Sent via David, Vets for Peace member in Wisconsin
I
would like to share with you an email I received from Veterans for
PEace. The delegation is now in PAkistan. This is a very informative
look at what is going on, the thoughts, of a couple of attendees. Please
send your strongest peace vibes to these people. Thank you and peace
Veterans For Peace Now in Pakistan Opposing Drone War
Seven Members of Veterans For Peace are part of a 40-member delegation
organized by Code Pink now in Pakistan through October 10th. VFP members
Leah Bolger, Dave Dittemore, Bill Kelly, Jody Mackey, Rob Mulford, and
Ann Wright are meeting with drone victims' families, elected officials,
tribal elders, and residents of South Waziristan, where U.S. drone
strikes have killed thousands, while injuring and making refugees of
many more. Code Pink's Medea Benjamin is an associate member of VFP.
The relentless drone war continued with a U.S. drone strike in the Mir
Ali area on Monday, reportedly killing three unidentified people.
At the same time, the Pakistani media is full of accounts of the U.S.
delegation and their planned participation in a march to the heaviest
hit areas, a story also appearing in British and other world media. The
English language Pakistani newspaper Dawn reports:
"ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan said that a 30-member
foreign delegation had reached Islamabad on Sunday which would
participate in PTI’s 'peace rally' in South Waziristan, DawnNews
reported.
"The PTI Chairman Imran Khan said that people who do not want peace are against PTI peace rally.
"Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Khan said Mehsud, Burki
and Bhittani tribes of Waziristan have welcomed the peace rally. The
tribal leaders had also assured the security of the participants of the
rally, he added.
"He complained that the government was not
issuing visas to the foreign journalists and human right’s activists who
wanted to attend the rally.
"Speaking on the occasion, US
citizen Ann Wright, who is a former diplomat and military woman, said
most of the American people were against drone attacks.
“'Drone
attacks are illegal and criminal. We request the people of Pakistan to
raise their voice against them. We will go to Waziristan to apologise to
the relatives of those killed by drones,' said Ms Wright, who is also
the spokesperson for the Anti-War Movement.
"She said the US had
been violating the sovereignty of Pakistan. 'There is travel warning for
the US citizens but we have come here and will go to the places where
our government does not want us to go,' she said.
Other US
citizens who have reached here to take part in the PTI rally include
Paki Wieland, a social worker (Massachusetts); Linda Wenning, a graduate
from the University of Utah; Lorna Vander Zanden and Pam Bailey
(Virginia); Jolie Terrazas, Judy Bello, Katie Falkenberg, Daniel Burns
and Joe Lombardo (New York); Barbara Briggs, Tighe Barry, Sushila
Cherian, Dianne Budd and Toby Blome (California); Leah Bolger, Tudy
Cooper and Michael Gaskill (Oregon); Medea Benjamin, Jody Tiller and
Alli McCracken (Washington DC); Anam Eljabali (Illinois), Patricia
Chaffee (Wisconsin), Joan Nicholson (Pennsylvania), Robert Naiman and
JoAnne Lingle (Indiana); Rob Mulford (Alaska), Lois Mastrangelo
(Massachusetts) and Billy Kelly (New Jersey).
"Meanwhile
explaining the route of the rally, the PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood
Qureshi said thet the march will start from Islamabad’s Blue Area and
will proceed towards Balkasar, Talagang, Mianwali and DI Khan on October
6.
"On October 7, the rally will gather at Tank and then head
towards South Waziristan where a public meeting will be held at Kot Kai,
he added."
Veterans For Peace President Leah Bolger reports
that, in addition to Ann Wright, Bill Kelly, Rob Mulford, and herself
took part in the press conference representing VFP. Wright was
introduced by Khan and spoke about the purpose of the delegation, and
answered questions from the press. Bolger reounts:
"Ann did a
fantastic job of describing the purpose of the delegation and responding
to reporters' questions which included asking us if we were concerned
for our own safety, given the strong anti-American sentiment in
Pakistan. She was very candid in saying that we were opposed to the
policies of our own government which we consider to be illegal and
immoral, and that as citizens of the United States we apologized for the
deaths of Pakistanis because of the drone strikes. She went on to say
that the U.S. government does not want us to be here in Pakistan, but
that despite official State Department warnings not to travel here, we
are determined to meet with the people who have been harmed by our
government, and in our name."
Rob Mulford sent in this comment:
"Love is the seed from which the flower of peace grows. Prior to coming
to Pakistan, I was often asked by friends, family, loved ones the
rhetorical question: why, what do you hope to accomplish, what is the
efficacy? Sometimes when put on the spot I struggle for answers grounded
in the technical without seeing the ubiquitous truth. I am here to say
'I love you' to a people who have for too long and too often been
wrongly vilified. But words are empty without action. The warmth of
tacit contact, the handshake, the hug, the reflection of an other's
beauty in ones own eyes, and openly sharing one's own vulnerability.
This is peace.
"Peace requires courage. Saturday we met with
the anthropologist / filmmaker Samar Miniallah Khan. Samar, a Pashtun,
tirelessly and courageously works to comfort and protect some of the
most venerable people on the face of the earth, women and children who
have had no part in the making of a world where they suffer. Her
documentary 'Women Behind the Burqa' may just be the most powerful
statement that I have ever seen in opposition to war. It needs to be
seen by everyone in the United States, shown in schools, to those who
govern, and on the popular media. It lays bare the lie that 'we' (US
military forces) are involved involved in protecting women.
"Drones are robot assassins, murders. They are not tools of the just."
Pam Bailey reports on her blog:
"Monday evening, I will fly from New York City to Abu Dhabi, and then
on to Islamabad. On Oct. 6, I and about 30 others from the United States
and the UK will join PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or 'Movement for
Justice') Chairman Imran Khan on a convoy into South Waziristan, the
'no-man’s land' along the border with Afghanistan where extremists hide
and U.S. drones most often strike.
"Before founding the PTI party in
1996, Khan played international cricket for two decades (at 39, Khan
led his teammates to Pakistan’s first and only World Cup victory in
1992) and became a much-beloved philanthropist, including the founding
of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre.
Foreign Policy magazine described him as 'Pakistan’s Ron Paul.'
"The original plan was for the convoy to penetrate deep into North
Waziristan, the heart of the unrest and military response, allowing us
to visit the families caught in the crossfire at 'Ground Zero.'
"However, after threats of suicide attacks were received, the plan was
revised to limit the convoy to South Waziristan – a path that the
Hakimullah Mahsud-led Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, or the Pakistani
Taliban) has pledged to protect. The question now is whether the
Pakistani government will allow the convoy to go ahead. In light of
Khan’s criticism of the Pakistani government’s tacit complicity with the
U.S. drone attacks, several international journalists already have been
denied visas. Stay tuned."
Veterans For Peace member Ray McGovern, not on the trip, provides context here.
VFP is part of a coalition organizing an online petition in support of
banning weaponized drones. VFP members are delivering over 16,000
signatures on the petition to those they meet with in Pakistan: PDF.
In addition, Veterans For Peace is a member organization of UNAC (the
United National Antiwar Coalition, a U.S. group), and Leah Bolger
represents VFP on the UNAC Administrative Committee. Joe Lombardo and
Judi Bello, also part of the delegation to Pakistan, are also UNAC
Administrative Committee members. UNAC has just released a statement
opposing the use of drones: PDF.
Participants are available for interviews by email and phone, and in-person after the trip.
Veterans For Peace was founded in 1985 and has approximately 5,000
members in 150 chapters located in every U.S. state and several
countries. It is a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization
recognized as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) by the United
Nations, and is the only national veterans' organization calling for the
abolishment of war.
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