[Peace-discuss] some ideas for Fitzgerald questions.

[Randall Cotton]

Hi,

I'm new to the anti-war effort and this is my first posting to this list.

I have some ideas for the "Town Hall Meeting" tomorrow with Senator
Fitzgerald (1-2:30PM, Centennial High School, 913 S. Crescent, Champaign).

On the agenda, according to the mailing I received:

"a general discussion of issues important to Central Illinois"

and

"the opportunity for you to ask Senator Fitzgerald about subjects of
interest to you"

Now, I've never been to a "Town Hall Meeting", but I'm assuming that at some
point, people will be able to ask Sen. Fitzgerald questions in public. As
I'm sure we all know, Fitzgerald voted to cede Congressional "War Powers"
authority for Iraq to the President and he generally supports the
President's stance on Iraq. Here are some questions I crafted with the
intent of influencing both the Senator and any attending pro-war citizens.
I'm interested in feedback and suggestions on these. Please feel free to ask
them yourself  if you like. I plan to attend and ask one of these myself
(more if I can get the chance without being unfair to others).

Senator, Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda rally recruits to their cause
primarily by targeting U.S. occupation and interference in Muslim countries.
If the United States were to invade, overthrow and indefinitely occupy Iraq
(an overwhelmingly Muslim country), do you personally think that this will
result in *more* or *less* terrorist recruits around the world interested in
joining Al-Qaeda? Please answer "more" or "less" and explain why.

Although there is no hard evidence yet which proves Saddam Hussein has *any*
weapons mass of destruction, let's assume for  the moment that he does have
*many* chemical and biological weapons, as the President suggests. The
President claims an attack on Iraq would be  undertaken to protect Americans
against these weapons. Senator, I ask you, can you think of a better way to
ensure that those  weapons are used on Americans in our armed forces than to
tell Saddam "we're coming to get you" and then walk right into it?  How does
that course of action *protect* Americans from these weapons?

The tragic September 11 attack was carried out by Arab Muslim extremists.
Senator, could there possibly be a better way of inspiring more 9/11-style
Arab Muslim suicide attackers than to mount an unprovoked invasion,
overthrow and occupation of a major Arab Muslim country? Doesn't attacking
Iraq actually *increase* the likelihood of another 9/11?

A January Knight-Ridder poll revealed half of Americans believe one or more
of the 9/11 hijackers was from Iraq. In addition, nearly 1 in 4 respondents
think the Bush administration has publicly released evidence tying Iraq to
the planning and funding of the Sept. 11 attacks. Senator, were any of the
9/11 hijackers from Iraq and is there any hard evidence tying Iraq to 9/11?

Coverage of the Knight-Ridder poll is at:
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/4911975.htm
and
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/134620660_sigars24.h
tml

Senator, in the next few months, instead of a unilateral invasion and
occupation of Iraq, would you support an expanded,aggressive UN inspections
regime that included destruction of all found weapons and bombing of sites
for which Iraq blocks access?

Senator, all polls confirm that most Americans are solidly against a
unilateral invasion of Iraq, yet the President maintains he may take this
course of action in the coming weeks. As you know, Senate Resolution 32 is a
bill introduced last week which calls for the President to gain
Congressional approval before resorting to a unilateral invasion of Iraq.
Would you vote for this bill?

The bill is at:
http://www.congress.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:S.RES.32: