[haw-info] HAW Notes

Here are some notes of possible interest to members and friends of Historians Against the War:

1.  A number of well-known antiwar activists have signed onto a statement being circulated by the Campaign for Peace and Democracy, calling for an end to US military intervention in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  The statement and a partial list of signers are at http://www.cpdweb.org/stmts/1014/stmt.shtml.

 

2.  "John Marciano, a retired historian now living in Santa Monica (and a longtime HAW member), is interested in helping to start an informal discussion group in the Los Angeles area.  He can be reached at johnmarciano@mac.com." 

 

3.  Middle East historian Irene Gendzier, who has been a featured speaker at several HAW events, wrote to ask us to pass along a link to the web site www.israeli-occupation.org, which she finds valuable.

 

4.  The following is a legislative update from Carolyn (Rusti) Eisenberg of the HAW Steering Committee:

 

Congress has nearly completed its work on the 2010 Defense budget with a total of approximately $636 billion in expenditures. This includes $128.2 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Despite numerous statements from members of Congress, expressing concern about US policy in Afghanistan, only one Senator (Russ Feingold) and a handful of representative in the House have voted against the money. This is a clear and troubling sign of how reluctant antiwar Democrats have become now that President Obama is in the White House.

 

At present the clearest expressions of Congressional dissent is a new bill HR 3966, introduced by Barbara Lee which would prohibit the use of funds to increase the number of American soldiers in Afghanistan. It presently has a list of 22 co-sponsors: To see the list: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-3699 

 

It would be very helpful if historians called the Washington offices of your member of Congress expressing support for HR 3699. If that member has not agreed to be a co-sponsor, it would also be useful to ask why they have not done so. Any interesting results please forward to hiscze@aol.com