On the killing of eight Afghan women

John Dear SJ on National Catholic Reporter September 25, 2012

On the Road to Peace

If you looked carefully at the news last week, you might have heard a report from Afghanistan about how the U.S./NATO forces bombed and killed eight Afghan women who were out walking in the mountains early in the morning before dawn to collect wood. Eight other women were seriously injured.

But you probably didn't hear that story. Who cares about the death of eight Afghan women from our bombs?

So a few women were killed in our nation's longest war in a remote mountainous region on the other side of the world. That's the cost of war. That's what we call ‘collateral damage.’ There's nothing that can be done. It was probably their fault anyway. They were probably Taliban rebels. Don't give it another thought. What about poor Lindsay Lohan, Kate Middleton, or Katie Holmes? Now there's a real story.

That's what the culture of war would tell us.

The Gospel of peace suggests otherwise. Jesus always, always, always sides with those most marginalized, threatened and hurt by the culture of war, beginning with women and children. If we Christians take the Gospel seriously, then we know the nonviolent Jesus grieves for these women, welcomes them into paradise, and holds in contempt the forces of death that killed them. In other words, the nonviolent Jesus cares - and so should we who claim to follow him.

I know this sounds harsh and judgmental, but what is our response to our nation's massacre of these eight women and the hundreds of other women and children we've killed in Afghanistan?

This week, I invite us to spend some time meditating on those eight women, who were out walking before dawn in the harsh stony landscape in the Laghman Province, near the village of Dilaram, east of Kabul, trying to gather some wood for the morning fire to cook a little food for their families. Then, all of a sudden, out of the blue, they are blown up by our fighter bombers. ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ strikes again.

Think of their lives. Think of their poverty. Think of them walking in the dark before dawn. Think of the struggle they endured just to survive life in the harshest environment on the planet: Afghanistan. And think of that ever-present threat of death hanging over them -- our war planes, fighter bombers and drones, under the benevolent auspices of NATO, ostensibly on the lookout to protect Afghan women from the Taliban. (Of course, we now know that our war is all about natural resources, setting up a new oil pipeline from Iraq through Iran through Afghanistan, a conduit for natural gas and fossil fuels from the basin of the Caspian Sea, and of course, creating a new strategic outpost for the U.S. empire on the border of its future enemy, China.)

The U.S. said afterward its bombing attack was ‘targeting 45 insurgents,’ but tragically, it killed the eight women. The Pentagon offered its ‘deepest regrets and sympathies’ to the families and loved ones of the civilians killed and injured.

Afterward, dozens of tribesmen from Alingar drove to the provincial capital of Mihtarlam, carrying the bodies of some of the women who were killed. They stopped outside the governor's office and shouted, ‘Death to America!’ Pictures of the dead women were front-page news in Asian newspapers, such as The Times of India. Millions of people around the world grieve for these women and rage against the American empire and its wars. There's no wonder that riots and attacks against American embassies occur almost daily now.

‘Scant attention is paid to the plight of the families whose mothers have been slain by U.S./NATO military forces which claim state of the art drone surveillance capacity,’ Kathy Kelly wrote in an email to me after I asked for her comments about the killings. She's now on her way again to Afghanistan, where she spent much of the summer. ‘And yet, U.S. officials have repeatedly claimed that the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan is necessary to protect women and children. In spite of the constant drone surveillance which purportedly supplies the U.S. military with intelligence about patterns of life in Afghanistan, the U.S. military seemed unaware that women typically scour the mountainsides looking for firewood so that they can heat water and prepare meals. A BBC video shows that other women and girls who survived the attack are now hospitalized because of their severe injuries. By now, news coverage of families in the Alingar District is likely over, but the effects of this attack will forever alter the lives of the injured survivors, their families and the families and friends of those who were killed.’

Almost 2,000 U.S. soldiers have been killed in our 11-year war on Afghanistan. How many civilians have we killed in Afghanistan? The Guardian of London says in the last six years, 12,793 civilians have been killed. Wikipedia features dozens of reports and puts the numbers generally at ‘tens of thousands,’ but says that's an underestimate. In other words, no one knows. And, it seems, few care. Or perhaps the Pentagon will never allow those numbers to be known.

Earlier this year, for example, a U.S. Army sergeant shot and killed 16 innocent Afghan civilians. Nine of them were children; one was a 3-year-old girl. He shot many of them in the head before he piled together 11 of the bodies and set them on fire.

These days, I'm preparing to head to Los Angeles to lead a retreat on the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount. ‘Love your enemies,’ Jesus commands in the Sermon on the Mount, ‘then you will be sons and daughters of your heavenly God who lets the sun shine on the good and the bad and the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.’ St. Augustine responded a few centuries later that sometimes the best way to love our enemies is to kill them. Others likewise rejected the nonviolence of Jesus and created the pagan just war theory that still determines our social outlook today. But Jesus calls us to an entirely new way of relating with everyone on the planet. He has something to say about our nation's killing of these women.

For the record, the Gospel insists: No cause is worth the death of a single human being. We are called to practice universal nonviolent love. This stupid, senseless, evil war is not worth the death of these eight women, not to mention the tens of thousands of other civilians killed, or the many more combatants.

We need to end this war immediately. It's a useless exercise in mass murder. For those of us who dare claim to be Christian, it goes against everything the nonviolent Jesus stands for.

‘Blessed are those who mourn,’ Jesus says at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. ‘Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice. Blessed are the peacemakers.’ We won't hear these teachings discussed in the presidential debates, but this is what we should all be addressing -- the need to fulfill Jesus' vision and create a new world without war, poverty and bombs.

I invite us to spend some time these days mourning and grieving the deaths of these eight women and all those killed in our senseless war in Afghanistan. I hope their deaths will touch us, break our hearts, lead us back to the God of peace, and push us to stand up and demand an end to this war and all our global war-making.

Together, let us pray for them, the women and children of Afghanistan, for all our own people who are dropping the bombs, and the end of this war. Let us pray that instead, we might make restitution, rebuild Afghanistan and start down the new road of creative nonviolence.

Coalition of Australian community groups call for urgent action on Palestinian human rights

Pax Australia is a member of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network

Media Release, 7am Sept 24

The annual meeting of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network echoed the call from visiting Israeli historian Professor Ilan Pappe for Australians to be a voice for justice for Palestinians.
The President of APAN, the Reverend Jim Barr, said “APAN joins Professor Pappe in calling for freedom, justice and equality for all Palestinians.
“Over 26 church, union and community based advocacy groups met in Adelaide over the weekend to discuss recent developments within Australia and strategies for presenting the issue of Palestinian rights to a broad Australian public.
“It was inspiring to see such a broad representation of Australians coming together to advance understanding and compassion for Palestinians suffering human rights abuses on a daily a basis.
“If Australia wants to be a responsible and influential global citizen, our government needs to exert more pressure on Israel to comply with their obligations under International law.
“Professor Pappe, at the Edward Said Memorial Lecture, highlighted that the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions Movement is an effective nonviolent strategy for the international community to use to influence Israeli government policy.
“This weekend’s meeting of concerned community groups builds on the great work happening nationally and internationally to support the Palestinian people,” Reverend Barr said.

Resolution as passed on Sept 23, 2012
The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network calls on the Australian Government to make urgent representations to the Israeli Government to comply with its obligations under international law in relation to the rights of the Palestinian people.

Contact: Rev Jim Barr APAN President 0425462277

No Days of Peace in War-Ravaged Afghanistan

Johnny Barber

Common Dreams September 21, 2012


On this International Day of Peace I am sitting in Kabul, Afghanistan with a handful of youth that want nothing but peaceful coexistence in their lives. This in some respects is like a dream because their entire lives have been surrounded by war, death, corruption, and struggle. Peace has been in short supply. For three years the Afghan Peace Volunteers have worked to develop friendships across ethnic lines in Kabul and various provinces throughout Afghanistan. The work has been difficult, trust is hard to come by in this war torn land, but they are adamant that non-violence is the only way forward. I have sat with similar groups in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq, America and Israel. Rarely are their voices heard over the drums of war.(Photo: rabble.ca)

Established in 1981, by the United Nations General Assembly, the International Day of Peace was to coincide with its opening session. The first Peace Day was observed on September 21st, 1982. In 1982 the Soviet Union was increasing its troop presence in Afghanistan and facing fierce fighting throughout the provinces.

Thirty years later Afghanistan is still at war. The opponents have changed, and the weaponry has changed. The War on Terror, Armored Humvees, IED’s, suicide bombers, night raids, smart bombs, and drones have all entered the American lexicon.

The constant through all these years is the suffering of the non-combatants. Just this week, a van was blown up by an IED in southern Helmand province, killing 9 women and 3 children. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast. A drone strike before dawn in Laghman Province killed 8 women gathering firewood and injured 8 more. I spoke with a father of six children in ParwanSa refugee camp. He has been an Internally Displaced Person for 11 years, living in a small mud-brick enclosure with a plastic, canvas, and cardboard roof. I asked if the government had offered any assistance for the coming winter. He said the government has done nothing; he could only count on God to take care of his family. Oct 7th will mark the 11th anniversary of America’s war in Afghanistan. 11 years and $550 billion dollars later, peace is still elusive.

The war has pushed the Taliban out of power, but the current government is full of the very same warlords that were carving up Afghanistan prior to the Taliban’s rise. These “representatives” have very little backing among the people, mainly because they have continued to line their pockets while their constituents suffer. The call for peace may fill their speeches, but to work for peace distracts from their income.

The International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) as well as the Afghan Army and Afghan Police force, often employing strong-arm tactics, struggle to bring a semblance of security to the countryside. Security in Kabul is tentative as well, with suicide bombings and armed attacks on the rise. On Sept 18th, a woman rammed a car full of explosives into a van containing 9 foreign workers, killing herself, all 9 foreigners, their Afghan translator, as well as passerby. While temporary security may be imposed with an iron fist, peace cannot be forced.

On Sept 19th, an Afghan holiday in the remembrance of the death of Burhanuddin Rabbani, a warlord turned “peace envoy” who was killed by a suicide bomber in his home, President Hamid Karzai called on Afghans to pursue peace. A generation that has known nothing but war has little faith in government calls for peace while the very same government loots the country. The government led peace initiative seems to have died with Rabbani a year ago.

The past week has been disastrous for Afghans, and points towards more mayhem in the future. While profits are still being generated for arms suppliers, reconstruction experts, and contractors, peace has not been generated for anyone. In America, peace is never spoken of outside the context of war or security. In Obama’s acceptance speech in Charlotte, he mentioned America’s “pursuit of peace” exactly once, shortly after getting cheers for claiming, “Osama bin Laden is dead.”

A partial list of American military involvement since 1982 includes Lebanon, Grenada, Chad, Libya, Honduras, Bolivia, Columbia, Peru, Philippines, Panama, Iraq, Kuwait, Somalia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Haiti, Serbia, Afghanistan (currently, America’s longest war), Sudan, Iraq (again, after years of crippling sanctions that killed half a million children), and Libya (again). This is not an exhaustive list, it doesn’t include covert attacks, special operations, or America’s special relationship with Israel, which has rained down horror on Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza. Israeli drones continue to kill people in Gaza on a nearly weekly basis. American drones are currently killing people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. Syria and Iran loom on the horizon, with American threats of intervention and war ramping up. Death is a top American export.

On the anniversary of Sept 11th, a hate filled Anti-Islam movie trailer was a catalyst sparking widespread protests and attacks across the world, leading to 30 deaths. On Sept 19th a French satirical newspaper, under the guise of “free speech” released vulgar cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad (Peace be Upon Him) adding fuel to an already volatile fire. Peace Day is likely to be fraught with violence, like most any other day.

Activism in the name of peace
CathNews September 14,

2012

At the Ministry of Defence (MoD) headquarters on London’s Whitehall, members of Pax Christi must be familiar figures, reports Jonathan Tulloch in The Tablet.

Demonstrations by the peace organisation often take place there, with campaigners kneeling in prayer. But they often deface the building too, are then arrested and prosecuted.

“When we appear in court,” says Pat Gaffney (pictured), the coordinator of the British section of the worldwide movement, “our defence is that we committed a small crime to stop a larger one.”

Last week, three of her members appeared in court and were found guilty of causing criminal damage after writing pacifist slogans on the MoD’s headquarters during a Pax Christi peace vigil. They have all said that they will refuse to pay their fines. As Gaffney knows herself from personal experience and serving time in Holloway, that means facing a prison sentence.

Jail sentences, peace protests, becoming expert on war and its weaponry: it suggests a person who is deadly serious, who might even be wretchedly careworn.

But earlier this year Gaffney – who has worked tirelessly for peace across four decades, been arrested 11 times, imprisoned on three occasions and nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize – appeared in The Independent’s “Happy List”, devoted to people whose life and work enriches others: capitalists of the human spirit.

Her warmth is immediately apparent as we meet for tea in the magnificent, highraftered, green-tiled tea room of the Leeds Art Gallery and Library. “So, how does it feel to be on the happy list?” I start. Gaffney laughs. “I didn’t believe them. When they rang to tell me, I thought it was a joke.”

Her commitment to the peace cause is undoubted. A former biology teacher, she has been British coordinator for the worldwide Catholic movement for 22 years. In that time, the organisation has successfully campaigned against major banks’ secret investments in cluster bomb manufacturers.”

FULL STORY All in the name of peace (Tablet)