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We oppose the impending U.S. led war on Iraq,
which threatens to inflict vast suffering and destruction, while
exacerbating rather than resolving threats to regional and global
peace.
We oppose this war, whether
waged unilaterally by Washington or by a UN Security Council coerced
into endorsing an attack on the people of Iraq.
We agree that the threat of
terrorism is real, but a war on Iraq will subsequently further
destabilize the world and threatens the safety and security of the
American people.
Low and middle-income people and
families will bear the brunt of this war. The majority of US
military personnel who will fight and die in this war will hail from
these families. War funding will take billions of dollars away from
domestic programs like education, health care, and social welfare
which will disproportionately harm low and middle-income people.
We believe that the approaching
war on Iraq will not bring democracy to the Iraqis. Instead, its aim
is to expand and solidify US political, economic, and military power
in the Middle East, and protect multinational oil interests at the
cost of tens of thousands of civilian lives.
We support the Iraqi people’s
right to self-determination and governance, and we recognize the
current Iraqi administration, under Saddam Hussein, does not allow
this. We encourage a democratic resolution, not a military one.
People in the United States can
aid in this effort by building a strong peace movement and working
to ensure that our government pursues a consistently democratic and
just foreign policy.
Negotiations, inspections, and
international diplomatic solutions have not been exhausted. Hence
any military attack by the US violates the UN charter in spirit and
in fact, and undermines the very basis for international law.
The alternative is a truly
democratic foreign policy, which we support. Such a US policy can be
realized by:
·
Renouncing the use of military intervention to extend and
consolidate US imperial power;
·
Withdrawing US troops from the Middle East;
·
Ending
U.S. support for corrupt and authoritarian regimes;
·
Taking
multilateral verifiable steps toward renouncing weapons of mass
destruction, including nuclear weapons, and vigorously promoting
international disarmament treaties;
·
Ending
US sale of weapons and US sponsored military training all over the
world;
·
Supporting national self determination;
·
Ending
cruel sanctions;
·
Abandoning IMF/ World Bank economic policies that bring mass misery
to people in large parts of the world; and,
·
Initiating a major foreign aid program directed at popular, not
corporate needs.
A US government that carries
out these policies will be in a position to honestly and
consistently foster democracy in the Middle East and elsewhere.
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