[Peace] Syria: tell Congress to say No to US Military Action!

[Stuart Levy]

Though US bombs aren't falling on Syria yet, there's a very real chance 
they will if Congress votes to "authorize" it.   Congress reconvenes 
next week, Sep. 9th, so it's critical to speak up now and say NO!

Probably most fruitful: telephone calls to the offices of our US 
Representative and Senators:
     217-403-4690 Rep Rodney Davis (R-IL-13)
     202-224-2152 Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL)
     202-224-2854 Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL)

Points to make?  You could draw on the Friends Committee for National 
Legislation:

http://fcnl.org/issues/middle_east/take_action_syria/

or this MoveOn.org petition from Robert Naiman of Just Foreign Policy 
<http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/>:
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/congress-vote-no-on-the
> It's a historic victory that President Obama has agreed to seek 
> congressional authorization for the use of military force in Syria. 
> But despite the President's promise that he only intends to conduct 
> "limited strikes," the AUMF (Authorization for Use of Military Force) 
> he sent to the Hill is a blank check for war.
>
> It isn't geographically limited to Syria--this president or a future 
> president could use it to strike Iran. It doesn't prohibit the use of 
> U.S. ground troops. It isn't limited in duration. If this AUMF passes, 
> it is likely to remain; the Iraq AUMF has never been repealed. If you 
> oppose a U.S. military strike on Syria, sign the petition. And even if 
> you support only limited strikes, sign the petition, because the Syria 
> AUMF isn't a mandate for limited strikes--it's a blank check for war. 


Or, from this petition 
<http://icjpe.org/petitions/Hands-Off-Syria-No-Military-Action%21> from 
the North Shore Coalition for Justice, Peace and the Environment 
(they're holding a demonstration on Wednesday at Rep. Jan Schakowski's 
office in Chicago):

> *Do not authorize any use of American military force in Syria. *
> With civilians being butchered and refugees suffering immensely, it is 
> horrifying to watch the brutal civil war in Syria unfold. *U.S. 
> military intervention is far more likely to make matters worse, not 
> better.* The U.S. should not bomb Syria.
And - it may be important to also tell Congress what you think the US 
*should* do, and not just what we shouldn't.  For example:

Support humanitarian efforts for refugees, support regional peace 
negotiations as proposed by Russia, support an arms embargo against all 
sides in the Syrian civil war.  We should also sign the Chemical Weapons 
Convention, and undertake to destroy our own stockpiles of chemical weapons.







-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace/attachments/20130904/75c42c56/attachment.html>