9/11 Families Urge Fund for Afghan Victims September Families for Peaceful Tomorrows has issued the following plea for help
in creating a fund to aid victims of the war in Afghanistan.
The tragic incident of Afghan civilian casualties in a U.S.
air raid on a village wedding party on July 1 has heightened the need for an
Afghan victims fund. Afghan protesters have marched on the streets of Kabul,
demanding a compensation fund and no more innocent victims. Afghan-Americans
have protested outside the White House in solidarity with the Afghan victims.
Please help Peaceful Tomorrows to help our Afghan sister families by calling on
our government to create an Afghan Victims Fund.
Peaceful Tomorrows members have visited Afghanistan twice,
meeting with dozens of innocent families who were in the wrong place at the
wrong time and unintentionally harmed by the U.S. military action. We talked
with widows who were forced to send their children to beg, families who could
not afford to rebuild their homes destroyed by U.S. bombs, and children who lost
limbs to cluster bombs, and we visited bombed neighborhoods full of traumatized
children.
These families are not receiving assistance, even though many
are in desperate need. Many of these families believe that the U.S. will provide
some compensation to help them to rebuild their homes, get the medical care they
need and enable them to contribute to the revitalization of their country. We
would like to turn that belief into a reality.
TAKE ACTION!
1. Keep this issue in the news! Write a letter to the editor
of your local newspaper in support of an Afghan Victims Fund.
2. Fax President Bush to encourage him to set up an Afghan
victims fund. (See sample letter below)
3. Fax your Senator to support an Afghan victims fund in the
2003 Appropriations bill.
Sample fax to the President:
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Via fax: 202-456-2461
Dear President Bush,
I was deeply saddened to read about the U.S. attack on a
wedding party in Kakarak, Afghanistan on July 1. This tragic incident
underscores the need for a victims fund to compensate innocent Afghans who have
been accidentally harmed by our military campaign. As you have said, the people
of Afghanistan are not our enemy.
I believe that an Afghan victims fund would be an important
way that we can illustrate to the people of Afghanistan and the people of the
world that Americans are a caring and generous people. Creating a fund would be
an essential step in diffusing the anti-American sentiment that has become
evident in Afghanistan since this incident, and would be an important component
of the fight against terrorism by promoting a spirit of compassion and
understanding.
I know that I am not alone in this belief. In fact, a Zogby
poll conducted in June shows that 69% of Americans support the idea of providing
assistance to the families accidentally harmed in the military campaign in
Afghanistan.
Forty members of congress co-signed a dear colleague letter
in support of a fund in May, and in April, U.S. Embassy staff in Kabul were
quoted in the media saying that they recommended compensation, but were waiting
for word from Washington.
A group of September 11 family members known as Peaceful
Tomorrows have visited Afghanistan twice and are calling for assistance to their
sister families.
I ask you to direct your staff to create a fund for Afghan
victims as soon as possible, in the interest of the humanitarian needs of the
people of Afghanistan, as well as in our national security interests. I look
forward to your response to this critical and timely issue.
