[Peace-discuss] UFPJ: VACATION'S OVER, CONGRESS! Call Your Rep and Senators TODAY!

[Robert Naiman]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Leslie Cagan, United for Peace & Justice <
listmaster at unitedforpeace.org>
Date: Sep 6, 2007 6:09 AM
Subject: VACATION'S OVER, CONGRESS! Call Your Rep and Senators TODAY!
To: naiman.uiuc at gmail.com


* Please share this as widely as possible!*

*TODAY!
THURSDAY
SEPT. 6TH*

*VACATION'S OVER, CONGRESS!
National Call-In Day*

*End the U.S. War in Iraq!
No New War With Iran!*

*Capitol Hill Switchboard: 202-224-3121 *

Dear Robert,
 Congress is back in Washington, DC, after their month-long recess. The Bush
administration continues to deny the reality of the war and occupation in
Iraq, while heading toward war with Iran. Is the Congress ready to reign in
a dangerous and irresponsible president? Are they ready to use their power
and set a new course? As much as we've all done before, we need to expand
our pressure on Congress -- and we need to do that now!

United for Peace and Justice and many of our member groups around the
country have initiated a nationwide effort to *flood the offices of our
members of Congress with calls, **TODAY, SEPT. 6TH, * *demanding an end to
the U.S. war in Iraq and no new war with Iran!*

* We urge you to participate by placing a call to your representative and
both senators right now.* Not sure who represents you in Congress?  Look
here.<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=1AUjDoZOHwcWRzZvZewVtVJhauMcH8sg>

Tell them:

   - I want you to act now to end the war and occupation of Iraq and to
   prevent a war with Iran.
   - Congress has the constitutional right and a moral responsibility to
   use the power of the purse *to withdraw all U.S. soldiers and
   contractors from Iraq on a rapid and binding schedule. *Now is the
   time to use that power!
   - Congress must act to prevent a catastrophic war with Iran -- *Stop
   Threatening, Start Talking*. I want you to speak out against the Bush
   administration's deliberate provocation of Iran and encourage a commitment
   to diplomatic efforts with Iran. Congress must enact legislation prohibiting
   the use of funds for military action against Iran.

  *BACKGROUND INFORMATION****

Iraq Spending*: In September and October Congress will focus on Iraq. They
will vote on the president's request for an additional $200 billion to
continue the war. Congress is not required to give Bush any of this money,
or even to bring the request to a vote. Congress can also put restrictions,
firm withdrawal timelines and other conditions on any funding in order to
force an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

*Iran:* On August 28, President Bush announced that he has authorized U.S.
forces in Iraq to confront Iran militarily: "I have authorized our military
commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran's murderous activities."
Simultaneously, U.S. forces raided a hotel in Baghdad and detained ten
Iranians who were part of a delegation that had been invited to Iraq to help
with reconstruction.

The harshness and frequency of the rhetoric has steadily increased. Last
week the Bush administration announced its intention to designate the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist entity, an unprecedented move.
The president has reiterated accusations that Iran was smuggling weapons
into Iraq while chastising the Iraqi prime minister for his diplomatic
relations with Iran. Left unchallenged, all these steps point in one,
undeniable direction: War.

The recent moves follow a familiar pattern. In January 2007, the president
accused Iran of supplying IEDs to Iraqi insurgents, signaling his intention
to use military force to attack Iran. Simultaneously, U.S. forces detained
five Iranians at an Iranian consulate in the Iraqi city of Irbil. Congress
successfully averted crisis through swift and strong reactions to the
escalated rhetoric. Congress took immediate action by challenging the
president to provide evidence for his claims. Now, as the White House is
once again escalating tensions, Congress must act to prevent war from
occurring.

(Thanks to the National Iranian American Council for this background
information -- minor edits have been made by UFPJ.)

*Save the date!* *Saturday, October 27th
National Mobilization to End the Iraq
War!<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=BIaxLXqPEoxr8QQDF4d76VJhauMcH8sg>
10 Massive Demonstrations for Peace!*

       ------------------------------
    * *    *     *    *      * * *

* **Help us continue to do this critical work: Make a donation to
UFPJtoday.<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ZRcGR3D99FB76NHDxRZSy1JhauMcH8sg>
*
    *          *

*UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
www.unitedforpeace.org<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=NAZ8aHwWNGDTChXADKQr9VJhauMcH8sg>|
212-868-5545
*
To subscribe, visit
www.unitedforpeace.org/email<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=F2o874AyF8G6Boy1Cs69JVJhauMcH8sg>

If you no longer wish to receive emails from us, visit www.demaction.org/
ufpj/unsubscribe.jsp<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=9ix6aLBetNXDDKi41Nm4elJhauMcH8sg>




-- 
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org

Just Foreign Policy's current estimate of Iraqi deaths due to violence since
the U.S. invasion - now more than a million:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/private/peace-discuss/attachments/20070906/a1c5b43c/attachment.html