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Cheers!

"Stop the war" sang Jimmy Cliff at Glastonbury 2011, changing the title of his 1960s anti-war hit Vietnam to Afghanistan. Bob Dylan called Vietnam the best protest song he ever heard. Jimmy Cliff's many hits include Wild World, You Can Get It If You Really Want It, I Can See Clearly Now, Wonderful World Beautiful People. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.

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WikiLeaks

Discover the truth

of the unjust, illegitimate war in Iraq and Afghanistan: WikiLeaks releases hundreds of thousands of military records revealing thousands of civilian deaths, execution squads,
other war crimes.

The Guantánamo Files

documenting torture, abuse, and years of unjust imprisonment.

Watch "Collateral Murder"

The military's own video documenting the killing of 12 Iraqis from a helicopter circling above

Help Stop these Crimes: Collateral Murder Video Showings and more...

Support Bradley Manning

The young soldier accused of releasing the US military records.
Find out more.

NATO Summit Protests

Chicago Spring:
Protest the War Criminal (NATO) Summit!

The "North Atlantic Treaty Organization" (NATO) promotes its mission as “security, cooperation among nations, and peace keeping.”
In fact,it is an organization led and dominated by the world's best-armed war criminals, led by the United States.
Join us in protesting NATO
in Chicago May 20/21!

Stop the Drones

Drone Wars

The use of Predator drones (unmanned flying vehicles
that are often armed with video-guided missiles) by the
US military and CIA is a largely untold story of the "Global
War on Terror / Global Contingency Operation" - yet has caused thousands of deaths in Pakistan and Afghanistan, many of whom are women and children.
Find out more and take action to stop the drones.

Obama, the War President

Tuesday, 01 December 2009 08:19

By Kenneth J. Theisen

"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank. "

-Barack Obama, October 27, 2007

President Obama has made his decision to further escalate the Afghanistan War. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters on Monday morning, “The commander-in-chief has issued the orders.”

Obama reportedly communicated orders for a troop escalation to U.S. military leaders on November 29th during a White House meeting and on subsequent video conferences. This is the second major escalation that Obama has ordered in the Afghan war since taking office in January of this year.

Gibbs did not state how many more troops Obama has ordered to Afghanistan but past leaks by high-level White House officials have indicated that Obama was expected to send approximately 30,000 additional U.S. forces to that war-torn nation.

Obama is speaking at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point New York tonight. This highly symbolic setting provides a concentrated expression of Obama’s standing as war president. Gibbs told the media that Obama will lay out his plans about paying for the war and also will clarify the president’s “exit strategy.” Gibbs stated, “This is not an open-ended commitment.” Gibbs also stated that Obama would be meeting with Congressional leaders and consulting with foreign leaders about Afghanistan over the next 2 days.

The U.S. is pressuring U.S. allies to also escalate their contributions to the war efforts of U.S. imperialists. On Monday British Prime Minister Gordon Brown confirmed that the United Kingdom will send 500 additional troops to Afghanistan. Brown stated to the UK parliament, "I can confirm that we will move to a new force level of 9,500 - the extra troops will deploy in early December to thicken the UK troop presence in central Helmand."

Also on Monday the French daily newspaper Le Monde reported that U.S. Secretary of State Clinton had asked French President Nicolas Sarkozy to send an additional 1,500 troops to Afghanistan. Clinton has also recently stepped up U.S. pressure on the Pakistani government to force them to maker greater efforts in the U.S. war of terror. Other NATO countries, beside the UK and France, are also being lobbied by the U.S. to up their troop commitments.

Over the next few days the U.S. commander-in-chief will engage in an intense campaign to justify his war in Afghanistan. In true Orwellian fashion he will try to convince us that escalation of the war will ultimately bring peace closer. Gibbs made this clear when he announced the additional troops at the same time he told reporters that Obama will explain his exit strategy. Sending more troops to Afghanistan will help U.S. troops exit Afghanistan sooner – right?

Here are a couple of basic and essential truths. This war is a war for empire, and is not in the interests of the people of Afghanistan, the vast majority of people in this country, or the people of the world as a whole. Whether or not Obama can articulate an “exit strategy” is a bullshit question and not the issue at all; the issue is that this war is unjust and immoral, and must be opposed.

One of the reasons the ruling class chose Obama to represent its interests is that he is a slick communicator. But it is important that we not only listen to what this imperialist leader says, but watch what he does. Escalation of imperialist wars will not bring peace and no amount of smooth talk will change this fact. Obama will lie to us and seem sincere while doing so. Watch this site for an analysis of his Tuesday night speech and also to see what you can do to expose and protest your government’s actions. While the escalation of the war will not bring peace, your actions and those of millions of others can do so only if we repudiate the actions of the U.S. government.