by Joseph Gerson*

    Shortly after President Obama's Afghanistan War escalation speech, I was contacted by the Voice of America's Russian Language Service. They wanted to interview me. These are the questions they asked: What do you think about Obama's new strategy for Afghanistan? Were you
surprised by it? Do you think it would be possible to carry out all Obama's objectives by 2011? Would Afghanistan, you think, cease to being a failed state?

    Weighted down by a sense of the tragic implications of the speech, I answered as follows:

    How could we be surprised? During the 2008 election campaign candidate Obama repeatedly and unknowingly said that the Afghanistan war is a "good war." Back then that was the politically expedient thing to do, and many of his supporters who were rightfully outraged by the damage wrought by Bush and Cheney simply ignored what he was saying.

Mara Ahmed and I were given the opportunity to interview Tariq Ali when he spoke at Hamilton College in Upstate New York on November 11, 2009, during his recent speaking tour of the United States. Tariq, a native of Pakistan who lives in England, is a well known writer, intellectual and activist. He has traveled all over Southwest Asia and the Middle East while researching his books. Mara, who is working on a film highlighting the opinions of the Pakistani people regarding the current situation in Pakistan and the Western initiated 'Global War on Terror', had a lot of questions for Tariq about the internal state of Pakistan. I wanted to ask Tariq for his opinion about the effects of American foreign policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and what alternatives he thought might be available. --JB

Mara: What is the role of Islamophobia in the Global War on Terror. Many American war veterans have described the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as imperialistic, racist and genocidal. Your comments?

Send messages of support to Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, in prison for speaking out against the Afghan war and facing  court martial for refusing to return to Afghanistan.

Speaker: Richard Boyd Barrett (Chair of the Irish Anti-War Movement)

Speaker: Memet Uludag (Irish Anti-War Movement Steering Committee)

Venue: Ashling Hotel, Dublin (beside Heuston Station)

Date: 15:45 22nd November 2009

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DUE TO THE ARREST OF CORP JOE GLENTON THIS MEETING HAS BEEN

CANCELLED

Meeting British soldier who refuses to return to Afghanistan. 
Public Meeting 
Saturday December 5th, 200916.30Central Hotel, Dublin 2

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The Irish Anti War movement is pleased to welcome to Dublin British serviceman, Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, a courageous objector to the NATO led occupation of Afghanistan.

At the risk of imprisonment, Joe Glenton feels he can no longer be part of this phoney war on terror. He will recount how his experience of the new military surge in Afghanistan proved to be the final straw and he could do it no more.

Ireland too has blood on its hands. Military personnel are aiding "counter-insurgency" in Afghanistan. Joe Glenton's stand is a heroic example for all of those military who can no longer support this costly, inhumane and unwinable war.

Robert Boothguardian.co.uk, Friday 30 October 2009 20.20 GMT

A lance corporal who faces jail for refusing to return to fight in Afghanistan has claimed fellow soldiers are rallying to his cause. 
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Meeting British soldier who refuses to return to Afghanistan. Public Meeting Saturday December 5th 4.30 Central Hotel Dublin 2.

The Irish Anti War movement is pleased to welcome to Dublin British serviceman, Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, a courageous objector to the NATO led occupation of Afghanistan.

At the risk of imprisonment, Joe Glenton feels he can no longer be part of this phoney war on terror. He will recount how his experience of the new military surge in Afghanistan proved to be the final straw and he could do it no more.