PLGTF
Mon, 24 Feb 2003 17:07:37 -0800
Dear Friend,
Our government is on the threshold of making a terrible
mistake by invading
Iraq when Saddam Hussein can be contained and disarmed
without war. We need
your help to stop it. If you agree with me that the
United States should let
proven alternatives to disarming Saddam Hussein work
without an invasion
and occupation of Iraq then please join me and
hundreds of thousands of
Americans in a national demonstration of our
opposition to this unnecessary
war. The Virtual March on Washington on
February 26th will be a single day
when Americans from throughout the nation
will overwhelm Washington with a
clear message:
Don't invade Iraq. We
can contain Saddam Hussein without killing innocent
people, diverting us from
the war on terrorism and putting us all at risk.
Participating is as
easy as it will be significant. Simply go to our
campaign headquarters at
http://www.moveon.org/winwithoutwar and get all the
inf! ormation you need to
sign up. Then, e-mail this letter to everyone in
your address book and ask
them to do the same.
Can the Virtual March on Washington make a
difference? Yes! I am a former
member of the U.S. Congress and am now the
national director of Win Without
War, a coalition of 32 national
organizations and millions of Americans who
are opposed to a U.S. invasion of
Iraq. Believe me, political leaders in
Washington will get the message when
their phones and fax machines light up
-- and stay lit up -- from morning
until night. They will know that there
are a lot of us, that we care deeply
about this unecessary march to war, and
that we are organized. Our message
will be heard. But, we absolutely need
you to make this work.
As the
Bush administration moves ever closer to war on Iraq, it is crucial
that
Americans who oppose this war stand up and be counted. So please take
a
moment today to register for the Virtual March on ! Washington and urge
your
family and friends to do the same. It's quick, it's easy and there is
so
much at stake. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Tom Andrews
National
Director
Win Without War
PS. Here are some of the reasons we feel so
strongly that an invasion of
Iraq is wrong:
1) We can contain and
disarm Saddam Hussein without invading Iraq. As
Secretary of State Colin
Powell stated in his February 5th speech to the UN
Security Council, UN
weapons inspectors iwere remarkably effective in the
1990s in dismantling
Iraq's nuclear weapons program. Continued tough
inspections, along with
cooperation from U.S. intelligence agencies, is the
most prudent and
effective way to neutralize whatever threat Saddam Hussein
poses. If the
weapons inspectors need more tools to do the job, let's give
them every tool
they need. Better to have 1,500 inspectors in Iraq than
150,000 American
soldiers. We dont need to go to war to protect ! ourselves.
2) By going
to war with Iraq, the U.S. will be taking significant and
unnecessary
risks:
- As the CIA pointed out months ago, Iraq poses no imminent threat
to its
neighbors or to the United States unless we invade, at which point
Saddam
has nothing to lose and might be likely to use whatever weapons he has
at
his disposal.
- A U.S. invasion of Iraq plays into the hands of
Osama bin Laden and other
terrorists who will use it as an opportunity to
recruit and attack. It would
be the greatest terrorist recruitment tool that
Osama bin Laden could
imagine.
- Experts warn that an attack on Iraq
could seriously undermine and
destabilize regimes in the region whose
populations are overwhelmingly
opposed to an invasion. One of these,
Pakistan, has nuclear weapons.
3) A military invasion would increase
human rights abuses and exacerbate
the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. The Bush
administration has asserted thattoppling Saddam Hussein through force is justified in part because of
the
regime's atrocious human rights record. However, the possible use
of
weapons of mass destruction during wartime endangers thousands of
Iraqi
civilians, and military strikes on Iraq would further destroy the
country's
infrastructure and spur refugee flows.
4) The cost of a war
with Iraq is estimated at $100 to $200 billion. These
estimates do not
include the cost of rebuilding Iraq after a war nor take
into account the
economic losses during wartime incurred by countries around
the world. The
U.S. has suffered the worst revenue decline since World War
II and, after
four years of surpluses, the federal government will run a
$157 billion
deficit this year. Rather than spending millions on war in
Iraq, the U.S.
should devote more resources to cooperative threat reduction
programs,
international peacekeeping, health care, the environment
and
education.
Pl! ease go to our web site now
http://www.moveon.org/winwithoutwar and make a
difference. Thank
you!
_________________________________________________________________
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