Since the inception of Gulf War II on March 2003, House of Grace Catholic Worker and CPF have vigiled weekly for a modest hour, usually at the Federal Building, now at tracks 3 and 4 at Suburban Station. Our signs opposing war are a minor distraction to rushing commuters, Afghanistan the furthest thing from their minds. Iraq is more of a lightning rod. We are a formidable presence, usually seven, mixed gender, ages late twenties to eighties.

Rarely can we engage people in discussing the context of our flyers, brief but in depth rationales for ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The No to War in Afghanistan has elicited responses from a few young men, "What about the Taliban and Al Qaeda, aren't they deadly threats to our security?" Not an easy one to respond to, in brief minutes. If time permitted we could stimulate their memories to the tragedies enacted in the blood-soaked land of Afghanistan, one of the poorest nations on earth. Remember Ronald Reagan's "brilliant" orchestration of ousting the Russians from the land in 1989, when 300,000 soldiers entered and trailed out a defeated army, with 20,000 of their brothers departing in coffins. Reagan spent millions arming the mujahedeen, the Taliban, with the most sophisticated U.S. weapons. They outfought the Russians in their native land, ten long years, with Reagan's praise echoing in their ears, "The freedom fighters of Afghanistan are defending principles of independence and freedom that form the basis of security." A Russian general said it better on the 20th anniversary of their defeat, "Afghanistan taught us an invaluable lesson. . . . lt has been and always will be impossible to solve political problems using force. We should have helped the people of Afghanistan in improving their life, but it was a gross mistake to send troops into the country." (Retired Red Army General Boris Gromov, 2/14/09) Just imagine if we had tried that after 9/11?

In the post-9/11 world the Taliban became our bitter enemy, the epitome of terrorism providing safe haven for Osama bin Ladin. Andrew Bacevich in his new book, The Limits of Power, notes, "U.S. troops found themselves in a position, not unlike that of the Soviet soldiers in the 1980s—outsiders attempting to impose a political order on a fractured population animated by an almost pathological antipathy toward foreign outsiders." Under Bush, the "U.S. engaged in an effort to incorporate Central Asia in the Pax Americana." A senior Bush advisor succinctly captures the Bush doctrine, "We're an empire now and when we act, we create our own reality."

Bacevich sees a new reality. He believes the U.S. Empire no longer possesses the resources, material and human, to control the earth, "When American power was ascendant the United States could pretend to interpret history's purpose or God's will. Today it can no longer afford to indulge in such conceits." Bacevich thinks we have turned a corner unbeknownst to the people,

Long accustomed to thinking of the United States as a superpower, Americans have yet to realize that they have forfeited command of their own destiny. The reciprocal relationship between expansion, abundance, and freedom—each reinforcing the other—no longer exists. If anything the reverse is true: Expansion squanders American wealth and power, while putting freedom at risk.

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), with years of experience in the region, just issued a brief position paper (see www.afsc.org). 

Ultimately what is needed is not more troops, but well directed aid along with diplomacy. Diplomatic talks will need to bring together all parties to the conflict in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the region, and yes, including the Taliban.

Two more different cultures can't be imagined; Terry Eagleton expresses it well in Commonweal (3/27/09). 

Islamic fundamentalism confronts Western civilization with the contradiction between the West's own need to believe and its chronic incapacity to do so. The West now stands eyeball-to-eyeball with a full-blooded "metaphysical" foe for whom absolute truths and foundations pose no problem at all. . . . the West appears to be busily undermining its own erstwhile metaphysical foundations with an unholy mélange of practical materialism, political pragmatism, moral and cultural relativism, and philosophical skepticism. 

Salvation does not rest with modem Crusaders from the West.

Lastly we need a new sign for our vigil, call it Berrigan's legacy, very hard words to hear let alone practice: 

I would like to say as simply as I know how, to other Christians, that I'm convinced that in our lifetime we have no contribution to make to one another or to the world at large except a modest and consistent "No" to death. Our churches can go tomorrow, our schools could have been closed yesterday, our institutions ground under by the wave of tanks or the next phalanx of violence. And what will remain of Christianity except that we have said audibly and consistently and patiently over our lifetime: "We are not allowed to kill. We are not allowed to be complicit in killing. We are not allowed to commit the crime of silence before these things."

Joe Bradley