Last night at MCC the Student Peace Action Network showed the movie, Re-think Afghanistan.
There were only about 20 people there, and a discussion group followed. It's a powerful movie and one that every American should watch. Seeing the devastation and injuries of the Afghan people and their country should give everyone a strong reason to think about his own position on the war. One speaker on the film gave this example: more troops lead to more casualties, which lead to more insurgents.
The recurring theme in the movie is that the U.S. is the reason that the U.S. is hated in Afghanistan. The cost to the U.S. is horrendous, as are the injuries and fatalities that our own country is suffering. But here in the U.S., we get only sound bites and short TV stories about what we are doing to that country. For more information, go to http://www.rethinkafghanistan.com/
On Wednesday and Thursday of this week the Eyes Wide Open exhibit was again at MCC. This is a living memorial to the military personnel and civilians killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A hand-out provided information that over 175 Illinois service members have died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Go to www.afsc.org/eyes for more information about the exhibit.
Another hand-out was a reprint of an article from the Champion (Decatur, Ga.) of a February 28, 2008 column to the President of the United States that the authority to use the national guards of the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan has expired and they should all be brought back to the U.S.
What if we had soldiers of a foreign power blasting buildings and killing civilians in McHenry County, as they tried to kill a handful of terrorists? What would we do, if we were surrounded by crumbled buildings and bodies? Would we become "insurgents"?
And we'd need our firearms to be effective!
Several books were mentioned on the film that might be worth reading:
Dying to Win, by Pape
Ghost Wars, by Coll
See No Evil, by Baer
Does anyone have these, in case the library system doesn't?
There were only about 20 people there, and a discussion group followed. It's a powerful movie and one that every American should watch. Seeing the devastation and injuries of the Afghan people and their country should give everyone a strong reason to think about his own position on the war. One speaker on the film gave this example: more troops lead to more casualties, which lead to more insurgents.
The recurring theme in the movie is that the U.S. is the reason that the U.S. is hated in Afghanistan. The cost to the U.S. is horrendous, as are the injuries and fatalities that our own country is suffering. But here in the U.S., we get only sound bites and short TV stories about what we are doing to that country. For more information, go to http://www.rethinkafghanistan.com/
On Wednesday and Thursday of this week the Eyes Wide Open exhibit was again at MCC. This is a living memorial to the military personnel and civilians killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A hand-out provided information that over 175 Illinois service members have died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Go to www.afsc.org/eyes for more information about the exhibit.
Another hand-out was a reprint of an article from the Champion (Decatur, Ga.) of a February 28, 2008 column to the President of the United States that the authority to use the national guards of the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan has expired and they should all be brought back to the U.S.
What if we had soldiers of a foreign power blasting buildings and killing civilians in McHenry County, as they tried to kill a handful of terrorists? What would we do, if we were surrounded by crumbled buildings and bodies? Would we become "insurgents"?
And we'd need our firearms to be effective!
Several books were mentioned on the film that might be worth reading:
Dying to Win, by Pape
Ghost Wars, by Coll
See No Evil, by Baer
Does anyone have these, in case the library system doesn't?
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