| Statement by the People's Organization For Progress |
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Statement by the People's Organization For Progress
Post Office Box 22505
Newark, New Jersey 07101-2505
For further information, contact Lawrence Hamm:
(973) 801-0001
October 7, 2002
The People's Organization For Progress, based in Newark, New Jersey, has come here today to send this message to President Bush and the Congress: We don't want war with Iraq!
We are marching, rallying, speaking out, educating ourselves and our urban communities, and working with other peace and justice organizations against this war. The People's Organization for Progress is organizing to take people by bus to the national demonstration in Washington on October 26. We will continue to organize demonstrations and other actions until the threat and scourge of this war is no longer the policy and aim of the government of the United States.
The People's Organization For Progress is opposed to the Bush administration's plans to invade Iraq because it is unjustified, inhumane and wrong.
Bush says he needs a pre-emptive strike against Iraq. We say that this would be nothing more than an unjust war of aggression. Iraq has not attacked the United States. Foreign policy and military experts have testified over and over again that Iraq poses no military threat to the United States or other countries in the region.
We oppose this war because, contrary to the declarations of President Bush, the primary motivation for this war is not freedom, democracy or security. The primary motivation is oil and military domination. The main beneficiaries of this war would be the oil and arms industries, not the people of the United States or Iraq.
For nearly a decade, our government's embargo against Iraq has economically strangled that country causing the deaths of thousands and misery and hardship for millions of Iraq's peoples. Our government has continued to bomb Iraq almost daily, killing others and further destroying that country's infrastructure. We believe the Iraqi people have already suffered too much. We say: President Bush, stop the bombing of Iraq and lift the embargo. Enough is enough.
We oppose this war because it will lead to the unnecessary loss of American and Iraqi lives. It will destroy Iraq, destabilize the region, inflame even further the crisis in the Middle East, and lead to greater armed conflicts, possibly even to world war. An invasion of Iraq could lead to a long term Vietnam type conflict with many casualties on both sides. One Vietnam war was one too many. Today, we say: No more Vietnams!
Bush's pursuit of this war will cause terrorism to increase and make the world an even more dangerous place in which to live. Pre-emptive military action by the United States would contravene international law and set a precedent that would encourage lawless violence by other countries and armed entities like El Queda. We say: the United States must set an example for peaceful resolution of problems and conflicts through multilateral action, not unilateral military escalation.
We also believe that the Bush administration is pursuing this war to draw attention from serious domestic and foreign problems.
At home we have a floundering economy, rising poverty and unemployment, crises in human services and education, and corporate scandals and failures creating havoc in the lives of many Americans. While pushing for war abroad, Bush and Ashcroft neglect our people at home, conduct government in secret and take away our civil liberties. We spent billions in Afghanistan, much of it coming out of our country's Social Security Fund. We should not spend billions in Iraq. We oppose this war because we believe it will worsen the economy, waste our nation's resources and cause the further erosion of our rights. We say to President Bush: don't waste any more of our tax dollars on war. Use that money to take care of the people's needs here at home.
In Afghanistan, we have sent thousands of troops and spent billions of dollars and the Bush administration has brought to power a regime in Afghanistan that perpetuates violence, can't control the country and whose leader must be protected by U.S. troops from assassination attempts by his own countrymen. These are the hallmarks of a failed foreign policy.
This war would not serve the legitimate interests of either the American or Iraqi people. It would simply be wrong to unleash the terror of this war for the purposes and with the effects and risks we have described.
Bush's yearning for war is also isolating the United States from its allies and the rest of the world. Even where the United States has bribed or bullied government spokesmen into conditional support, people throughout the world oppose this war. We want to let the United Nations, the Congress of the United States and the people of the world know that this war is what the Bush administration wants, not what we, the people, want.
We call upon people everywhere in this country to call, write, visit and meet with their congressional representatives and urge them to vote for peace. Bush is trying to ram through Congress and the United Nations resolutions that would give him the authorization and justification to go to war with Iraq. We call upon Congress and the United Nations to stand up to Bush and say no. No war with Iraq.
We urge President Bush to do what is good for the people and commit his administration to peaceful negotiations and a diplomatic solution. We say: Don't invade Iraq. Stop the bombing. Lift the embargo. Work through the United Nations. We say: President Bush, give peace a chance.
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Last modified: Monday October 07 2002