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Another kind of surge: 30,000 Greg Mortensons

In early December, as President Obama was announcing that he was sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, Greg Mortenson was releasing his book Stones into Schools, a followup to his 2006 best-seller Three Cups of Tea. Mortenson has logged more months in remote parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan than almost any other Westerner. He has forged relationships with tribal leaders in an effort to learn what they want. Often what they want is a village school.

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Obama's surge plan disappoints some on the left: "We were promised fundamental change"

Activist and author Jim Wallis, the founder of Sojourners magazine, noted sadly that 17,000 people had signed a petition to the White House in late November asking President Obama to lead a different kind of “surge” in Afghanistan that relied more on diplomacy and humanitarian assistance than on military escalation.

Methodist bishops pray U.S. troops will leave Afghanistan in 2010: "No path to military victory"

Saying that “we believe there is no path to military victory in Afghanistan,” at least 77 United Methodist bishops signed a letter sent November 10 to President Obama, saying they are praying he will withdraw American troops by the end of 2010.

The signers were bishops, active and retired, who attended the November 1-5 meeting of the Council of Bishops at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina.