[Peace] Join us in Iraq meetings with Congress (fwd)

[patton paul]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 8 Jan 2003 21:53:48 -0000
From: "Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org" <moveon-help at list.moveon.org>
To: Dr. Paul Patton <ppatton at uiuc.edu>
Subject: Join us in Iraq meetings with Congress

Dear MoveOn Member,

On January 21st, across the country, thousands of us will be meeting
with the offices of our members of Congress on the possible war on
Iraq.  We'll meet with them in district offices from Portland, ME to
Portland, OR, and we'll deliver a petition representing hundreds of
thousands of us who want our leaders to "Let the Inspections Work."
We plan to meet with over 400 Congressional offices, but to do that
we'll need everyone to come out.  You can register in under five
minutes for a meeting in your area at:

   http://www.moveon.org/inspectionsmeetings/

We are at a critical point in the campaign to resolve the crisis over
Iraq through peaceful means.  In the UK, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
has put the probability of war at under 50%.  Mohammad ElBaradei, head
of the UN's nuclear inspections program, has said there is "no smoking
gun" and no significant evidence pointing to a revitalized Iraqi
nuclear program.  Numerous newspaper reports have suggested that when
Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspector, talks to the UN Security
Council on the January 27th, he will say that Iraq has complied with
the inspections.

At the same time, reports on the costs of this war in lives, global
security, and money continue to come in on an almost daily basis.  A
Yale economist has placed the total cost of the war at up to $1.6
TRILLION dollars.  A UN report argues that as many as 500,000 Iraqi
civilians could be killed or seriously wounded in the war, with
malnutrition affecting millions.  The CIA tells us that the only
circumstance under which Saddam Hussein is likely to use weapons of
mass destruction is if he is backed into a corner.

But President Bush and some of the hawks in his administration still
appear eager to go to war, regardless of whether the inspections
are working.  Many members of Congress are concerned about this, but
they're reluctant to challenge the President to commit to the United
Nations process and let the inspections go forward.

The authority to declare war resides with Congress and Congress alone.
Congress authorized the President to use force only as a last resort.
We are not at that point -- the weapons inspections are working.  It's
up to Congress to insist that we let the inspections work, and it's up
to us to see that they do.  Constituent meetings may be the single most
powerful tool we have for doing that.

You can sign up right now at:

   http://www.moveon.org/inspectionsmeetings/

In these meetings, we'll be talking to members of Congress or their
senior staff.  A team of hard-working MoveOn volunteers has been
contacting each office; not all of the meetings are
confirmed yet, but by the end of the week they will be.  Please DON'T
contact the members' office about this -- we're trying to coordinate
this so that it's easy for them.  After you register, you'll be given
contact info for the volunteer coordinating your meeting.

These meetings come five months after a hugely successful
round of constituent meetings convened by MoveOn on August 28.  I've
attached our final message on that round below -- you can read it to
get a sense of what it's like to participate in these meetings and
what kind of impact they can have.  This time around, it's likely that
we'll be pushing Congress to sign onto a "Dear Colleague" letter,
circulated by Representatives who voted for and against the Iraq
resolution, asking the President to let the inspections work.  In
other words, there's a good likelihood that Congress will be taking up
our petition.

We're organizing these meetings in conjunction with Win Without War, a
coalition of major mainstream membership organizations like the Sierra
Club, NOW, the NAACP, and the National Council of Churches.  Together,
these organizations represent tens of millions of Americans.  It's
going to be huge.  We'd love to see you there.  Please sign up today:

   http://www.moveon.org/inspectionsmeetings/

The Bush Administration has indicated that it will make a firm statement
regarding the war on Iraq on January 27th.  It's critical that
we get Congress to reach out to the President and ensure that he
lets the inspections work.  We don't have much time, but by meeting with
Congress, we could make the critical difference.  Please sign up now.

Sincerely,
--Eli Pariser
  International Campaigns Director
  MoveOn.org
  January 8th, 2002

P.S. Here's an abbreviated version of the report from last time:

Dear MoveOn Supporter,

Here's a quick report on the progress of our "No War on Iraq" campaign.
As August 30, 2002, just ten days after the meetings were launched, more
than 160,000 people around the country have signed the online petition.
And on Wednesday, thousands of us delivered the first batch of these
petitions through meetings in Senate offices in each and every state.

I've been scrambling to stay on top of the reports as they come in from
meetings across the country.  I'm receiving emails from Utah, from Hawaii,
from New Hampshire, and from Georgia.  The experience each message describes
is different, but on one point they're nearly all the same: the meetings
that occurred yesterday with Senators' offices were an enormous success.

Local TV stations broadcast interviews with participants in close to a
third of the meetings.  And newspapers from the Austin-American Statesman to
the Chicago Tribune and the LA Times to the Indianapolis Star have printed
or are writing stories.  Since Senators watch the media closely, this
coverage has made the meetings even more impactful.

The following comment from a meeting participant in Florida has been echoed
again and again in the letters in my inbox:

"As Senator Nelson's aide said at the end of our meeting, I came with no
expectations today.  But I left amazed at the eloquence and passion
expressed by so many of you today.  It gives me hope . . . I just wanted to
thank you for your time, the mileage you put on your cars, but most of all
for speaking out when so many people keep quiet under the false guise of
patriotism.  Our actions display true patriotism and love of country."

As I read through these reports, as I look at (and listen to, and watch) the
press coverage that we've generated, and as I hear descriptions of the
reactions of Senators' staff, I know that through our meetings and our
petition, we've made a lasting and positive impact.

But the reports speak for themselves:

>From David Keppel, Indianapolis, IN:

"The meeting with Leslie Reiser, [Senator Richard] Lugar's State Director,
went extremely well. . . . We had an impressive group of delegates and an
even more impressive portfolio of letters (including some prominent people
we had invited who couldn't make it but were supportive).  Ms. Reiser was
highly receptive. . . . I think we have a real chance with [Senator Lugar].
And he's as well positioned as anyone in Congress to put the brakes on
Bush."

>From JoAnn Perry in Reno, NV:

"It was an excellent meeting, and everyone there was glad to attend.
[Senator Ensign's aide Verita] Prothro said it was the largest and best
organized that she had had in that office!"

>From our local leader in Boston, MA:

"We had about 150 people show up for support. We held a vigil outside.  Six
of us went into the meeting.

We met with Tom Crohan (one of Sen. Kennedy's) aides) for about an hour.  It
was very friendly, constructive conversation.  He didn't say it directly,
but it sounded like Sen. Kennedy would definitely be against a war. Tom
mentioned that when Sen. Kennedy mentions this topic, he remembers his
brother and the Cuban missile crisis.  He said his brother was right to seek
a diplomatic solution first before a military solution.  He feels that the
Bush administration should do the same in this instance."

>From our leader in Madison, WI:

"Given the short notice, we were delighted that 72 people gathered, and 3/4
of them were eager to speak. The wonderful thing about the gathering was
that people came from all walks of life, from University professors and
graduate students, to blue-collar laborers and Vietnam vets -- all speaking
in unison about their concerns regarding the war on Iraq and urging their
Congressman to ask the questions that they were asking."

>From our leader in Boise, ID:

"We met with staff of Senator Crapo and Craig together. Very large, diverse
group of participants including four Benedictine sisters and members of
Lutheran Peace Fellowship as well as Idaho Peace Coalition and Snake River
Alliance and independents.   Everyone was very articulate and heartfelt and
respectful. . . . We were also asked exactly what questions we wanted
answered and folks gave great and pretty comprehensive responses."

>From Sue Regan, Atlanta, GA:

"We were extremely fortunate to have, in our group, Democratic State
Representative, Nan Grogan Orrock, Elizabeth Chestnut from WAND, and a few
retired Armed forces personnel . . . who very eloquently told of the
warnings given to her squad of going to war with Iraq. 'Too bloody,' they
said, 'a big mistake. Do not go to war with Iraq.'  The entire Gluck family
was present to admonish Zell Miller that if the US went to war with Iraq it
would be the children who ultimately would suffer those consequences."

>From an attendee in Seattle, WA

"[Mr. Thompson, Senator Cantwell's aide, said] that combining the electronic
with the personal, such as we have with MoveOn, was taking the right
approach."

>From Joan Wile in New York, NY:

"Today I was part of a delegation of 10 people who met with Hillary
Clinton's NYS Deputy Director, Basil Smikle, at her offices on Third Avenue
to lobby against the war on Iraq.  . . . Among my delegation was our
spokesperson, a Rabbi who heads a Jewish peace group; a minister who has
been to Iraq several times distributing medical supplies; a young professor
of Middle East studies who has spent a lot of time recently in Iraq and
other Middle East countries and who speaks 8 languages in that area; a
documentary film maker who was recently in Iraq making a documentary, and
ordinary citizens like me who feel strongly that it would be a disaster if
we launch a preemptive strike against Iraq. . . . My feeling was that [Mr.
Simkle] took our views very seriously and will try to persuade [Senator
Clinton] to attend to the issue."

Thank you all for being part of something big.

________________

This is a message from MoveOn.org.  To remove yourself from this list,
please visit our subscription management page at:
http://moveon.org/s?i=948-483317-oilZYb71MeDAzFtfQZW5iQ