It was really cold as we gathered outside Representative Anna Eshoo’s Palo Alto office. Suddenly the door to her office opened and my friend and colleague, Samina Sundas, came strolling out. “Were you meeting with the staff in there?” I asked. “No,” she said. “It was cold and I asked them if I could come in to say my evening prayers.” And so she had stayed in there, warm and cozy, and prayed. 15 minutes later, Eshoo’s staffers came outside with something for all of us…….Our organization, Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice, has a good relationship with Rep. Eshoo and many members of her staff. Over the years we’ve agreed and disagreed with Eshoo on decisions she has made regarding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, policy on Israel/Palestine, immigration, and other issues we care about. What has been wonderful has been her open door, her willingness to listen to us, and her responsiveness, even when we agree to disagree.

After our group listened to the President’s speech on Tuesday, we discussed our plan to gather outside Anna Eshoo’s office the following day with Peninsula Peace and Justice Center and other organizations to protest the “surge.” One member of our group said that he’d be much more comfortable with us doing that if we called her office first, let them know we were coming, and offered them an opportunity to speak with us. “We’ve been in that office so many times, that I don’t want us to be protesting outside without giving them an opportunity to invite us in.”

Samina volunteered to call the office and she did, that morning.

That evening, after she arrived, she went inside and prayed. 15 minutes later, two members of Rep. Eshoo’s staff came outside with a just-released statement from Rep. Eshoo, opposing the surge!

Lessons learned?

Relationships matter. It was important for us to call Rep. Eshoo’s staff and let them know we were coming and asking them to speak with us.

Prayer matters. We are an interfaith group and sometimes we grow weary and forget the importance of prayer. Samina reminded us of that by going inside the office to pray. The staff reminded us of the power of prayer and relationships by coming outside in the cold, sharing the statement with us, and then hanging out with us and discussing the war.

Followup matters. We need to follow up with Rep. Eshoo to encourage her to vote against appropriations for the surge.

Statement from Rep. Anna Eshoo

December 2, 2009

Washington, D.C. – Representative Anna G. Eshoo (D-Palo Alto), a senior member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statement in response to the President’s announcement of his new policy relative to the war in Aghanistan.

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President Obama has inherited many difficult problems from the Bush Administration, but none greater than the issue of Afghanistan. While I respect the painstaking consideration the President has given to this matter over the past weeks, I have grave reservations about the course to which he has committed our nation and our troops:

• Afghanistan has been involved in a violent Civil War since the mid-1970s. We have injected ourselves into this war by propping up one of its participants – the Karzai government. The Pashtuns fight and kill our troops because they view the U.S. presence as a partner of the Karzai government and as an occupier.

• The U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, Lt. General, Retired, has been very clear that the Karzai government cannot be relied on for our efforts. They are a corrupt and unreliable partner. Any counterinsurgency effort requires a strong partner and the Karzai government is neither strong nor trusted by its own people.

• The opium trade in Afghanistan is the primary cash crop for an impoverished nation and has lead to enormous corruption, including the Karzai family.

• While the U.S. commits more troops to fight and possibly die for the Karzai regime, the international community has not increased their commitment. Instead, U.S. soldiers, their families, and the American taxpayer are bearing the enormous burdens and the huge sacrifices being made.

• While Al Qaeda does have presence in Afghanistan, it is limited to approximately 100 to 300 total. There are considerably more in Yemen, Somalia, and other failed states. Why 100,000 American troops to face down such a small number?

Afghanistan is the Graveyard of Nations. A thousand years of history instructs us what happens to those who attempt to occupy this land. I have not heard anything that explains how the U.S. will succeed in turning the weight of this history on its head. For these reasons and others, I do not support the surge in troops to Afghanistan.