MISSION STATEMENT

BRIDGE FOR PEACE is a low-budget grassroots effort aimed at stopping the impending war. Too often, U.S. foreign aid is military aid. Our defense industry thrives when there are wars. We often fund two sides of a war (example: Iran vs. Iraq). We often seek out those we have armed in order to destroy them (examples: Afghanistan and Iraq.).

Now the U.S. administration is negotiating to send more than 20 billion dollars of military aid to Turkey. After bitter lessons of military aid to the Taliban (because we were afraid of Russia), and military aid to Saddam Hussein's regime (because we were afraid of Iran), we should worry about the wisdom of this military aid. Besides, our economy simply cannot afford it. That money would be better spent at home, funding our education system.

We must stop funding the cycles of violence. Our wars profoundly affect the civilian populations. When we endorse war we forget about families whose lives are shattered by our actions. We forget about the villages that are decimated, never to be rebuilt.

Children in some parts of the world look up at the sky in fear, always ready to take cover. We would have much stronger position and much more respect in the world if our aid was in the form of education and agriculture. Let us put an end to war as a solution.