Help the Babies and Children starving and Freezing in Afghanistan
I just sent emails to my Senator, Rep, Whitehouse and Hillary Clinton.
Since GOP calles on "saving life" (aka fetus) then can't we point out that we need our Senators to call for President Obama and Sec of Defense to get aid to the freezing and starving children in Afghanistan, especially those in and around Kabul ?
I have read reports from www.rawa.org since 1998 (when Taliban gained control).
In the past month Afghanistan was hit with freezing storms and the babies/children and people are freezing to death. There are many reports of the children there dying due to not receiving help during these horrible freezing weather.
The US has the capablity to help and is suppose to help. The mainstream news is not covering this crisis like the should.
Yesterday I saw this from War is a Crime that calls for us contact our Senators and demand they call on our Government to follow the Geneva Conventions.
http://warisacrime.org/content/mass-child-freezing-deaths-proof-mass-starvation-us-violation-geneva-afghanistan
I sent the following below to my Senators, Representative, Hillary Clinton, and Whitehouse.
I did change the highlighted word to reflect which person the email was going to.
if you like you can use my example of shrinking down what War Crime had.
http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/index.htm
Secretary of State
secretary@state.gov
Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton
US Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
Main Switchboard: 202-647-4000
Fax: 202-261-8577
******
President Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments
The White House Phone Numbers
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
Fax: 202-456-2461
Immediate relief is needed for the refugees.
The US Aid money has been going to corrupt warlords than helping the Afghans who are suffering and dying. Regular US and UK citizens are trying to get some help to them but we shouldn't have to. It is the obligation of our State Dept to make sure aid gets to the people.
As a Senator you are obligated to make sure our Government is adhering to the Geneva Conventions.
As Commander-in-Chief, Obama, or Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, can give an order and start trucks loading and rolling before single digit temperatures hit, or make provisions to open a center, such as Kabul Stadium, where refugees can go and avail themselves to heat sources, blankets, clothing, and food. The Geneva Conventions, to which the US is signatory, is crystal clear on this. Where it can be helped, people freezing and starving to death cannot be allowed to happen.
With Mass Child Freezing Deaths, Proof of Mass Starvation, US in Violation of Geneva in Afghanistan
Geneva Convention Article 59
"If the whole or part of the population of an occupied territory is inadequately supplied, the Occupying Power shall agree to relief schemes on behalf of the said population, and shall facilitate them by all the means at its disposal. Such schemes, which may be undertaken either by States or by impartial humanitarian organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, shall consist, in particular, of the provision of consignments of foodstuffs, medical supplies and clothing."
US forces in Afghanistan, willing and able to arrest Afghan nationals and imprison them as well as back all decisions with military force, clearly meet the definition of an "occupying power" according to international law.
But it is in the Kabul refugee camps, in the most secure area of the country with constant NATO activity in and around it, where at least 23 children have been reported by the New York Times to have frozen to death since Jan. 15th, due to lack of simple items such as blankets, warm clothes, food, and fuel for heating the tents and mud huts that are now home to approximately 35,000 Afghans. The winter which has hit Kabul is the coldest in 20 years.
Millions of tons of commodities and cargo destined for US military bases pass through and around Kabul regularly. Rep. John Tierney in his subcommittee's report "Warlord, Inc." reveals the enormous extent of the volume of goods paid for with US tax dollars which cross the country daily in 200 and 300-truck convoys, comprising the material deemed necessary to sustain the military occupation.
What is abundantly clear is that there is no lack of "means available to" the US to meet its responsibilities under Articles 55 through Article 60 of Geneva, especially when the afflicted populations are in the most secure part of the country.
Temperatures early this week in the Kabul refugee camps where dozens of babies froze when temperatures were in the teens, are forecast to drop to the single digits, down to 7 degrees F. In such temperatures, every northern city in the US will issue "dangerous cold" alerts and open emergency shelter and warming facilities to residents, especially homeless populations.
There is no doubt that within short distances of the camps, at Camp Phoenix outside of Kabul, for example, warehouses are stacked high to the rafters with blankets, sleeping bags, Meals-Ready-to-Eat, heat tabs, and insulating material which are normal stocks for an occupation of 100,000 soldiers. The $2 billion per week in war spending which flows into Afghanistan every single week makes Afghanistan the most expensive war in American history. Camp Phoenix, one of the largest American bases in Afghanistan, offers many amenities, according to Wiki:
"[Camp Phoenix offers] a small selection of electronics. The PX also sells some military clothing and tactical goods for the war on terror. The PX area has a Green Bean Coffee shop. There are also pool and ping pong tables available. The Dining Facility (DFAC) offers a large menu, including short order, weekly "surf and turf," Americanized versions of "Mexican" food, "Chinese" food, and "Italian" food, soft drinks, and ice cream. Just outside the PX is a Pizza Hut which opened 2/19/11. A Burger King also opened 7/4/11."
NBC News has now reported definitively what aid workers and many others have long known in Afghanistan: Millions of children are starving rapidly, and millions more people are starving more slowly, even in secure population centers little affected by the war.
Read more: http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2012/02/15/idps-in-kabul-fearful-they-won-t-survive-brutal-winter-photos.html#ixzz1myD6gnec
"During the cruel cold of Kabul, more than 20 children have died in an IDP camp in the outskirts of Kabul. More will surely die, the inhabitants fear. Half-naked children are seen everywhere in the blistering cold. Hundreds live in terrible conditions which constantly threat their life, especially in winters.
Water streams stand still and snow stacked in corners of small muddy streets. Small one-roomed, dark mud huts covered in shabby pieces of cloth and plastic house at least six to seven people. There is no running water in the area except a hand-pump that freezes completely in the winters. Sanitation however is no different from almost all parts of Kabul: holes dug in the open with no proper system to carry out the sewage. There is no doctor and people cannot afford those in the city.
Read more: http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2012/02/15/idps-in-kabul-fearful-they-won-t-survive-brutal-winter-photos.html#ixzz1myD6gnec
to stay up today with what is happening to the women and children of Afghanistan join RAWA facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/WhiteHouse#!/RAWA.Afghanistan
NY Times article has a site that you can donate to and goes to the Children in the camps
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/uncovering-the-sadness-of-young-deaths/?scp=1&sq=nordland&st=cse
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