Between the Lines Q&A

A weekly column featuring progressive viewpoints
on national and international issues
under-reported in mainstream media
for release Sept. 2, 2009

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After Holding Back, Peace Groups Prepare
to Confront Obama on Afghan War Escalation

RealAudio MP3

Interview with Medea Benjamin,
co-founder of Code Pink Women for Peace
and Global Exchange,
conducted by Scott Harris

afghan

As Afghanistan attempts to put the best face on their Aug. 20 presidential election, tainted by widespread charges of fraud and vote rigging on behalf of Afghanistan's incumbent President Hamid Karzai, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan has issued a report on the progress of the eight-year war. Gen. McChrystal, after releasing his report to the Pentagon, said in a statement that, "The situation in Afghanistan is serious, but success is achievable and demands a revised implementation strategy, commitment and resolve, and increased unity of effort."

August has been the most deadly month yet for U.S. forces fighting in Afghanistan, with 51 dead. A total of 800 U.S. servicemen and women have been killed since the American invasion and overthrow of the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban government in October 2001 following the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks. Since taking office President Obama has sent an additional 21,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan for a total of 68,000 in country. But there is speculation that thousands more troops may soon be deployed.

According to a new CNN/Opinion Research poll released on Sept. 1, "fifty-seven percent of Americans surveyed say they oppose the U.S. war in Afghanistan, with 42 percent supporting the military mission. The percentage of those in opposition to the war is up 11 points since April." Between The Lines Scott Harris spoke with Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the group Code Pink Women for Peace, who discusses the role of the peace movement in relation to what appears to be a deepening quagmire for the U.S. in Afghanistan.

MEDEA BENJAMIN: Obama's already sent an additional 20,000 troops to Afghanistan. The total of U.S. troops is now, or will be 68,000 by the end of the year. There's about 100,000 troops that NATO has committed. And where is this all leading? The situation in Afghanistan is getting no better as Gen. McChrystal will say, and to call for more troops is just like the case of Vietnam, widening the war without a real plan. And nobody can clearly articulate to the American people what it is we're even trying to do in Afghanistan.

We've had other generals like Petraeus say that there is no military solution, that we should have an 80-20 formula where 80 percent is political and economic focus, and 20 percent military. And yet, they're just passing new supplemental bills for war in Afghanistan that are 95 percent military. So we're pursuing a military strategy when we should be putting money into uplifting people out of poverty. If we want to protect anything, we should be protecting girls' schools and there could be international peacekeepers that do that.

But there is no military solution and this could unfortunately be the unraveling of a progressive agenda.

BETWEEN THE LINES: When it comes to the idea of negotiating with the Taliban, Medea, there's a lot of mixed feelings here and around the world. The Taliban, of course, were a very repressive regime when they were in power, repressing women particularly and those who didn't adhere to their brand of fundamental Islam. Do you think negotiating a political solution to the war in Afghanistan with the Taliban is a viable option?

MEDEA BENJAMIN: I think there are different factions of the Taliban, just as there are different factions of the Democratic and Republican parties. And we have to have talked with the more moderate factions of the Taliban. And we have to have talked with the more moderate factions of the Taliban. Unfortunately, now we have all kinds of warlords and murderers and drug dealers that are within the government of Hamid Karzai, a very corrupt government, but also, many regressive people in there who don't respect the rights of women and they're part of the government we're supporting.

We have to support women's organizations inside Afghanistan, we have to support girls' schools, we have to support economic projects that are aimed at women, there's all kinds of things that we can be doing to decrease the strengths of the worst elements of the Taliban and increase the strengths of the victims of the Taliban, such as women's rights. But doing it through a military bombing campaign and drones and the constant killing of civilians is only add fueling to the fire, it's only creating more recruits for the Taliban and even for al Qaeda, and it's not going to end the cycle of violence.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Where is the U.S. peace movement in all this? It seems that since the election of Barack Obama, a lot of the opposition to Bush administration policies in both Iraq and Afghanistan have really seen a lower profile. Is it the fact that many in the peace movement see the Democrats as a better alternative to the previous Bush administration, therefore they're giving Barack Obama a pass here? What do you think?

MEDEA BENJAMIN: There's a lot of things going on, Scott. At the level of Congress, yes, they're reluctant to take on the Obama administration which still has a lot of popularity out there. Within the peace movement on the grassroots level, people are tired from so many years of protesting and organizing and mobilizing and vigils and rallies and phone calls and emails. It's exhausting. They would like to trust Obama to do the right thing. In the case of Iraq, people are anxious that he stick to a timeline that he promised.

And then there's economic factors as well; we've had a CodePink house in D.C. that, in the past had been overflowing with people coming to stay at the house and join us on our forays into the Capitol and at the White House to lobby for an end to the war. And now it's harder to get people because they have a difficult time finding the financial resources to come to Washington, D.C. If they have jobs, they are afraid to take time off from their jobs. So, that has impacted us as well. So I think there's a combination of things. But I do feel that this the time that we'll start seeing an upsurge in the movement against the escalation of the war in Afghanistan. Once you see public opinion turn around, we've had now six months of the Obama administration. I think people are feeling a little more comfortable about challenging the administration's position, particularly on Afghanistan.

Medea Benjamin, co -founder of the groups Code Pink Women for Peace and Global Exchange. Contact Code Pink by calling (415) 575-5555, or visit their website at www.codepinkalert.org

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Scott Harris is an executive producer of Between The Lines, which can be heard on more than 45 radio stations and in RealAudio and MP3 on our website at http://www.btlonline.org. This interview excerpt was featured on the award-winning, syndicated weekly radio newsmagazine, Between The Lines for the week ending Sept. 11, 2009. This Between The Lines Q&A was compiled by Anna Manzo.

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