[Peace] Speak out against fear mongering. (fwd)

[patton paul]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 7 Feb 2003 21:45:11 -0000
From: "Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org" <moveon-help at list.moveon.org>
To: Paul Patton <ppatton at uiuc.edu>
Subject: Speak out against fear mongering.

Dear MoveOn member,

70 years ago, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his inaugural
address.  It contained a phrase which has reverberated ever since: for
our nation, Roosevelt said, "the only thing we have to fear is fear
itself."

Times have changed.  On Wednesday, Secretary of State Colin Powell
addressed the UN Security Council.  Scripted to play well on the
evening news -- the presentation was more for the benefit of the
American public than for the Security Council -- Powell made a
forceful argument that Iraq is being deceitful about its weapons of
mass destruction.  He had pictures.  He had a vial of white powder.
He had diagrams showing links between various terrorist cells.

Powell looked like a rational man making a rational case.  But by any
legal or scientific standards, the evidence was shaky and marginal.
Rather than relying on solid facts, Powell chose an emotional route:
he played to fear.  Powell and Bush know that they can't win over the
American people on the merits of this war, because it just doesn't
make sense.  But if folks are scared enough of Saddam, they'll back
it.

Fear mongering is unacceptable.  It's no way to lead a country.
Please write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper today,
explaining why you disagree with Powell's approach.  We've included
some samples below.  A flood of letters could help remind the
American public that there are alternatives to a policy of fear.

Nowhere is that policy more transparent than in Powell's and the Bush
Administration's repeated assertions that there are links between
Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda.

Ever since September 11th, President Bush has been looking for a way
to link Iraq to those attacks.  A link would allow the President to
direct the nation's fear of al-Qaeda against Iraq -- an easier target
for military action.  But despite enormous efforts in the CIA and FBI,
not a shred of real evidence has emerged.  In a recent article, the
New York Times reported that some CIA and FBI staffers have even made
complaints that sketchy intelligence was being employed for political
purposes. "'We've been looking at this hard for more than a year and
you know what, we just don't think it's there,' a government official
said." (The article is linked to below.)

President Bush and his administration are trying to manipulate us.  They
are trying to use fear of terrorism and anger about September 11th to
strong-arm a war that has nothing to do with either.  We will not let
them.

And we will not let Colin Powell distract us from the possibility of a
peaceful resolution through continued strong inspections.  In a speech
today, chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said "successful disarmament
of Iraq was possible without Baghdad's active cooperation, but it
would be faster with Iraq's help."  (See below for the article about
this statement.) Even if Saddam continues to play games, in other words,
we can win this one without war.

An article by two of the nation's foremost foreign policy experts
affirms this point.  In Foreign Policy magazine, John Mearsheimer
and Stephen Walt argue that Saddam can be contained.  "Today, Iraq is
weakened, its pursuit of nuclear weapons has been frustrated, and any
regional ambitions it may once have cherished have been thwarted. We
should perpetuate this state of affairs by maintaining vigilant
containment, a policy the rest of the world regards as preferable and
effective. Saddam Hussein needs to remain in his box -- but we don't
need a war to keep him there." (Article linked to below.)

We know that Saddam Hussein is a terrible man.  We know he plays
games.  And it's possible that he has some bad weapons.  But all that
was true in the mid-1990s, when inspectors destroyed nearly all of his
weapons and put an end to his nuclear development program.  According
to most reports, 95% of Saddam's weaponry was destroyed at that time.
Then the inspectors were pulled out.  Now inspectors are  back in there.
Let's get that last 5%.

Our President and his cabinet have demonstrated that they are willing
to resort to demagoguery.  In a rush to war, they are using deception,
omission, misinformation, and fear mongering.  We will use the simple
truth.  Inspections can disarm Saddam.  The inspectors know it, other
countries know it, and history proves it.

Please write a letter to the editor today.  You'll find samples below.

Fear is powerful, but hope is stronger.  There is still real hope that
we can disarm Iraq without anyone dying.

Sincerely,
--Eli Pariser
  International Campaigns Director
  MoveOn.org
  February 7th, 2003

_____________

LINKS TO ARTICLES MENTIONED

SPLIT AT C.I.A. AND F.B.I. ON IRAQI TIES TO AL QAEDA
By JAMES RISEN and DAVID JOHNSTON
The New York Times
February 2nd, 2003
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/02/international/middleeast/02INTE.html

BLIX SAYS IRAQ MAKING EFFORT, BUT WANTS MORE
Reuters
February 7, 2003
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L07486666

AN UNNECESSARY WAR
By JOHN J. MEARSHEIMER and STEPHEN M. WALT
Foreign Policy Magazine
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/wwwboard/walts.html

________________

WRITE LETTERS

The key talking points we want to get across are:

 - By playing to fear rather than facts, Powell failed to make the
 case for war.
 - The inspections are working.  They can disarm Saddam.
 - The President still has not made the case for war.

We provide example letters below.  Feel free to mine them for good
points or to follow the general arguments of the letters, but we
strongly recommend that you use your own words.  Make sure you
include your name and telephone contact information on the email
to your local paper.  They won't publish the phone number, but
may want to call you to confirm that the letter has been submitted
by a local reader.

Please let us know about your letter-to-the-editor at

   http://www.moveon.org/ltecopy.html

We'd like to keep a count and we'd love a copy of your letter.

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To the Editor:

In his speech at the UN on Wednesday, Secretary of State Colin
Powell once again asserted that Saddam Hussein had ties to
al Qaeda.  Yet even intelligence operatives in the FBI and
CIA argue that such ties don't exist.

It appears that the President and Secretary Powell are using
American's sorrow and fear about September 11th to sell a
war on Iraq -- even though the two don't have anything to
do with each other.  If the President has a case for war
against Iraq, he should make it on the basis of facts, not
fear.

------------

To the Editor:

In his speech to the United Nations on Wednesday, Colin
Powell produced a lot of evidence to show that Saddam
Hussein is a bad man who may have bad weapons.  Powell
and the President hope to use this evidence to rally the
nation to war.

We know Saddam is bad.  But he was just as bad in the
mid-1990s, when an aggressive series of weapons
inspections resulted in the destruction of an enormous
portion of his weapons capability.  History shows that
inspections can disarm Iraq.  Let's push for a tough
inspections regime and win this one without war.

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More sample letters are on our website at:
http://www.moveon.org/iraqletters.html

________________

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