year After Year'
US strategy against militant group in Syria and Iraq described as "in tatters," but US officials say American public should prepare for "long-term effort"

As U.S. officials repeated their message that the American public should prepare for "a long-term" war against the Islamic State militant group (also known as ISIS) in the Midde East, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday was among those calling out the Obama administration for pursuing a failed and misguided policy towards the group and the region overall.

"The question we have got to ask," said Sanders on CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley, "Is why are the countries in the region not more actively involved? Why don't they send see this as a crisis situation? Here's the danger [...] if the Middle East people see this as the United States vs. ISIS, the West vs. East, Christianity vs. Islam—we're going to lose that war."

Sanders acknowledged that ISIS is a serious regional threat, but said that his larger worries come from what he hears from constituents in his home state of Vermont and around the country, that "people are saying, 'Yeah, we're concerned about ISIS, but we're also concerned about the collapse of the American middle-class and our infrastructure which is falling apart and the need to create jobs.'" (more)http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/10/12/sanders-real-fear-not-isis-perpetual-warfare-year-after-year-after-year

Costs of Obama's New War in Iraq and Syria Set to Explode, say Analysts
by Lauren McCauley
Critics of the U.S. military operation say leaders should "look to our past involvement in the region" http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/10/01/costs-obamas-new-war-iraq-and-syria-set-explode-say-analysts

As US Bombs Iraq and Syria, Who Exactly Is Being Killed?
by Sarah Lazare
Pentagon provides scant information about people dying at its hands, while reports of civilian casualties emerge from the ground http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/09/29/us-bombs-iraq-and-syria-who-exactly-being-killed