[Peace-discuss] Ask Bush to let the inspections work (fwd)

[patton paul]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 4 Dec 2002 15:32:11 -0000
From: "Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org" <moveon-help at list.moveon.org>
To: Dr. Paul Patton <ppatton at uiuc.edu>
Subject: Ask Bush to let the inspections work

Dear MoveOn member,

Inspections in Iraq have started.  Most of us breathed a sigh of
relief.  Unfortunately, it's become clear that the ultra-hawks in
the Bush administration -- Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle -- will not
take yes for an answer.  While the rest of the world thinks Iraq
has backed down, these men are beginning a massive public relations
blitz for war.

With the possibility of a peaceful resolution to this crisis at hand,
we cannot allow a few men to push the world to war.  Send a message
to President Bush to let the inspections work at:

   http://www.moveon.org/winwithoutwar/

We'll compile your messages and present them to the Administration,
including Secretary of State Powell, and to U.N. Secretary General
Kofi Annan.

The good news is that the ultra-hawks face some serious opposition.
Secretary of State Colin Powell and other members of the Bush
Administration are willing to give diplomacy a chance, and the State
Department's interpretation of the U.N. resolution is a lot more
reasonable than the White House's interpretation.

But unless wiser heads prevail, this is what we should expect:
(1) starting December 8th, members of the Bush administration will
claim that Iraq is in material breach of the U.N. resolution, citing
supposed omissions in the coming multi-hundred page report, based on
undisclosed intelligence; (2) soon thereafter some "hot" incident,
like anti-aircraft fire on U.S. patrols in the no-fly zone, will be
used to solidify public support for war, and finally (3) the bombing
campaign will begin.

This could all begin before Christmas -- another wonderful gift to
the world from the Bush administration.

President Bush has agreed that war should be the very last resort.
Let's hold him and his administration to those words:

   http://www.moveon.org/winwithoutwar/

Please sign on today.  We must support policy makers who will oppose
these few extremists in the Bush White House who have been looking
for an excuse for war from the very beginning.

Sincerely,

--Eli Pariser
  International Campaigns Director
  MoveOn.org
  December 4th, 2002

P.S.  Here's the text of the message we will send with the list of
compiled individual comments:

Dear Mr. President,

On October 11, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution on Iraq
that authorizes you to use war as a last resort -- if and only if
diplomacy fails to accomplish the U.S.'s national goals.

In this context, we are deeply concerned by your Administration's
repeated attempts to frame Iraqi anti-aircraft fire within the
no-fly-zone as a material breach of the resolution.  As U.N. Secretary
General Kofi Annan and other U.N. diplomats have pointed out, the
resolution clearly excludes such events from its jurisdiction.

We are also concerned that you have already found Iraq's response
"not encouraging" when the inspectors have been at work only for a
week and so far have not encountered Iraqi obstruction.

The United States has made a commitment to approaching the danger
that Saddam Hussein poses through the international community.  The
resumption of the inspections regime is a triumph for the U.S.,
international law and multilateralism.  But the United States will
lose all credibility with its allies if it appears that it will go to
war regardless of the inspections' success.  And by alienating and
infuriating allies through unilateral action, the U.S. could throw
the success of the campaign against terrorism into jeopardy.

Mr. President, it appears that your administration is looking for an
excuse to go to war, when a peaceful and just solution may be at
hand.  We ask that you live up to your word and give diplomacy a
chance.

We can win without war.

________________

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