What Does the US Spend on 'National Security'?

$1.2 Trillion/Year

Get the facts behind this number by reading this helpful tutorial. Chris Hellman of the National Priorities Project documents and reveals the many aspects of government spending (some open – others obscured) that are labeled as national security. The total is $1.2 trillion per year. It is a number nobody wants you to know.

Reference Guide:

What is the difference between a million, a billion and a trillion?

• A stack of hundred dollar bills that equals one MILLION dollars would be four inches high.

• A stack of hundred dollar bills that equals one BILLION dollars would be thirty feet taller than the Statue of Liberty.

• A stack of hundred dollar bills that equals one TRILLION dollars would be 63 miles high. In comparison, jet planes fly around 7 to 8 miles above the earth.

Put another way.

A country with a gross domestic product of $1.2 trillion would have the 15th largest economy in the world, ranking between Canada and Indonesia, and ahead of Australia, Taiwan, the Netherlands, and Saudi Arabia.

The Hidden War

Sari Kouvo reviews steps being taken in Afghanistan to explore transitional justice and the healing process that can come about through truth and reconciliation.

"While most policymakers in the West and in Afghanistan have been talking this year about the prospect of negotiations with the Taliban, transitional justice, an important element of any comprehensive peace process, has received much less attention. Transitional justice -- the process of dealing with legacies of past war crimes and human rights violations -- has always been an awkward subject for the Afghan government and for some of its more powerful international partners, which are implicated in previous injustices. However, some Afghan and international organizations have carefully laid the groundwork for a transitional justice agenda."

A broader survey of this issue is in the current issue of the International Journal of Transitional Justice. When Truth Commissions Improve Human Rights.

Most studies of truth commissions assert their positive role in improving human rights. A first wave of research made these claims based on qualitative analysis of a single truth commission or a small number of cases. Thirty years of experience with truth commissions and dozens of examples allow cross-national statistical studies to assess these findings. Two recent studies undertake that project. Their findings, which are summarized in this article, challenge the prevailing view that truth commissions foster human rights, showing instead that commissions, when used alone, tend to have a negative impact on human rights. Truth commissions have a positive impact, however, when used in combination with trials and amnesties. This article extends the question of whether truth commissions improve human rights to how, when and why they succeed or fail in doing so.

I Wish To Live Without Wars

A powerful message of solidarity from young Afghans working with Our Journey to Smile.

The video pays homage to the struggles for freedom in Tunisia and Egypt and the hope it has inspired across the region. They also request our help, to draw attention to the People Day of Peace in Afghanistan - New Years Day.

I Wish To Live Without Wars
The Peoples Day of Peace
Afghan New Years Day
21 March 2011

Afghans for Peace

The growing use of "night raids" by NATO-led and Afghan forces to kill or capture insurgents is one of the most controversial strategies in the Afghan war.

Here are testimonials of survivors.

Don’t We Deserve Real War News?

Kelley Vlahos documents the exploding violence against Afghans in February.

"A suicide bomber killed more than 30 government employees on Monday in Kunduz Province – a northern city in Afghanistan which, until recently, had been relatively safe from Taliban influence and the raging war in the south.

Less than a week before, the district governor of the neighboring Chardara district was assassinated. Last Friday, a car bomb killed nine people at a checkpoint in the eastern province of Khost. On Sunday, Taliban fighters blew themselves up in a Kabul Bank branch in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, killing 38 and wounding scores more. The dead had been mostly soldiers and police officers, collecting their pay."

Crossfire in Kandahar

Afghanistan’s new journalists navigate an ambiguous war

Venessa M. Gezari looks at the challenges Afghan journalists face. Compounding the issues in the article, an additional challenge comes from the success of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funding of Afghan radio. The commitment of USAID to print and radio has helped with the development of skills by emerging Afghan journalists, but it has also imposed restrictions on the type of stories being carried.

"Instead of facts, Afghan journalists are generally forced to make do with one side’s word against the other. They would receive a statement from NATO saying that fifty Taliban had been killed, Rehman told me. The Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, would call to tell them that insurgents had destroyed four tanks and killed a large number of soldiers. “Journalists here know that both are wrong,” Rehman said. “But it’s easy to make that story, and the office also expects it."

Windows and Mirrors - LA

The travelling mural exhibit is now in Los Angeles. Here is a 30 second video slideshow from one of the LA openings. The guest speaker was Tom Hayden. You can find more about the Los Angeles events here.

To visit the tour home page with links, MP3’s and video, go here.

Windows on Afghanistan: Past, Present, Future

The War in Afghanistan is now the longest in U.S. history, yet for many of us it has been rendered largely invisible.

Windows and Mirrors: Reflections on the War in Afghanistan is an invitation to reflect upon the impact of this war on a civilian population caught in the crossfire.

The artworks are windows on a war-torn country – but they are also mirrors reflecting our identity as citizens of a nation that too often resolves its problems through violence – both at home and abroad.

We are present in every shot fired, every missile launched, and every bomb dropped. But this is not our only option. We also can be present in acts of diplomacy and reconciliation, community reconstruction and peaceful partnership. The choice is ours.