[Peace] Consequences of our Iraq Resolution

[Danielle Chynoweth]

Dear Friends,

I want to thank you again for your support of the Resolution Opposing War
Against Iraq. 

As part of this thanks, I wanted to share with you some of the amazing
consequences of our resolution - since these consequences have been
broader and more international than I could ever have expected.  124
Cities in the US, including L.A. (as of Feb 21) have passed anti-war
resolutions as of today: www.citiesforpeace.org.

By passing an anti-war resolution, Urbana was placed on the map as part of 
an international movement against the impending war.  This international 
movement has given countries like Turkey and others within the U.N. the 
political courage to oppose this war.  It has also given our own 
Congresspeople leverage to push for a federal budget that includes aid to 
ailing states like ours.

***
Last Wenesday, in the House of Lords, the Baroness Massey of Darwen, in 
arguing against U.K. support for an Iraq war, quoted our resolution.  (See 
her quote at the end of this e-mail).

*** 
Saemanns, a Swiss paper with a circulation of 300,000 has asked me to
contribute an article (which will be translated into German) on my
experience as an American Council Member proposing our anti-war
resolution.

***
Springfield, Bloominton, and Carbondale are proposing resolutions using 
text from our Urbana resolution.

***
I was invited to join 30 other councilmembers from across the nation 
several weeks ago to hand deliver the resolutions to the White House 
(which we did through metal gates) and our Congressional representatives, 
who met with us face to face.  I spoke with Senators Durbin and 
Fitzgerald, who both appluaded our efforts, although Fitzergald remains 
committed to war.  I also met with Rep. Tim Johnson, who said that he was 
leaving the decision of whether to go to war up to the President, who has 
more access to information than he does.  You can read the story about it 
at:
http://www.ucimc.org/feature/display/9547/index.php

This Cities for Peace delegation then travelled to NYC to speak before 
half a million anti-war demonstrators as part of an anti-war day that 
found tens of millions in the streets world-wide.  To see pictures from 
across the world that day view:
http://www.ucimc.org/~sascha/

***
Last week, a reporter for the weekly, Sycamore News, called to write a
paper about our resolution along with others in Illinois.  The paper has
readership in DeKalb where they passed a similar resolution recently.

*** 
A San Franciso Group - "Children of the Gulf War" found out about or 
resolution and wrote the following:

"I received the news in the aforementioned e-mail from DU Watch, and I
wanted to congratulate you on the courage to bring this resolution up in
Urbana, and more importantly to have the wisdom with your colleagues to
pass the resolution.

We at the 'Children of the Gulf War' Project -- a group dedicated to
organizing a touring nationwide photo exhibition of Iraqi children taken
by Japanese photojournalist Takashi Morizumi -- salute you, in a
non-military way of course, for your actions.

If you have time, please visit our website at
http://www.savewarchildren.org/ as a set of our photos are making their
way west from Indiana, and we would love to have a photo exhibition in
Urbana."

*** 
Last weekend, the Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health 
passed a similar anti-war resolution and sent me the text.  The FFCMH is 
the leading national organization of parents of children with mental 
health and other cognitive needs.  This weekend at its quarterly board 
meeting the Federation passed this resolution

***
Baroness Massey of Darwen before the House of Lords:

"A recent declaration by American towns opposing war makes the following
points. I summarise and edit. This is from a copy sent to me by a friend
in a town in Illinois. First, issues between Iraq and the world community
have not proved to be unresolvable by traditional diplomatic efforts.
Secondly, sanctions imposed on Iraq by the UN at the urging of the US   
Government have resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of
non-combatants, an overwhelming number of them under the age of five.
Thirdly, in a war the lives of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians would
be in jeopardy. I add a note that around 50 per cent of the Iraqi
population is under the age of 15. Fourthly, the cost estimate to the US
for a war with Iraq is between 9 billion dollars and 18 billion dollars a
month 80 per cent of the school districts in Illinois face budget crises.
Fifthly, the billions of dollars spent on war could be better spent on
schools, nutrition, healthcare, housing and eliminating poverty in the
United States. Sixthly, the US is urged in this declaration to work 
through the UN, disarm Iraq, and reaffirm its commitment to the rule of 
law in international relationships.  Again, these are Americans raising
concerns. We all know that many people in the UK share similar concerns   
for similar reasons. I believe that we have a duty to support the concept
and principles of the United Nations. "


Thanks again for all your support!

Danielle

-- 
| Danielle Chynoweth 
|
| Art Director * OJC Technologies * ojctech.com
| City Council Member * Urbana City Council * city.urbana.il.us