UPDATE: Senator Lautenberg, “Get Food to Starving Afghanis, NOW!”
Editor’s Note:It’s good Americans and many people throughout the world brought material help to the people of Haiti. It’s the way it should be when a tragedy strikes. Experts say the earthquake is one of the worst in the history of our planet, and it’s now clear over 100,000 people died in the quake. When a catastrophe of such inconceivable magnitude occurs, we must respond to assist such victims in every way we’re able. It’s a moral obligation, it’s part of our social contract with all humanity.
We have also an obligation to help starving children in Afghanistan. The children are not living some ideology like Islam, ‘Talibanism,’ ‘Communism’ or ‘Christianism’ for that matter. They are innocents in a land riven with death and terror, just as the children of Iraq were.
As we post this, our military spent in the name of our people $248-billion on war in Afghanistan. When you add the cost of our military's abuse of Iraq to satisfy the ego of George W. Bush, the amount of money we spent warring since 2003 is now over a staggering $950-billion. It won’t be long before we hit the $1-trillion mark. We are compelled to demand that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and USAID — United States Agency for International development — appropriate money to feed the starving children in Afghanistan.
Our army spends $24,500 to recruit each soldier in its forces. If we can afford that expense, we can certainly direct the USAID to appropriate the money necessary to feed and help these innocent victims of another war from without.
We are compelled to help both Haiti and those who starve in Afghanistan. In this post is all the information you need to make a real difference in the lives of many Afghan people.
• UPDATE ON MEETING AT SEN. LAUTENBERG’S WASHINGTON OFFICE •
JobsForAfghans.org — 18 January 2010 — by Ralph Lopez — Under international law, Geneva Article 55, occupying powers have “the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population” to the “fullest extent of the means available to it.”
Dear Progressive Friends,
A brief report on our meeting at Senator Lautenberg’s Washington office 15 January 2010. On the starvation issue, we are at this point cautiously hopeful that any severe food crisis in remote parts of Afghanistan this winter can be averted, and it so far seems to be more or less under control. Sen. Lautenberg’s foreign policy staff assistant agreed to pass on any information which we receive regarding this to the senator, and was helpful in this regard.
Our colleague Fahima Vorgetts, director of Women for Afghan Women, has many humanitarian workers throughout the country and is poised to inform us the moment reports begin to come in of a deteriorating situation, so that we can then alert the congressmen’s staffers with whom we have now established a working relationship.
We hope that simply by expressing concern and awareness of the situation, citizens of New Jersey and other states who we are working with may have already set into motion, at some level, preparations for an emergency response. All congress members’ staffers who we met with were reminded that under international law, Geneva Article 55, occupying powers have “the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population” to the “fullest extent of the means available to it.”
On another issue, and this is where some calls/letters to Lautenberg’s office might come in handy, the aide’s response to the larger Civilian Solution for Afghanistan outlined by Jobs for Afghans was that “the senator doesn't usually lead on legislation like this.” The explanation was that since this is a matter of foreign policy, it would usually be a member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee who would propose a policy like this, at which point it would then be appropriate for an Appropriations Committee member to put forth the legislation for the money to back it up. We responded that as a senator representing his state Sen. Lautenberg can take the lead on any issue he wants.
Lastly, with respect to the issue of the child-killings in Kunar Province in December (linked below), we urged that the senator issue a statement condemning the killings, since no one in the administration has done so and it sends the wrong message to the Afghan people that this is being completely ignored by American politicians.
• Call and/or write to Sen. Lautenberg to thank his staff member, Andy Friedman, for meeting with us — see phone numbers and address below.
• Urge him to remain vigilant to a possible starvation crisis in Afghanistan, on which we will be forwarding reports as necessary to keep him up to date. Remind them that under international law, Geneva Article 55, occupying powers have “the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population” to the “fullest extent of the means available to it.”
• Urge him to reconsider, and to “take the lead” on the Civilian Solution For Afghanistan program, which is described in detail at this .pdf link: Jobs for Afghans White Paper
• Also refer them to the article by economist Jeffery Sachs, A Better Strategy for Afghanistan
• Let them know about our website JobsForAfghans.org
• A senator represents his constituents, and New Jersey has many soldiers in Afghanistan. We want the Civilian Solution, and for them to come home. There is no reason he can't “take the lead” on this.
• Last, ask Sen. Lautenberg to issue a statement condemning the child killings by “non-military Americans” (according to NATO, on Dec. 27th, 2009). Send him them this link to the article copied below, Shooting Hand-cuffed Children.
You can rate the video HERE
Ralph Lopez
JobsForAfghans.org
• Time to Call and Write Sen. Lautenberg’s Office •
1 Gateway Center, 23rd Floor
Newark, New Jersey 07102
Phone: 973.639.8700
Fax: 973.639.8723
Sen. Lautenberg’s a member of the Appropriations
Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
• Sen. Lautenberg can move appropriations of money to feed starving Afghanis •
• YOU CAN REACH ANY CONGRESS MEMBER’S WASHINGTON OFFICE •
• TOLL-FREE AT 800.828.0498 •
Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
Majority Members: 9 — Total Members: 16
Minority Members: 7
• Call & Write All These Committee Members •
Patrick Leahy (VT), Chairman
Daniel Inouye (HI)
Tom Harkin (IA)
Barbara Mikulski (MD)
Richard Durbin (IL)
Tim Johnson (SD)
Mary Landrieu (LA)
Frank Lautenberg (NJ)
Arlen Specter (PA)
Judd Gregg (NH), Ranking Member
Mitch McConnell (KY)
Robert Bennett (UT)
Christopher Bond (MO)
Sam Brownback (KS)
George Voinovich (OH)
Thad Cochran (MS), Ex Officio
• Call & Write All The Congress Members You Can •
Also see Peace ACTION
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” — President Dwight Eisenhower
Hey Friends,
Sue Serpa and I are mounting an offensive to avert winter starvation in Afghanistan, as happens in rural areas in many years. New Jersey senator Frank Lautenberg, could be a big key as he chairs the committee which oversees USAID — U.S. Agency for International Development, which can actually do something. We’re all going to be in DC this March to oppose the escalation and occupation, but for now we want them to put airlifts of food and supplies on the drawing board as information comes in from snowed-in areas where ground travel in impossible. We are in contact with some Afghan women’s association organizers in Afghanistan, from RAWA — Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, and others who are monitoring the situation.
Let me know what ya’ll think. We’re going to put Lautenberg on the hot-seat with visits in early January in order to insure this needless starvation not occur. They can put 20 billion dollars worth of killing military hardware in the air to bomb people in a split second, but they can’t drop a few parachutes when people are starving. We will mail this to his foreign policy staffer who we made contact with direct, and ask for email notification that Lautenberg has received the following and is aware of the situation.
love ralph and sue
• Senate Foreign Relations Committee •
John Kerry (MA), Chairman
Christopher Dodd (CT)
Russell Feingold (WI)
Barbara Boxer (CA)
Robert Menendez (NJ)
Benjamin Cardin (MD)
Robert Casey Jr. (PA)
Jim Webb (VA)
Jeanne Shaheen (NH)
Edward Kaufman (DE)
Kirsten Gillibrand (NY)
Richard Lugar (IN), Ranking Member
Bob Corker (TN)
Johnny Isakson (GA)
James Risch (ID)
Jim DeMint (SC)
John Barrasso (WY)
Roger Wicker (MS)
James Inhofe (OK)
LETTER TO REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS
Dear Congress Member,
We the undersigned must urgently alert you to a likely food crisis looming in parts of Afghanistan this winter, which the UN has warned of in a recent press conference. In addition we received a personal appeal from a member of an important women's organization in Afghanistan that starvation could be a reality in Afghanistan this winter, as it has been in past winters. It is eminently within the capabilities of the international community, and the US military, to avert this.
If Congress can pass $100 billion package for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, it can pass a $870 million emergency assistance package to head off starvation, the amount at which the UN estimates the present shortfall.
The U.S. has complete control of the airspace over the entire country, and airdrops of food is a proven technique of delivering humanitarian assistance. Tragically and unforgivably, starvation has been allowed to occur by the occupying forces in various regions in previous years, such as Samangan in 2008 and Tulak in 2005. The details of the present financial shortfall are at the following OCHA — UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs press conference —
The Kabul contact on this issue is a spokesman for UNAMA, which works closely with OCHA:
Dominic Medley
Tel: 93 0790 00 6292; 39 0831 24 6292
New York City U.N. Phone 1.212.963.2668 ext: 6292
Email: medleyd@un.org
— Click the pic to read the rest! —
The letter from our brave Afghan sister, Fahima Vorgetts, whom many of us have heard speak on her tour across the United States, is copied below. Please be so kind as to give it your utmost attention.
Starvation anywhere is unacceptable in a country which NATO has occupied now going on 9 years. We ask that Congress immediately turn its attention to this matter, and to schedule an immediate committee hearing so planning airlifts of food and supplies can begin.
International law requires an occupying power to insure the basic food needs of a population “to the fullest extent of the means available to it.” Article 55 of the Geneva Convention states: “To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population; it should, in particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate.”
We want Afghans to see America going the last mile in giving help when it is needed most. The Berlin Airlift in 1948 saved hundreds of thousands of Germans from freezing and starvation. To this day this is what many Europeans remember about America. Let the help in the winter of 2010 be what many young Afghans, years from now, remember about America, not a surge in troops. We do not want to be remembered only for bombs and bullets.
Thank you.
Ralph Lopez
Afghan Exit Strategy Project
Following is a letter from Fahima Vorgetts, plus an article from dailykos.com
FOR AFGHAN WOMEN & RAWA AFGHAN WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION
Dear Concerned Americans,
Every year in Afghanistan people die from cold and hunger. Afghanistan Winters are harsh, roads are impassable and the majority of people do not have adequate clothing, homes, fuel and most importantly food. Internal refugees and returnees to ruined villages live under the tents. Every year I hear horrific stories. At present we believe the needs are greatest in Badakhshan, Bamyan, Nooristan, Ghazni, Herat, Kabul and most of the north and central areas.
We who work in Afghanistan will continue to update the international community, and especially the U.S., on the situation on the ground as the winter progresses. This is an opportunity for the U.S. to show that it does not view Afghanistan only in terms of its troop presence.
As forces beyond their control continue to rage around them, the ordinary Afghan, as always, struggles merely to survive. Thank you for your concern over this situation.
Fahima Vorgetts
Women for Afghan Women and RAWA
Starvation Alert, Our Chance to Show Afghans We Are for Real
by Ralph Lopez, Tuesday Dec 22nd, 2009
This time of year is always bad in Afghanistan. It’s when the passes get snowed in and people starve. Rapidly. This is in contrast to the norm. According to the UN, 35% of Afghans do not meet the daily caloric intake requirement required to avoid malnutrition.
Translation, this many Afghans are pretty much starving slowly. This could help account for the average lifespan, the shortest in the world, of 43. We’re talking about a speed-up in the process, which, combined with unimaginable cold at these mountain altitudes, makes people drop like flies. Especially children. It happened in Samangan in 2008, in Tulak in 2005, and many other provinces where the world’s fourth-poorest people expire without note by the wider world.
It is disgusting that our government would rather talk about “offensive military operations” than this. But then, people might catch on to why there is an insurgency, fix it, and their nice little war would be over.
At a UN press conference this week it was revealed that it is in danger of happening again, this time in the southern and south-east provinces. Twenty percent of food aid has not reached its target. The financial shortage amounts to about US$ 870 million, what we spend on military operations every 2 weeks. This is the time we can show Afghans we are for real, and will never let another single child starve and freeze if we can help it. Congress must pass emergency legislation as fast as it passed the legislation funding bullets and bombs. Otherwise we are damned, and deserve it.
The UN office with knowledge of the specific valleys and villages at risk will be put into contact with the following congressional offices, selected for appropriations powers, foreign policy seats, or other factors. We can never say that the world did not know.
OCHA, the humanitarian relief arm of the UN, estimates that on non-food assistance, i.e. things like blankets, tents, and first aid kits, “We’re about 3,800 kits short of what we anticipate we need.”
Security is an issue when considering overland travel in some areas, and so are impassable roads. But in the winter, fighting always slows down as snows arrive, and travel grinds down to only the most necessary. In 2005 in Taluk, the problem was, too-little, too-late. The food and supplies should be immediately airdropped. For once the food should arrive before people begin to starve, before a blizzard sets in which prevents flying. The above-linked report on Tulak stated:
It’s time to start anew with Afghans. The Berlin Airlift in 1948 saved hundreds of thousands of Germans from freezing and starvation. Of course there’s a political element, as two superpowers, the US and the USSR, jockeyed to shape the map after WWII. But it worked, and the fact remains that decades later this is still what many Europeans remember about America. Let the help in the winter of 2010 be what many young Afghans years from now remember about America, not a surge in troops.
More information and opportunities to help are available here:
Contact us at jobsforafghans@gmail.com or phone 617.599.5195
THANK YOU!
More Information: http://www.prosecutethemnow.com/?q=node/2514
2009-12-31 02:57:28 -0400
