Idaho Peace Coalition to show Rethink Afghanistan

Please ignore the elephant in the room. What happened to the change Obama promised? Another opportunity down the drain as the Obama administration argued late Monday that allowing terrorism detainees in Afghanistan to file lawsuits in U.S. courts challenging their detention would endanger the military mission in that country. Although the Pentagon is giving the roughly 600 detainees at Bagram Airfield ( the other GITMO) a new chance to challenge their detentions, the Obama administration stuck with Bush administration policy in a court filing Monday night that said the Bagram detainees' rights shouldn't extend as far as U.S. courtrooms. The Pentagon will actually assign a non-lawyer soldier to them to help them gather evidence in an attempt to prove that they’re not guilty of whatever they’re being accused of. The military will then decide if they want to let them go or not.

It good to see some talk going on about Afghanistan. As several senators are beginning to openly question President Barack Obama’s plan for further escalation of the war in Afghanistan, a trio of hawkish Senators, John McCain, Joseph Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, have penned an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal calling for a significant increase in ground troops, likely beyond the escalation already backed by Obama and the additional escalation advocated by Gen. McChrystal. But Murtha is saying no more U.S. Troops for Afghanistan.

And new polls show that support for the ongoing war in Afghanistan has continued to drop, now down to only 39% in favor and 58% against.

The Idaho Peace Coalition soon will be having a public showing of the series Rethink Afghanistan. Come to the Hyde Park Street Fair this weekend and find the Idaho Peace Coalition and the Snake River Alliance combining efforts in the Idaho Chapter 17 of Veterans for Peace booth. There will printed information on this event.