CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Peace Coalition of Southern Illinois/FOR Monthly Vigil for Peace and Justice is scheduled for Saturday, October 7, noon to 1 P.M. at the corner of Illinois Avenue and Main Street in Carbondale.
The vigil will join the No to War coalition to draw attention to the forgotten, permanent war which every day kills Afghan civilians with U.S. ground and air attacks and continues to sacrifice U.S. service men and women.
The lessons of Viet Nam show that the lies about success and the repeated escalation of the war led in the end to unconscionable environmental destruction and loss of life on both sides.
Besides Afghanistan, the U.S. threatens wider wars around the world including Syria, Iraq, Korea, Somalia, Pakistan, Yemen, Iran, Philippines, Venezuela, and elsewhere.
Matthew Hoh resigned from the State Department in Afghanistan to protest Obama’s troop increase there. He recently wrote “There has never been progress by the U.S. military in Afghanistan, unless you are asking the U.S. military contractors or the Afghan drug barons, of whom an extremely large share are our allies in the Afghan government, militias and security forces, there has only been suffering and destruction… Similarly, any progress in reconstructing or developing Afghanistan has been found to be non-existent despite the more than $100 billion spent by the United States on such efforts by the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR). $100 billion, by the way, is more money than was spent on the Marshall Plan when that post-WWII reconstruction plan is put into inflation adjusted dollars.”
Supporters of the Peace Coalition instead argue that recent climate disasters show an urgent need for a transfer of funding from the U.S. Department of Defense to fund communities: housing, health care, schools, transportation, and critically aid to those trying to survive following the catastrophes in Puerto Rico, Florida, Texas, Mexico and elsewhere.
Appropriate signs will be provided, but all are invited to bring their own. The Peace Coalition Monthly Meeting will follow the Vigil at Cristaudo’s Café and Bakery.