"Us" & "Them"

 It seems very popular here is USA to condemn Pakistan.  Yet, do you  know that terrorism has killed 350,000 Pakistani’s since 911?  When will we read history and realize what a huge part our own foreign policy has played in the chaos we now read about?  

The CIA recruited fighters in Afghanistan, Pakistan and throughout the Middle East to fight the “godless” Russians.  An elder gentleman I used to have tea with in Peshawar was a general in the Pakistan army in the ‘70s.  The top US military men in those days asked him what he thought about the idea of creating an army to fight for god.  He said “ It will work, but what do we do when you are done?”  

If any of us bother to look up the tragic truth about what is now called the “Af/Pak  Situation”,  we will be appalled!  Own tax dollars helped develop an education system which uses hatred as a tool to create what is now a third generation of terrorists.  The tables have turned and in the absence of the Russians, we are now the infidels.  

The latest story, now being turned into a political football, is the case of the CIA pay rolling Dr.Shakil Afridi to run a fake clinic in an effort to get the DNA of bin Laden’s relatives.  If the US government really cared about this man, they had many 

opportunities to evacuate him.  His real crime is not treason nor is it conspiring to work with the bad guys.  His crime is that his actions have placed a massive cloud of suspicion over anyone offering medical care to the grassroots poor worldwide.   For the CIA to set these kinds of things up, without considering the repercussions of their actions, is business as usual.   

In war big fish rarely get penalized, and very often get rich.  It is the innocent poor, the female, and the young that suffer the most.  If we really want to help the situation, this is who we need to work with.  Does anybody care that there were 20,000 pregnant women among the wave of displaced people who  fled  the tribal areas when we started bombing with our drones?  Those babies will most likely become terrorists, too, if they don’t get a real education and medical care.

Rotary Grant Approved for girls school near FATA in Pakistan!

This Adopt-a-School Matching Grant is a partnership of Unitown Peshawar & Maumee (Ohio) Rotary Clubs.

 The school is Dosti Badezai School #2, also known as Noorlhadi Girls School.   The grant will supply essential items to bring the school from a struggling, overcrowded 3 rooms, to a vibrant, exciting institution for 300 girls.  They will have their own power source provided by 2 solar panels, computers, student & teacher's desks, fans, drinking fountain and books.

 The school is community supported, assisted by the Dosti Welfare Organization in Peshawar and its funding are in Toledo, Ohio, The Global Education Campaign.  It is located near the tribal area of northern Kyber Pakhtunwa Province of Pakistan.

  I have never met anyone who does not want their children educated, including their girls.  They may not want their girls to go far from home, nor be put at risk in an insecure situation.  They do not want their children indoctrinated with foreign beliefs, but they always want them educated if at all possible!

Educating girls is the key to transforming society.  When you educate a girl, you decrease domestic and local violent, plus decrease infant and maternal morbidity.  An educated mother will have less children and she will make sure her children go to school and get better medical care.    In the Koran it says "heaven is below the soles of your mother's feet".  You can't get to heaven unless you obey your mother!  Yes, of course educate boys, but the key to a civilized society is greater education of girls.

A Message from My Grandmother Alice Franklin Bryant

“Let us realize that we now have only the illusion of defense and that we can secure a more real safety by relying less on the use and threat of arms, and by placing more emphasis on helping people to help themselves.”

Alice Franklin Bryant

More info at : http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=8865

Pakistan's Afghan Refugee Camps now housing Internally Displace People from FATA

Internally Displaced People from the Tribal Areas (FATA)

We ALL can make a difference!

Op-Ed in the Boston Globe:

Shock absorbers for US, Pakistan

Why don’t we try a surge of humanitarian work in Pakistan instead of sending drones & CIA agents?

Ask any Pakistani what the problem is and they will say education & infrastructure. If you ask them what they are doing to help you will be amazed at their philanthropy.

They go on to suggest that we “Educate those around you and make your elected officials accountable for what they do”. I’ve been travelling there frequently for over 20 years and have witnessed this first hand.

With the help of vibrant American/Pakistanis here in the US, we can create a political movement of diplomacy and humanitarian assistance that will truly change the situation.

Ethan Casey

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/02/we-are-free-to-choose-peace.html

Peace Poem from a young schoolboy

MAKE PEACE

Poem by schoolboy in northern Pakistan

Make Peace, Make PEACE

Peace will give war a defeat.

We want a happy world,

But can only give us hurt.

We don’t fuel an exchange of blood.

Make Peace, make PEACE

We can’t see an eye filled with tears.

We cannot hear bad news from a place so dear.

Make Peace , MAKE PEACE!