1,000th U.S. Service Person Dies in Afghanistan - Candlelight Vigil, tomorrow, Tuesday, February 23 at 6:00pm
Ira Harritt
Sadly we announce a
Candlelight Vigil to Mark the Death of the 1,000th U.S. Troop in Afghanistan.
.
The vigil will take place
tomorrow, Tuesday, February 23 at 6:00pm
at the
J.C. Nichols Fountain, 47th and Main, KCMO.
Dear Peacemakers,
Please join and stand with us to make the statement that war will not make us, nor the Afghan people, more secure.
Vigil with us tomorrow and call for and end to the war.
We urge you, a person of conscience to write your congressional representatives and tell them to end the war in Afghanistan. Call for an immediate cease-fire; ask our government to pledge to stop sending additional troops, and to negotiate a timeline for the removal of U.S. troops and control of permanent bases in Afghanistan; call for a surge of development and diplomacy instead of more military campaigns.
Thank you for your voice for peace and reason!
Sincerely,
Ira Harritt
KC American Friends Service Committee
KC Iraq Task Force
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Grim Milestone Reached
1,000th American Troop Death in Afghanistan
Candlelight Vigil to Mark the Death of the 1,000th U.S. Troop in Afghanistan
Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 6:00pm/ Memorial Ceremony 6:30pm
(Kansas City, MO, February 22, 2010) – This afternoon iCasualties.org reported the 1,000th U.S. military fatality in Afghanistan. Sadly Corporal Gregory S. Stultz, age 22, died from hostile fire in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and the KC Iraq Task Force will hold a Candlelight Vigil to mark this tragic event. The memorial gathering will take place at the J.C. Nichols Fountain, 47th and Main, KCMO at 6:00pm tomorrow Tuesday, February 23 and will feature a candlelight vigil, speakers, reading of the names of the U.S. military persons killed in Afghanistan and a display of the newly created Kansas and Missouri -Afghanistan Eyes Wide Open Memorial Exhibit. The exhibit will include combat boots tagged with the names of troops from Kansas and Missouri who have been killed and shoes representing the untold thousands of Afghan civilians who have died in the war.
|
WHO: |
American Friends Service Committee and KC Iraq Task Force |
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WHAT: |
Candlelight Vigil to Mark the Death of the 1,000th U.S. Troop in Afghanistan |
|
WHERE: |
J.C. Nichols Fountain, 47th and Main, KCMO |
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WHEN: |
Tuesday, February 23, 6:00pm |
In the ninth year of war, increased foreign troop levels and increasing national resistance to their presence has escalated the violence in Afghanistan, making life less safe both for the occupied and occupier. Almost one-third of the 1,000 deaths, 317, took place last year, and deaths this year are on a pace to exceed last year’s total.
For Afghans the exact numbers of casualties are unknown. Civilians are
increasingly caught in the crossfire. Surveys from the United Nations
show that last year marked the highest number of civilian deaths and the
highest number of children being killed.
Before year’s end, the U.S. plans to complete the second phase of troop level increases announced in 2009. The additional troops would double the number of U.S. forces to 100,000. The department of defense uses a calculus of $1 million per soldier, per year, to deploy to Afghanistan – making our investment there $100 billion.
The AFSC urges the U.S. to announce an immediate cease-fire, pledge to stop sending additional troops, negotiate a timeline for the removal of U.S. troops and control of permanent bases in Afghanistan.
For more information on AFSC’s Afghanistan initiative, visit www.afsc.org, or follow us on Twitter or Facebook.
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The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace and humanitarian service. Its work is based on the belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice
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Afghan Push - Hype or History in the Making?
Thursday 18 February 2010
by: Jean MacKenzie and Mohammad Ilyas Dayee | Global Post
Few signs on the ground of the "spectacular advances" claimed by the combined U.S. and Afghan forces.
Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan - Six days into the battle for Marjah, the spin doctors in Kabul and Washington may be regretting all the advance hype. With 15,000 combined Afghan, American and British forces arrayed against what was thought to be a handful of insurgents, victory had seemed assured.
But instead of “breaking the back of the Taliban,” Operation Moshtarak is bogged down in a hostile landscape full of mines, snipers and increasingly frustrated residents. <more>
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Published on Monday, February 22, 2010 by TimesOnline/UK
Civilian Deaths Continue Unabated in Afghanistan
NATO Airstrike Kills 27 Civilians in Afghanistan
by Jerome Starkey in Kabul and Philippe Naughton
NATO forces in southern Afghanistan bombed a civilian convoy, killing 27 people including women and children and injuring many more, Afghan officials said.
Afghans walks behind US Marines during an operation in Marjah, Helmand province Photo: REUTERS
The airstrike in a remote part of Oruzgan province yesterday capped a bloody week for Afghan civilians that has seen some 60 innocent people killed by NATO weapons.
Afghanistan's cabinet called the attack "unjustifiable" and condemned the raid "in the strongest terms possible".
Officials said three vehicles were bombed, killing at least 27 people, including four women and one child, while at least 12 others were injured. The death toll had earlier been put at 33. <More>
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Ira Harritt
KC Program Coordinator
American Friends Service Committee
816 931-5256