Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 04:58:57 -0400
Subject: [antiwarconference] CALL CONGRESS ON SEPT 24th! NNEWAI Weekly Action Alert #4
---Please circulate widely---
Congressional Campaign Advocacy Alert #4
from the National Network to End the War Against Iraq (NNEWAI)
"Sisters and brothers, I implore you to act according to your conscience and recognize that we are facing a national emergency: an impending war vote in Congress. If you oppose a U.S. 'pre-emptive' war in Iraq, then you must prepare to act this week. Otherwise, acting on your behalf, your elected representatives in Washington will consent to an atrocity that will do irreparable harm to the people of Iraq, international security, and to us as a nation. There comes a time when events overtake us, events of colossal importance. Now is the time to act. Not when it is too late."
--Anonymous Gulf War Veteran, 9/22/2002
Join thousands of others on Tuesday, September 24th and call Your Senators and Congressional Representative. You can call Congress at the Capital Switchboard toll free at 1-800-839-5276 and ask to be connected to your member of Congress.
Also, call Senator Majority leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) at: (202) 224-2321,
& House Minority leader Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-MO) at: (202) 225-2671.
If your member of Congress refuses to vote for peace, organize and paricipate in non-violent demonstrations and sit-ins at their local offices, forums, and town meetings.
TELL THEM:
DON'T GIVE PRESIDENT BUSH A BLANK CHECK!
VOTE "NO" ON THE WAR RESOLUTION!
JOIN THE ANTI-WAR COALITION
SIGN ON TO THE ANTI-WAR RESOLUTION HCR 473
TAKE A STAND FOR PEACE: OPPOSE THE ADMINISTRATION'S
EFFORTS TO UNDERMINE UN INSPECTIONS.
TALKING POINTS:
Despite the constant repetition of unsubstantiated allegations as truths by high level cabinet members,
the Bush Adminstration has presented still failed to present any evidence linking Iraq to Al-Qaida, or
any tangible evidence that Iraq is reconstituting its weapons of mass destruction programs,
or that Iraq poses an "immanent threat" to the United States.
Iraq's recent decision to accept weapons inspectors without conditions is still on the table. Iraqi Foreign Minister Sabri has said that Iraq has nothing to hide. The United States should pursue peace and allow the UN weapons inspections to confirm that the minister is telling the truth.
Iraq's rejection of new and tougher UN Security Council Resolutions must be dealt with by negotiations, not war.
Our government must honor previous UN agreements
that recognize the sovereignty of Iraq. Secretary of State Rumsfeld has already rejected the Iraqi statements; see; http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/09/21/iraq.un/indes.html
For additional Talking Points see: "Why the US Should Not Invade Iraq":
http://www.endthewar.org/frontps/whynotinvade.htm
BACKGROUND AND FURTHER STEPS:
1. NO BLANK CHECK FOR BUSH: September 19, 2002, "Further Resolution on Iraq", submitted to Congress by President George Bush, United States Congress
At the House International Relations Hearings on Thursday, September 19, Committee members revealed that the Administration had begun circulating a joint resolution entitled the "Further Resolution on Iraq". Section 2 of the Resolved paragraphs asks for "AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES", The full resolved paragraph is as follows:
The President is authorized to use all means that he determines to be
appropriate, including force, in order to enforce the United Nations
Security Council Resolutions referenced above, defend the national
security interests of the United States against the threat posed by
Iraq, and restore international peace and security in the region.
NNEWAI Response: Critique of the Resolution:
This resolution states that the President is to be given the power necessary to enforce existing UN Security Council resolutions. There are two issues here.
First, President Bush is at the same time applying pressure to the UN Security Council to pass newer and tougher language. If he succeeds, this congressional resolution could be voided. But more importantly, the resolution purports to give President Bush the authority to enforce UN Security Council resolutions.
The resolution thus stands in violation of Articles 39-42 of the UN Charter, which make it absolutely clear that only the UN Security Council has the authority to determine if there is a threat to the peace and to decide which measures are necessary to enforce its resolutions and restore international peace.
The WHEREAS clauses of the resolution are full of distortions, outright falsehoods, and speculation. The administration alleges that Iraq would transfer weapons of mass destruction to terrorist organizations (there is no evidence to support this allegation, it is pure speculation), accuses the Iraqi regime of continuing hostility toward the United States by firing on the US airplanes that enforce the no-fly zones (US planes that illegally violate Iraqi airspace, as there are no UN resolutions which grant the US or the UK the authority to patrol Iraqi airspace or to fire on targets inside Iraq), states that Al-Qaida operatives are active inside Iraq (a misrepresentation, as reports indicate that their activity is restricted to the autonomous Kurdish region in the north, over which the Iraqi government has no control), and declares therefore that the US can invoke the right to self defense based on the presence of Al-Qaida in Iraq as acknowledged by the UN Charter (falsely ascribing responsibility for Al-Qaida's presence inside Iraq to the Iraqi regime).
Would this resolution, if passed, violate the constitution? Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, said his belief in the Constitution will prevent him from voting for Bush's resolution. He is quoted in the September 21 Charleston Gazette online as saying "I am finding that the Constitution is irrelevant to people of this administration." Byrd said that the proposed resolution would be "the broadest grant of war powers to any President in the history of our country... I cannot believe the gall and arogance of the White House in requesting such a broad grant of war powers." For the complete article see:
www.wvgazette.com/display_story.php3?sid=200209213&format=prn
Diane Watson , D-32nd District, California, on the House International Relations Committee said at the public hearing on Thursday, September 19 that she could not vote for this bill due to the excessive powers given to the President.
The Washington Times reported on September 20th: "Rep. Constance A. Morella, the Maryland Republican who is in a tight congressional race, said in an interview yesterday that while she had not seen any proposed language yet, she would be inclined to oppose 'a unilateral, pre-emptive strike to go to war' with Iraq. 'To go to war before the United Nations has acted? Again, I'm inclined against it,' she said."
2. CONDUCT NEGOTIATIONS NOT WAR: September 19, 2002, HCON Resolution 473, United States Congress.
On September 19th, nineteen Democrats formed an Anti -War Coalition opposing a military attack on Iraq, and stressing the need for negotiations and weapons inspections through the United Nations. Barbara Lee, D-9th District-CA introduced anti- war resolution HCON Resolution 473 on September 19th expressing the sense of Congress of the importance of the United States working through the UN to assure Iraq's compliance with UN resolutions. The "resolved" paragraph is as follows:
Resolved by the House of Representaives (the senate concurring).
That the United States should work through the United nations to seek to resolve the matter of ensuring that Iraq is not developing weapons of mass destruction, through mechanisms such as the resumption of weapons inspections, negotiation, enquiry, mediation, regional arrangements, and other peaceful means."
Twenty-six democrats have sponsored the resolution.
To see the entire bill and the list of the co-sponsors go to http://thomas.loc.gov and search for HCR 473.
NNEWAI Response: Urge all members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats to sponsor the anti-war bill and join the anti-war coalition. For details on the coalition and quotes from members go to:
http://asp.washtimes.com/printarticle.asp?action=print&ArticleID=20020920-347297
Call the coalition members and bill sponsors to thank them for their courageous action.
3. OPPOSE THE UNDERMINING OF SANCTIONS: September 20, 2002, "Have the hawks in Washington been defeated?" The Daily Star, Beirut, Lebanon, by Patrick Seale. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/90_09_02_b.htm
Patrick Seale writes: "The hawks in Washington and Tel Aviv do not want Saddam to be serious about weapons inspections. They want him to cheat and provide a pretext for war. For them, Iraq�s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) has always been something of a side issue, while Iraq itself was only a means to an end. They dream of �regime change� in Iraq as a stepping stone to bigger things: control of Iraq�s oil, thereby reducing Western dependence on Saudi oil; pressure on Iran, seen as the major long-term threat to Israel; possible regime change in both Iran and Syria; a free hand for Israel to break the Palestinians and draw new expanded frontiers; �democratic� reform, US-style, in both Egypt and Saudi Arabia; a new imperial order in the Mideast under joint US-Israeli control. Such are the geopolitical fantasies devised by a group of fervent American Likudniks Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Assistant Secretary for Defense Policy Douglas Feith, Chairman of the Defense Policy Board Richard Perle and which have been adopted, uncritically, by the two most powerful men in Bush�s administration, Rumsfeld and Cheney, and apparently by Bush himself. Some of these men are aware that, if Iraq manages to escape from war, their own ideological vision and political fortunes could be sacrificed. They need to move fast because the timetable is extremely tight. To avoid the summer heat in Iraq, which would hamper military operations on the ground, the hawks had planned to attack this winter in December or in January-February at the latest. This timetable will have to be scrapped if Hans Blix and his team of UN inspectors start their lengthy inspection process... It is estimated that this process could take up to six months. Once approval has been given, the real business of inspections can begin. If, by cooperating fully with the UN inspectors and being ultra-careful not to give any sort of provocation, Iraq manages to spin things out until November-December of 2003, it will probably be safe from attack, because the United States will then be preoccupied by the start of the 2004 US presidential election campaign."
NNEWAI Response: President Bush is seeking a UN Resolution that would put the US on a hair-trigger alert to invade Iraq at the first sign of Iraqi non-compliance with UN inspections and UN resolutions. This is consistent with making allegations that have yet to be substantiated about Iraqi ties to Al-Qaida or that Iraq poses an immanent threat to the US; the Bush Administration appears to be seeking whatever pretext for war it can find. This is contrary to the spirit of the UN Charter, the US Constitution and the interests of the American public. War should always be a measure of last resort.
FOLLOW-UP:
Following up with Correspondence: You are encouraged to follow up any phone calls you make with e-mails or letters by regular mail and by e-mail. Regular mail correspondence may be addressed as follows:
To a Senator:
The Honorable (full name)
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator_(Last Name) :
To a Representative:
The Honorable (full name)
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative_(Last Name) :
You may also wish to contact the following administration officials:
Comment Line for President Bush and Vice President Cheney: (202) 456-1111
E-mail George Bush at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Fax: 202-456-2461
E-mail Dick Cheney at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Comment line Secretary of State Colin Powell: (202) 647-6575.
His e-mail address: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Comment line for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: (703) 428-0711.
E-mail address: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Note: The anonymous Gulf War Veteran quoted at the outset of this alert has put out his own alert.
That alert, along with all of these alerts from NNEWAI, will be posted on line at:
http://www.endthewar.org/Alerts/alertarchive.htm
===============================================
NNEWAI: seeking a "New Way" to Peace between Americans and the Iraqi people.
www.endthewar.org [EMAIL PROTECTED]
(650) 326-9057
To sign up for IRAQ UPDATE, NNEWAI's monthly e-digest, or IRAQ-MEET, a listserv for US activists opposing war and sanctions against Iraq, send a request to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Be sure to mention your name, city and organization.
To Contribute to NNEWAI, address check or money order to "PPJC/NNEWAI", and send it to: PPJC Attn: National Network, 457 Kingsley Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94301.
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