Dear Germany,

I am worried and need your help.

With elections in a few weeks, there is little talk about Germany's troops in

Afghanistan nor of the current leadership's support for the terrible U.S. war, which

threatens only to expand under the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama.



We in the Peace Movement in the United States once again find ourselves unable to

influence the policies of our own government. But you, dear Germany, are in a key

position to do so.

Even if it is true that Germany's soldiers are not engaged in combat in Afghanistan

(and I strongly doubt that official story), their presence there bolsters the Bush

regime's belligerent policies, many of which are being expanded, not reduced, by

President Obama. The recent accidental killing of 150 civilians by the U.S. military

is just the tip of the iceberg that Germany, by being part of Bush's and now Obama's

"Coalition of the Willing," offers for our future.

By continuing to remain a part of the U.S. war coalition, Germany is being complict

in President Obama's recent decisions against prosecuting torturers, releasing

torture photos, expanding the war in Afghanistan, delaying the pullout of troops in

Iraq and so on.

Although there are specific antiwar planks in the platforms of various political

parties in Germany including The Greens and Die Linke, they are barely visible in

this election campaign. The U.S. must be forced to pull all troops out of Iraq and

Afghanistan NOW. Germany is in a key position to make that happen by speaking up

clearly and strongly for an end to these wars and to its participation in them.

Bring the troops home NOW!

Mitchel Cohen

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Mitchel Cohen is a member of the Brooklyn Greens/Green Party in New York, and is

traveling through Germany doing poetry readings and antiwar talks.