Veterans For Peace Refuse To Give Up On Peace

Posted on 10. Dec, 2009 by Margaret Teich in Uncategorized

Americans are split over the president’s recent decision to scale the war in Afghanistan with 30,000 more troops. After President Obama’s West Point speech on Dec. 1,  57% of American voters said fighting the war in Afghanistan is the right thing to do and 35% said “it is not the right thing to do, according to a Quinnipiac poll conducted from Dec. 1 – Dec. 5.

In his speech, the president admitted his own reluctance to scale the troops in Afghanistan:

I do not make this decision lightly. I opposed the war in Iraq precisely because I believe that we must exercise restraint in the use of military force, and always consider the long-term consequences of our actions. We have been at war for eight years, at enormous cost in lives and resources.

The difficult wartime decisions a president makes is undoubtedly the result of many diverging influences — military council, political strategists, international allies, lobbyists and voters — to name a few. Peace activists, like the members of Veterans for Peace, are another.

Veterans for Peace, which was founded in 1985, is a non-profit organization with 120 chapters and more than 10,000 members. The chapter members protest, conduct teach-ins, and hold events to educate citizens and encourage them to contact their elected officials.

I followed VFP New York City chapter 34 as the president was deciding to scale the troops in Afghanistan (October through December) and created this slide show documenting their weekly peace vigils in Forest Hills, Queens, social activities, protests in Times Square, and participation in the NYC Veterans Day Parade.