By Joe Scarry

From Scarry Thoughts I Original Article

This is a short blog post, but a big request.

In May, NATO will meet in Chicago. Big protests are planned. But what exactly will the point of the protests be?


It looks like the top priority for NATO in May will be Afghanistan. (Iran is an issue that may overshadow it, but that's very hard to tell moment to moment.)

NATO wants to discuss the question of how to extricate itself from Afghanistan, particularly how to withdraw combat troops. Clearly, this must be done, and much more quickly than NATO will likely want to do so. But there's more . . . .

To quote Tom Engelhardt, "what remains doggedly remarkable, as Nick Turse reports in the latest post in his TomDispatch series on the changing face of empire (supported by Lannan Foundation): the U.S. military continues to build in Afghanistan as if modest progress were indeed the byword, limited success a reality, and corners still there to be decisively turned -- if not by a giant army of occupation, then by drones and special operations forces. Go figure." [emphasis added]

I propose that protesters in Chicago need to demand that NATO must fully DEMILITARIZE Afghanistan, including:

• no more drones


• no special forces "trainers"


• close the proliferation of bases


• withdraw contractors/mercenaries


• clean up the detention mess


• and much more ....