by Mike Ferner, VFP President

Today the war in Afghanistan begins to crumble under the weight of government lies at home and criminal behavior on the battlefield.

Since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan nine years ago, Veterans For Peace has been waiting for the day when internal documents would reveal what we have known all along -- this war is illegal, immoral and we must add, it is bankrupting our nation at a time when millions of Americans have been thrown out of work and thrown out of their homes.

Neither Wikileaks nor the soldier or soldiers who divulged the documents should be prosecuted for revealing this information. We should give them a medal.

Now that the rotten truth of the war has been dug out of government vaults and brought to light - the murder of civilians, the inexcusable deaths and injuries of our troops, the knife to the heart of every soldier's family member, the fact that "winning" in Afghanistan is meaningless, the outrage of our jobless and homeless as trillions are spent on war and bank bailouts - the most important question is, "what will we do about it?"

We can be sidetracked by watching the 24-hour news cycle regurgitate Obama administration denials and "expert" opinions. Or every single one of us can look in the mirror tomorrow morning and see the person responsible for bringing this war to an end. It really is as simple as that. We know this war is wrong. Now we have official proof. When will we do something?

If we have complained, we must write a letter. If we've written a letter, we must get into the streets. If we've marched in the streets we must sit down in them. If we've been to our representatives' district offices, we must return and not leave until they stop funding the war. If we've talked to our co-workers we must call in sick, slow down production, urge our union to call a strike.

Government can only function with the consent of the governed. We must withdraw our consent at every opportunity until this war is ended, the troops are brought home and we start to rebuild our nation. That is our responsibility and our mission.

As of today, no American can say, "I didn't know what was happening." Now each and every citizen knows. Now we must act like citizens and stop this war.

> view the wikileaks website

key incidents as a spread sheet: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/datablog/2010/jul/25/wikileaks-afgh...


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Finally a Vote on War Funding This Week


On the House calendar for this week is a vote on a $33 billion supplemental bill to escalate the war in Afghanistan. The Senate did not accept the House version (passed without a vote on July 1st). The House will likely now vote on the Senate version or something close to it. This will likely mean something quite unusual: a straightforward vote in which yes means yes more war, and no means no.

Whether we block the bill or not, we will now be able to identify clearly and unambiguously the war supporters and war opponents. They will need to be punished and rewarded while they're home for August and at the polls in November. If the majority of Democrats vote against the war funds, we will be able to point out that opposition from the President's own party. And the closer we come to defeating the bill the more we will have to build on as the peace movement joins with the labor and civil rights movements this fall.

Our message is simple:

Vote no on funding this escalation of war, regardless of whether it's a procedural vote, and regardless of any good measures attached to it.

FCNL has a toll-free number to call your representative: 1-888-493-5443, or use the standard number (202) 224-3121.


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Mike Ferner, National President
Veterans For Peace
Organized locally.
Recognized nationally.
Exposing the true costs of war and militarism since 1985.

www.veteransforpeace.org