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| Religion Forum Index » Apologetic Forum » Dear President Obama (An Open Letter on Afghanistan)... |
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| **Rowland Croucher**... |
 Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 5:05 am |
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Dear President Obama (An Open Letter on Afghanistan)
by Brian McLaren 10-22-2009
I am a loyal supporter of your presidency. I worked hard in the campaign
and have never been as proud of my country as I was when we elected you.
I’m writing to ask you to find another way ahead in Afghanistan. I wrote
a similar letter to President Bush when he was preparing for war in Iraq.
I believe now, as you and I both did then, that war is not the answer.
Violence breeds violence, and as Dr. King said, you can murder a
murderer, but you can’t murder murder. As the apostle Paul said, evil
must be overcome with good, which means that violence and hate must be
overcome with justice and love, not more of the same.
Obviously, you know things the rest of us don’t know. And you have
pressures and responsibilities the rest of us don’t have. But we have
based our lives on the moral principles that guided leaders like Dr.
King, Desmond Tutu, and Nelson Mandela. We share a profound faith in a
loving, non-violent God. We share a commitment to live in the way of
Jesus the peacemaker. That’s why escalation is not a change we can
believe in.
I don’t argue for leaving Afghanistan high and dry as we’ve done too
often in the past. Evil can’t be overcome by passivity or abdication,
but only by positive good and creative action. In that spirit, I offer
this humble proposal:
1. Take the $65 billion we would have spent there in the coming year and
turn it into an aid and development fund. If you want to go farther, you
could put a value on the cost of American lives that would be lost there
(I have no idea how this inestimable cost could be calculated), and add
that sum to the fund. $65 billion could build a lot of peace-oriented
schools and hospitals in Afghanistan. It could serve as start-up capital
for a lot of new businesses and it could pave a lot of roads. It could
train a lot of police officers and it could enhance a lot of social
infrastructure. It could give hope to a lot of women and girls who
currently don’t have much hope, and it could provide a lot of
constructive outlets for men and boys who right now don’t have many
options besides picking up a machine gun and joining a warlord.
2. Other nations might contribute to this fund as well, and the fund
could be extended into the future based on the number of years our
military would have been engaged in Afghanistan. The fund could be
administered by the U.S., or better (in the spirit of international
cooperation), an IAEC-like agency could be created, subsidiary to the
United Nations, to monitor progress in Afghanistan.
3. Then a set of benchmarks could be set, and the money could be
released for development in Afghanistan as the nation reached
appropriate benchmarks. This fund would be an enticement to mobilize
public opinion in the direction of peace and justice, as people would
know that their lives could be substantially improved if their
factionalized leaders would start collaborating nonviolently for the
common good.
4. With this kind of approach, the people of Afghanistan (and Pakistan)
would have two clear choices. Al Qaeda and other extremists offer
violence and unrest. But the international community would be offering
support for order, rebuilding, collaboration, justice, and peace. This
choice is a much clearer and better one than the choice between two
groups of leaders who both depend on violence to achieve their aims.
5. Conservatives could support this kind of approach because it
emphasizes personal choice and responsibility among the Afghan people.
It would come alongside them in their own nation-building efforts at
their own best pace, rather than trying to impose our own
nation-building on them at a pace we determine. Progressives could
support this approach because it changes the role of the U.S. in the
global neighborhood — from reactive bully or intentional dominator to
responsible neighbor and partner for the common good.
Mr. President, you have my respect and my prayers at this important
time. I believe you have the intelligence and insight to find a creative
way to use a new kind of force in the world — something far more
powerful than bombs, guns, and bullets: the generative force of
creativity, of justice, of collaboration, and yes, of hope. Can we find
a new and better way to help Afghanistan rise out of chaos and
complicity with Al Qaeda? You know the answer many of us will shout and
chant: yes, we can.
With respect and hope,
A citizen
Brian McLarenBrian McLaren is a speaker and author, most recently of
Everything Must Change and Finding Our Way Again.
http://blog.sojo.net/2009/10/22/dear-president-obama-an-open-letter-
on-afghanistan/
Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/
Justice for Dawn Rowan - http://dawnrowansaga.blogspot.com/ |
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