Blueprint for Peace in the World

The most developed blueprint comes from "Sept. 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows" (www.peacefultomorrows.org). They've composed a "primer for activists," which outlines a few unpopular truths.

1. U.S. and NATO occupation creates civilian casualties, angering Afghans.
2. Military occupation has hampered humanitarian aid and reconstruction efforts.
3. Afghan women continue to face violence and oppression under the occupation.
4. U.S. policy has empowered warlords, drug lords and the Taliban.
5. The occupation contributes to violence and destabilization for ordinary Afghans, including refugees.
6. NATO allies and military leaders are questioning the occupation.
7. U.S. troop casualties in Afghanistan are on the rise.
8. Afghans are calling for a negotiated end to the war.
9. Military escalation will only increase the violence, and potentially lead to a wider war involving nuclear-armed Pakistan.
10. Military occupation of Afghanistan does not curb terrorism.

They propose eight recommendations for change:

1. Set a swift timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO military forces, to be substituted by U.N. forces for short-term security.
2. Immediately cease air strikes on targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
3. Support negotiations between all parties involved in the conflict, including Afghan women leaders.
4. Reform humanitarian aid and reconstruction funding efforts to prioritize Afghan organizations over foreign contractors. Ensure that funded projects address the needs and requests of Afghans and are not simply pet projects of foreign donors.
5. Invest in long-term aid that increases self-reliance such as sustainable agriculture efforts.
6. Immediately discontinue the use of Provincial Reconstruction Teams, which are costly, inefficient, and have militarized the aid process.
7. Standardize, increase, and publicly document compensation to Afghan families and communities affected by U.S. military actions.
8. Sign the treaty to ban cluster bombs, pay for cluster bomb and landmine cleanup in Afghanistan, and pledge never to use these weapons again.

From every quarter, the message is clear: War is obsolete. War doesn't work. The days of war are over. We want nonviolent solutions for nonviolent breakthroughs to a new world of nonviolence.

"We've tried and tested every form of violence," Lech Walesa has said, "and not once in the entire course of human history has anything good or lasting come from it."

And from the Dalai Lama: "If we look at history, we find that in time, humanity's love of peace, justice and freedom always triumphs over cruelty and oppression. This is why I am such a fervent believer in nonviolence. Violence begets violence. Violence means only one thing: suffering. This small planet should be completely demilitarized."

Fr John Dear, SJ, states that war is not the way to follow Jesus. Indeed, Jesus says that whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me. In our wars, not only do we make Christ poor, hungry, homeless, sick and imprisoned, we kill him all over again.