Stop the War in Iraq; Bring Our Troops Home Now

We, Americans who stand for peace and say no to war, are gathering signatures for a petition that requests our representatives to end the US occupation of Iraq now by supporting HR 4232 - End the War in Iraq Act, introduced in Congress by Representative Jim McGovern. Print out a copy of the petition and HR 4232 for your use.  

It is time to talk to family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers about the chaos that our current government has created in Iraq. Ask them to sign the petition. Mail or fax petitions to your Senators and House of Representatives and email us your progress at peace@cfana.net.  To locate your Senator or Congressmember go to Contact Congress.  They work for you!                   (print cards)

With mounting casualties, and growing budget deficits with no end in sight, we need a definitive plan to give Iraqis control of their country, and bring US troops home.  "A poll recently (fall 2005) conducted shows that over 80 percent of Iraqis are strongly opposed to the presence of coalition troops, about 45 percent of the Iraqi population believe attacks against American troops are justified. I believe we need to turn Iraq over to the Iraqis", U.S. Rep. John Murtha.  72% of US troops in Iraq believe the US should exit Iraq by February 2007. Only 30% of US Americans favor the Bush Administration's handling of Iraq.  

We request our Senators and Congressmembers to call for the United States government to commence an immediate orderly and rapid withdrawal of United States military personnel from Iraq, to end US air strikes over Iraq, to forswear no-bid US reconstruction contracts, to abandon plans to establish 14 permanent military bases in Iraq, and to provide the people of Iraq with the necessary aid to rebuild Iraq to create jobs for Iraqis.

We request our Senators and Congressmembers to support H.R. 4232 - End the War in Iraq Act, introduced by Rep. Jim McGovern, which cuts off all funding for US military action in Iraq but would allow spending on reconstruction. There is one element of the bill that needs to be amended which is the removal of line (B) “providing financial assistance or equipment to Iraqi security forces and international forces in Iraq”. The US should not arm or finance arms in other counties and the US should encourage other countries to do the same.

We request our Senators and Congressmembers to call for US tax dollars to be spent on human priorities such as education and health care and rebuilding of the devastated Gulf Coast, under the democratic direction of the residents of the Gulf Coast, instead of further spending for the illegal occupation of Iraq.  

PEACE TAKES COURAGE - THE TIME IS NOW

Iraq War Images Uncensored

“A Declaration of Interdependence”

"In 2006, the progressive community must work to elect a Democratic majority in the House, while continuing to put pressure on the Democrats during the primary contests, the state parties, and the Democratic National Committee on the issues of war, universal healthcare, poverty, fair trade, human rights, and social justice".  By Kevin Spidel, PDA National Deputy Director (Progressive Democrats of America)

A progressive view on the Democratic Party and the Iraq war. Another view on the Party and the 2006 November election.

AN IRAQ EXIT STRATEGY & AN EXPLANATION

Senator John Kerry: "it is both a right and an obligation for Americans today to disagree with a President who is wrong, a policy that is wrong, and a war in Iraq that weakens the nation.  ...... the best way to support the troops is to oppose a course that squanders their lives, dishonors their sacrifice, and disserves our people and our principles".

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS  U.S. MILITARY DEATHS U.S. & MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ

PEACE TAKES COURAGE - WHAT WILL YOU DO?

Injustice of war hits those who, every time, pay the price with their deaths and suffering, their misery and pain. The civilians first of all, victims nine times out of ten, scarred by poverty and hunger, by mutilation and disease. They pay the price with the degradation of humanity, the brutishness, the habit of violence, and the loss of civilization. Can horror ever by “just”? No, and so much so that the real problem, every time, is “justifying” a war. Gino Strada, a surgeon, the founder of Emergency, read his book: Green Parrots.

The assumptions about a Just War theory were that a “just war” protects the innocents (non-combatants), the creation of rules which can minimize deaths, and the waging of wars within defined rules. That has not been case particularly during and since WW II. Currently it is the non-combatants that suffer the most (90%). A so call just war today is where 90% of the suffering/injuries/death is borne by non-combatants verses the combatants (10%). Look at the conflicts in Vietnam, Iraq, Rwanda, Darfur, and any other military conflict over the last 45 years – 90% of the suffering is by non-combatant, civilians. The just war theory has not been implemented by any government during and since WW II. War is not the solution but the problem for all, particularly for civilians.

“The percentage of "armed persons" wounded or mutilated in a conflict was consistently less than ten per cent. Real data, with truly insignificant margins of statistical error: nine times out of ten, in each war, the people who were hit were not carrying weapons. Thirty-four per cent of the victims were children under the age of fourteen: one victim in three was a child. For every three bullets, the target is the life of a child who perishes? In Emergency this strengthened even further the conviction that wars are utterly revolting”. Gino Strada, a surgeon

In 1932, Albert Einstein declared: “War cannot be humanized. It can only be abolished.’

“Bush’s ‘war on terrorism’ cannot be successful because the war itself is terrorism and the conflicts in the Middle East, first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq, have incited enormous rage in that region, increasing support for terrorism. The terrorist threat will diminish only when the United States is forced to retire from the wars it has begun.” Howard Zinn, the most important historian of the United States, read his new book: Just War.  "a cause may indeed be just--a country has been invaded, a tyrant is in power, something wrong has taken place--but then the reality of a just cause blends almost imperceptibly into the idea of a just war.  In other words, a cause may be just, an injustice may have taken place, but that doesn't mean that the use of war to remedy that injustice is itself just.  It is time to consider an idea that is not part of conventional thinking about international relations--that if there are injustices in the world, whatever they are, we must search for a way to remendy them without war."

We need to find and correct the causes that drive people to war as the answer to their problems, to kill themselves and others, especially the young. It would be better to help the people isolate these war fringes on their own and encourage them to rediscover the more humanitarian side of themselves. Very few people want war. The UN needs to be empowered with resources to prevent conflicts from moving into a military conflict. We need to allow The International Criminal Court (ICC) to do its job which is to promote the rule of law and ensure that the gravest international crimes do not go unpunished.  America needs to become a nation that promotes the rule of law, where no person or nation is above the law, and we need to be a nation that promotes peace, we need peace leaders not war leaders. Peace cannot be created by going to war against others; it just creates more suffering. For all the so call wars for peace we still have wars and we still spent over 1,000 billion dollars a year in military expenditures. We need to support the Bill in Congress that would establish a cabinet-level “Department of Peace”.

"An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind." Mahatma Gandhi

A RAG FOR PEACE

War has killed in the past and continues to kill.
The killing goes on even once the military experts and strategists have decided to consider the war over, from their point of view.
It goes on in the mourning of the survivors, and in their mutilated bodies.
It goes on when the live devices left on the ground explode.
Peace is life: it must be stronger, it must last longer, it must be said louder.
Peace is not the absence of war: it is a presence that has a complete sense of its own.
Peace is respect for and enforcement of the right to live and gain nourishment, the right to health, to education, to work.
It is the opportunity to have thoughts of one’s own and to express them, the opportunity to make decisions about the future.

To say this and demonstrate this, we will use a piece of white fabric: attached to a bag or briefcase, tied to the front door or the balcony, to the dog’s lead, the car aerial, a child's pushchair, a school satchel...

A rag for peace, and if a lot of people wear one, our rejection of war will be visible, and our desire for dialogue, friendship and peace will appear.   from Emergency

Some good news

Support those who oppose the Iraq war

Links to those who oppose the war:

Rep. Lynn Woolsey

Rep. Maxine Waters

Rep. Diane E. Watson

Congressional Candidate Marcy Winograd

Congressional Candidate Steve Young

Congressional Candidatel Ms. Jeeni Criscenzo  her Exit Strategy

Congressional Candidate Christine Cegelis

MoveOn's 2006 Congressional candidates endorsements

Arlington West

VETERANS FOR PEACE

Weekly Peace Vigils

Americans For the Department of Peace
Brooklyn Parents for Peace

UCSC Students Against War

Democracy Rising

The Logic of Withdrawal

ZNET

VotersForPeace

Buddhist Peace Fellowship

Grandmothers for Peace

Voices for Creative Nonviolence

CounterPunch

A side note: If Al Gore were President

Singers to support and enjoy:  Increasing Anti-War, Anti-Bush Music... Madonna, Pearl Jam, Dixie Chicks, Neil Young, and Pink.  Check out Neil Young's new album "Living With War".

Radio stations to listen to: Air America & KPFK (Los Angeles) & Pacifica Sister Stations

Books to read: "Just War" by Howard Zine, "Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal"  by Anthony Arnove; "Failed States - The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy" by Noam Chomsky

Read "The Nation". Their editorial position: "We will not support any candidate for national office who does not make a speedy end to the war in Iraq a major issue of his or her campaign. We urge all voters to join us in adopting this position. Many worry that the aftermath of withdrawal will be ugly, but we can now see that the consequences of staying will be uglier still. Fear of facing the consequences of Bush's disaster should not be permitted to excuse the creation of a worse disaster by continuing the occupation". "...ending the Iraq War is the most pressing issue facing America today".

U.S. Rep. John Murtha "we have lost the hearts and minds of both the Iraqi people, and as the polls indicate, of the American public and, obviously, of the world." Murtha said the administration should admit it has made mistakes in Iraq and announce it wants to pursue a diplomatic solution. "It's the only way it can be done," he said. "All the military commanders will tell you it can't be done militarily." "Only the Iraqis can solve their problems now."

Iraq Three Years after “Liberation”  "This year's Democratic primaries and the general election will be key tests of whether the U.S. citizenry will be willing to challenge the bipartisan support for the Iraq War, the doctrine of preventive war, and the exaggerated claims of foreign strategic threats brandished to frighten the populace into supporting war"  Stephen Zunes, the Middle East editor for Foreign Policy In Focus.

The conditions of the Iraqi people - Spring 2006: Iraq is Disintegrating & An Iraqi Friend Life

If we could significantly reduce our defense budgets,

we would have more than enough money to solve global warming, erase poverty, hunger, many diseases, and ignorance. By solving these problems we create many new jobs. People would not be desperate, undernourished, without hope, and would not need to kill each other. Government's role than would be to help people solve problems and improve life for all. People would become more skillful, understanding and caring/compassion/loving.  Current U.S. taxpayer's cost of the Iraq War

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself/herself and of his/her family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his/her control. United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These UN rights can be provided for everyone on our planet if there was no need to spent for war making.

"The True Costs of the Iraq War" by Joseph E. Stiglitz: "One cannot help but wonder: were there alternative ways of spending a fraction of the war’s $1-$2 trillion in costs that would have better strengthened security, boosted prosperity, and promoted democracy?"

For more information on the Iraq War see the movie "Why We Fight"

24 out of 32 Wisconsin communities voted on April 4th to urge the United States to begin an immediate withdrawal of its troops from Iraq.  73 city councils, including San Francisco, Sacramento, Philadelphia, and Chicago, have passed withdrawal resolutions.

"The warning for American mothers and fathers is this: the war machine will get your children, if not now, then your grandchildren. It is a hard and steep price to pay for the certain knowledge that the people in power think of us, not as their employers and electorate whom they swear to serve, but as their tools to be used as cannon fodder whenever the impulse strikes them. Nothing is gained by war, warlike tactics, or warriors, but destruction. Nothing is gained by doing nothing, either. Do something". By Cindy Sheehan

A damaging timeline: Feb. 2002 - Joseph Wilson, former ambassador, is sent to Niger by the C.I.A. to investigate whether Iraq was trying to buy uranium. He concludes that "there is nothing to the story"; Jan. 2003 - President Bush, in his State of the Union speech, declares, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa; May 29, 2003 - Mr. Lewis Libby, former VP Cheney's Chief of Staff, learns of Mr. Wilson's involvement, after Nicholas D. Kristof, a columnist for The New York Times reports that an unnamed ambassador traveled to Niger to investigate possible uranium sales;  June 12, 03 - VP Cheney advises Mr. Libby that Mr. Wilson's wife works in the C.I.A.'s counter proliferation division;  June 23, 03 - Mr. Libby meets with Judith Miller, then a NY Times 's reporter, discusses Mr. Wilson's activities, and says that Mr. Wilson's wife might work at the C.I.A.  The source for this damaging timeline is The New York Times, April 7, 2006.

"The harsh truth is that this president cherry-picked the intelligence data in making his case for invading Iraq and deliberately kept the public in the dark as to the countervailing analysis at the highest level of the intelligence community. While the president and his top Cabinet officials were fear-mongering with stark images of a "mushroom cloud" over American cities, the leading experts on nuclear weaponry at the Department of Energy (the agency in charge of the U.S. nuclear-weapons program) and the State Department thought the claim of a near-term Iraqi nuclear threat was absurd".  By Robert Scheer / San Francisco Chronicle, April 12th, 2006

Newbold, the military's top operations officer before the Iraq war, said in a Time magazine opinion piece on Sunday (4/9/06) that he regretted having not more openly challenged U.S. leaders who took the United States into "an unnecessary war" in Iraq. We're mortgaging our future, our children, $8 to $9 billion a month," he said, referring to the cost of the war.  Seven recently retired generals Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, Army Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste, Army Maj. Gen. John Riggs, Marine General Paul Van Riper and Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni all spoke out against Mr.Rumsfeld's leadership in Iraq and ask for his ouster, an historical first. Source: Reuters and The New York Times

"Bring ALL the troops home NOW" position means an exit strategy that starts with recognizing that the U.S. troops are the problem, not the solution, to violence in Iraq, and that calls for withdrawing all U.S. troops, closing the bases, and pulling out the "coalition" and mercenary troops.  Army Gen. George W.Casey, the top US commander in Iraq said “the U.S. presence in Iraq was fueling the insurgency because of the perception of an American occupation, making a troop reduction critical to the U.S. mission in Iraq.”  During a trip to Washington, Sept. 05, the generals said the presence of U.S. forces is fueling the insurgency, fostering an undesirable dependency on American troops among the nascent Iraqi armed forces and energizing terrorists across the Middle East.

"I can tell you the main reason behind all our woes — it is America." The New York Times reporter is quoting the complaint of a clothing merchant in a Sunni stronghold in Iraq. "Everything that is going on between Sunni and Shiites, the troublemaker in the middle is America."  One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed. Our mission has failed because Iraqi animosities have proved uncontainable by an invading army of 130,000 Americans.  from William F. Buckley

McNamara told President Johnson in November of 1967 that the US cannot win the Vietnam and for the US to hand over ground fighting to South Vietnam; this advise was rejected by Johnson and we lost many more thousand of American troops and Vietnamese people over the following years to a pointless war that we should never have entered into in first place, much as we have in Iraq. In Vietnam we wasted a county and lost tens of thousands of lives needlessly. We are doing it again.  It is so sad to waste the miracle of life.

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist leader of Vietnam, wrote these words: "Each day the war goes on the hatred increases in the heart of the Vietnamese and in the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. It is curious that the Americans, who calculate so carefully on the possibilities of military victory, do not realize that in the process they are incurring deep psychological and political defeat.”

“If we continue, there will be no doubt in my mind and in the mind of the world that we have no honorable intentions in Vietnam. If we do not stop our war against the people of Vietnam immediately, the world will be left with no other alternative than to see this as some horrible, clumsy, and deadly game we have decided to play. The world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve. It demands that we admit that we have been wrong from the beginning of our adventure in Vietnam, that we have been detrimental to the life of the Vietnamese people. The situation is one in which we must be ready to turn sharply from our present ways. In order to atone for our sins and errors in Vietnam, we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic war.” Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Bring Them Home by Pete Seeger

The two above quotes and song are just as relevant today - just substitute Iraq for Vietnam.  We were wrong to stay in Vietnam and we are wrong to stay in Iraq.  US is making the problem unsolvable and worse in Iraq. We are the problem and not the solution. Iraqis will overtime resolve their conflicts by themselves once the US leaves and gives back the county to them.

If You Liked the Iraq War, You'll Love the Iran War

Nobel Peace Prize winner & Iranian human rights attorney, Shirin Ebadi: “many human rights abuses in Iran. But military invasion of Iran or bombing of Iran is not going to solve this. The people in Iran love their country and are not going to permit it to be a second Iraq. It is upon all of us to work for democracy in Iraq. But democracy cannot be brought to a nation with cluster bombs."

Citizens of America do not tolerate the deaths of your offspring

and the theft of your national wealth.
Do something; we've got to stop the Bush madness. 

At the very least get a few friends to sign a petition.

Let your representatives know that you and your friends stand for peace.

You could designate your school, place of worship, business, park, home or exhibit as a Peace Site. 

A Peace Site is where the people involved are committed to a just and peaceful world.

"time to abolish war - peace is a human right"

Flood the Senate with emails and phone calls on the Iraq policy

Robert Kennedy said:

"Each time a man or woman stands up for an ideal, acts to improve the lot of others, strikes out against injustice; he or she sends forth a tiny ripple of hope. And crossing each other, in a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples create a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Be that tiny ripple of hope. Each community you're from,

you have a chance to cross with a million different centers of energy and daring.

Your thoughts to peace@cfana.net

Other issues:

STOP GLOBAL WARMING - NOW

Support Clean Money and Fair Elections

Tell Congress We Need Verifiable Elections - more information: VotersUnite.org & BradBlog

Support comprehensive health insurance coverage for all United States residents - Bill # H.R.676