No War On Iraq
Many of us at Epitaph oppose President Bush's proposed war on Iraq. We are of the opinion that this war is an illegal act of aggression and we hope the punk rock community will join us in protest before it's too late. This article includes information and weblinks to help you get involved.
Iraq is 7000 miles away, ½ the size of Texas, and has a GDP (Gross Domestic Product) 20% less than that of Idaho. Their forces are significantly weaker than they were before the Gulf War. Twelve years of constant bombing and sanctioning have taken an enormous toll on the innocent civilians of Iraq. The United Nations estimates that the sanctions cause the death of 5000 children each month from preventable diseases. More people have resigned from the U.N. in protest due to these sanctions than any other issue in U.N. history. A first strike military attack would lead to even more suffering for the innocent civilian population of Iraq. Saddam Hussein was not elected and does not have the mandate of his people. We should not hold a civilian population responsible for the actions of it's leader (that is what Bin Laden and his gang did to us).
This march to war is political conquest timed perfectly with the midterm elections. It certainly has taken the heat off of the Bush administration in regards to the corporate scandals in which many of their top patrons were involved. We should force the Bush administration to work with the United Nations to bring the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks to justice, and to deal with other pressing domestic issues. They seem to want us to be, as Gore Vidal has stated, at "perpetual war for perpetual peace." We all have a responsibility to speak up.
Most of the neo-conservative, pro-war ideologues in the Bush administration love wars as long as they do not have to fight. Neither Bush nor Cheney fought in Vietnam; neither did Paul Wolfawitz or pundits such as George Will. These imperialists have a crude vision of the world where conquest is morally expectable if we do not approve of a country's leader. Iraq is the target now, but next it will be North Korea, Iran, China.... it never ends. An invasion of Iraq will give other countries justification for similar actions, such as China's ominous intentions towards Taiwan. It will give Pakistan and India the justification to destroy each other (while ironically the Bush administration preaches peace to them). All the while our own leaders continue to mislead the US public by claiming ties between Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.
During the height of the Cold War, during the Cuban missile crisis, nuclear weapons were 90 miles off US shores aimed right at us. We did not have to go to war then. We settled it without violence. We contained Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Empire and can certainly contain Iraq.
Dissident voices have been shut out of the public debate as the corporate media beats the drum of the Bush Administration's war. Many of the real facts about the war on Iraq are not being heard.
href='http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020930&s=zunes' target='_blank'>The Nation magazine has provided and excellent Q & A about war in Iraq page
Let your voice be heard.
E-mail Congress:
href='http://www.progressiveportal.org/letters/global/iraq/' target='_blank'>www.progressiveportal.org/letters/global/iraq/>
Go To A Protest:
href='http://www.unitedforpeace.org/>' target='_blank'>United For Peace
href='http://www.internationalanswer.org/' target='_blank'>International Answer
href='http://protest.net' target='_blank'>Protest Net
Call Congress:
href='http://www.congress.org/' target='_blank'>www.congress.org/>
Sign a Petition
href='http://www.moveon.org/nowar/' target='_blank'>www.moveon.org/nowar/>
href='http://www.thenation.com/directory/view.mhtml?t=040307' target='_blank'>The Nation - No To War With Iraq
Links to other anti war sites:
Mandela Warns Bush on Iraq
href='http://www.endthewar.org/default-new.htm' target='_blank'>National Network to End the War Against Iraq
href='http://saveageneration.org/about/mission.html' target='_blank'>Education for Peace in Iraq Center
href='http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/' target='_blank'>Voices in the Wilderness
href='http://www.notinournames.org/iht/help.html' target='_blank'>Not in Our Names
href='http://www.ccmep.org/us_bombing_watch.html' target='_blank'>US Bombing Watch in Iraq
href='http://www.iraqspeakers.org/' target='_blank'>Iraq Speakers Bureau
The Center for Cooperative Research
href='http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/Iraq/IraqCrisis.htm' target='_blank'>ZNET Iraq Watch
href='http://leb.net/iac/' target='_blank'>Iraq Action Coalition
href='http://www.unitedforpeace.org/' target='_blank'>United For Peace
href='http://www.moveon.org/nowar/' target='_blank'>MoveOn.Org
href='http://pax.protest.net/' target='_blank'>PeaceProtest.Net
href='http://www.laweekly.com/ink/02/44/news-wiener.php' target='_blank'>Jon Wiener Interviews Scott Ritter
href='http://www.democracynow.org/' target='_blank'>Democracy Now
href='http://www.pacifica.org/' target='_blank'>Pacifica Radio