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By Jim Albertini

President Barack Obama gave a pro war speech to accept a peace prize.  Ten days ago, Obama opted to escalate the U.S. war in Afghanistan with the deployment of 30,000 additional troops, and he tried to justify his actions again.

Barack Obama, fails to grasp the central truth in the message and lives of Mahatma Gandhi and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. whom he cited in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Dec. 10, 2009.

The essence of non-violence as preached and lived by Gandhi and King is that the means used must be in line with the end sought. Peace and justice are not mere distant goals, but are the means to be used consistent with the end sought.

Just last month, Obama refused to sign the international treaty to ban land mines. He continues to use Depleted Uranium (DU) Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) in Iraq and Afghanistan that will contaminate the cradle of civilization with radiation poisoning lasting 4.5 billion years, leaving a legacy of cancer, genetic diseases and birth defects for generations to come. More troops, more bombs, more death and destruction.

Obama, though a talented orator, still has that fatal flaw of American arrogance. He sees, or at least talks about the U.S. as the “good guy” waging wars of “necessity” for freedom and democracy.

“In the world as it is,” many people view the U.S. as an imperial power that wages illegal wars of aggression and occupation to serve the financial interests of global corporations. The U.S. empire, far surpassing any empire before it, has over 700 military bases in more than 100 countries.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., identified his peace prize as “profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time — the need … to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression.”

Declaring his opposition to the Vietnam War, Dr. King insisted that “no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war… We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. Every man [sic] of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.”

We agree with Dr. King and reject the notion that military action will advance the region’s stability, or our own national security. We join with others around the U.S. and the world. We pledge ourselves to mobilize in the spirit of Dr. King’s nonviolent and committed example. His prophetic words will guide us as we assemble in offices of elected representatives, and in the streets of our cities and towns, protesting every proposal that will continue funding war. We will actively and publicly oppose the war funding which President Obama will soon seek from Congress and re-commit ourselves to the protracted struggle against U.S. war-making in Iraq and Afghanistan and the further militarization of Hawaii.

Stop the Wars! Jobs and Health Care for All!

Jim Albertini

Malu Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action

P.O.Box AB

Kurtistown, Hawaii 96760

Phone: 966-7622

E-mail: JA@interpac.net

Web site: www.malu-aina.org