CHICAGO – Peace activists from Chicago's Pakistani-American community and anti-war groups from the metro Chicago region convened an emergency press conference on Thursday, October 9 at 11AM in front of the Kluczynski Federal Building at 230 S. Dearborn, to urge an end to U.S. military policy abroad – including U.S. attacks inside Pakistan's border, and more broadly, U.S. military aggression throughout the region.

The immigrant group representatives also raised alarms about ongoing attacks on the civil liberties and human rights of immigrants at home, whose children are often welcomed as military enlistees while their relatives are criminalized as 'illegal' or insufficiently 'American'.

At the conclusion of the press conference, activists delivered a letter expressing those sentiments to U.S. Senator Barak Obama, who has offices in the Kluczynski Building. Mr. Obama is a particular focus of their concern, given his standing as the potential next President of the United States, and his avowed support for U.S. military incursions into Pakistan – a stand he reiterated in his Tuesday debate with John McCain, to the dismay of Pakistani-Americans and peace activists across the country.



"We know that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq has been a disaster, for both the Iraqi people and the American people, whatever the spinmasters may say" said Ifti Nasim, a respected poet who is an activist in both the Pakistani and LGBT communities. "It was deeply disturbing on Tuesday to see both Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama essentially embrace exactly the same policy that the Bush administration has advanced in the last eight years, to the great pain and suffering of literally millions of people. This policy approach must be challenged."



Members of Chicago's Pakistani-American community argue that U.S. military bombings in Pakistan have killed hundreds of civilians, exacerbated the larger conflict in the region, and displaced hundreds of thousands of Pakistani civilians within their own country, creating huge human suffering among the population of one of the United States' most loyal allies.

"Recent U.S. military attacks inside the Pakistani border have been devastating for the civilian population," said community leader Raja Yaqub. "This policy is creating hundreds of thousands of internal refugees, turning people against the United States, and creating a humanitarian crisis just as winter begins that could take thousands of lives."

On Saturday, Chicago’s Pakistani community will host peace groups from across the metropolitan area at a rally and march as part of a nationwide day of action for peace that marks the sixth anniversary of Congress's "blank check" authorization for war on Iraq. That action is is being organized by a broad coalition of local peace groups around two central demands: a call to bring the troops home now and a demand to end attacks and mass deportations in immigrant communities across Chicago.

"As immigrants in America, we've been the target of much misunderstanding and mistreatment in the last eight years," said Pakistani-American community leader Said Umar Khan of the Pakistani Federation of America. "Just as attacks on immigrants in this country are based on grievous – and dangerously misguided – misunderstanding about the people and politics of South Asia and throughout the globe, the U.S. military policy to bomb targets within Pakistan is based on the same type of distorted perceptions and indifference to the human suffering these policies cause."

Activists argue that both U.S. policy toward immigrants at home and U.S. military policy abroad create tremendous human suffering, do nothing to undercut the root causes of conflict in the region, and will only create greater hardship for the people of Pakistan and the larger region. They argue that it is time U.S. policy was conducted with wisdom and compassion instead of brute force and narrow self-interest.

The letter activists delivered to Mr. Obama urged him to reconsider his position, arguing that people in Pakistan and throughout the region are hungry for progressive change – and that his current position represents instead more of the same military approach also embraced by George Bush and John McCain.

Many of the groups organizing for this Saturday's protest have mobilized in the past to oppose the war, including the mass protest when the war began on March 20, 2003. Organizers have vowed to target leaders of both major national political parties, in the wake of John McCain's staunch support for expanded U.S. military aggression in the region and Illinois favorite son Barak Obama's embrace of pre-emptive U.S. attacks within Pakistan's borders.

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Text of Letter Delivered to Senator Obama

October 9, 2009

The Honorable Barak Obama
U.S. Senator, the State of Illinois
John C. Kluczynski Federal Office Building
230 South Dearborn St.
Suite 3900, 39th floor
Chicago, Illinois 60604

Dear Senator Obama:

We write as peace activists, including many of us who hail from Chicago’s dynamic Pakistani American community. We write with a simple and urgent message: to call upon you to end U.S. war at home and abroad.

We are particularly concerned with your public pronouncements earlier this week in support of violating the borders of our ally, the country of Pakistan, by bombing targets within this nation. Just as immigrants within this nation have been the victims of a pernicious war at home that has targeted immigrants for abuse and worse because of their ethnicity or race, now civilians within Pakistan are feeling the direct consequences of U.S. war abroad – through a growing pattern of military attacks that has devastating consequences for civilians throughout the region.

We feel compelled to raise alarms about ongoing attacks on the civil liberties and human rights of immigrants at home. Ironically, at the same time that our children are often welcomed as enlistees to the U.S. military machine, their relatives are often criminalized as 'illegal' or insufficiently 'American'.

You stand on the cusp of a truly historic election, one in which a person of color may finally assume the highest office of this land. As the potential next President of the United States, you must understand the sweeping dismay that your avowed support for U.S. military incursions into Pakistan – a stand you reiterated in your Tuesday debate with your opponent John McCain – has elicited among untold numbers of Pakistani-Americans and peace activists across the country.

We know that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq has been a disaster, for both the Iraqi people and the American people. It was deeply disturbing on Tuesday to see both you and your opponent essentially embrace exactly the same policy that the Bush administration has advanced in the last eight years, to the great pain and suffering of literally millions of people. This policy approach must be challenged.

The reality is that U.S. military bombings in Pakistan have killed hundreds of civilians, exacerbated the larger conflict in the region, and displaced hundreds of thousands of Pakistani civilians within their own country, creating huge human suffering among the population of one of the United States’ most loyal allies. People on the ground in Pakistan – our beloved families and friends – are stunned, horrified, and truly appalled at this turn in U.S. policy on the people of a nation that has long been a friend to the United States and to the American people.

The devastation caused by recent U.S. military attacks inside the Pakistani border is creating hundreds of thousands of internal refugees, turning people against the United States, and just as winter begins, creating a humanitarian crisis that could take thousands of lives.

Just as attacks on immigrants in this country are based on grievous – and dangerously misguided – misunderstandings about the people and politics of South Asia and throughout the globe, the U.S. military policy to bomb targets within Pakistan is based on the same type of distorted perceptions and indifference to the human suffering that these policies cause. It is a policy that is rooted in folly and indifference to human suffering. It is a policy that must be reversed.

U.S. policy toward immigrants at home and U.S. military policy abroad create tremendous human suffering, does nothing to undercut the root causes of conflict in the region, and will only create greater hardship for the people of Pakistan and the larger region. It is time U.S. policy was conducted with wisdom and compassion instead of brute force and narrow self-interest. We urge you to reconsider your position, remembering that people in Pakistan and throughout the region are hungry for progressive change – and that your current position represents instead more of the same military approach also embraced by George Bush and John McCain.

We look forward to meeting with you to discuss this matter further, and enclose our contact information with this letter.

Additional Coverage:

Obama Pakistan comment prompts local protest - Chicago Tribune