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Emergency Petition * Caldicott-Pope * Nuke Threat
05 March 2003
1) Emergency Petition to the Security Council
2) Join Helen Caldicott to request that the Pope go to Iraq
3) A war policy in collapse
Also, a related article link, "War" by Howard Zinn
4) North Korea Says a U.S. Attack Could Lead to a Nuclear War
5) U.S. Public Opposition to War Grows
Editor's Notes:Please take a moment, if you haven't already, and sign MoveOn's petition to the UN Security Council to say no to war on Iraq. This petition will be delivered on Thursday, March 6!
http://www.moveon.org/emergency/ More information on this and an urgent campaign to stop a Bush right wing justice appointee are in item 1. Item 2 is about sending the Pope an Email to ask him to take steps to stop a US invasion on Iraq. Item 3 is about ‘a war policy in collapse' even though there are hundreds of thousands of US troops waiting to attack from Iraq's borders. Item 4 should be the primary focus of the Bush administration in regards to stopping the threat of weapons of mass destruction, and it gives evidence that there is an ulterior motive for Bush wanting to occupy and make a regime change in Iraq. Item 5 is more on public opposition. Please don't give up. Do everything you think is important to help stop this war and the harm that could come to thousands or millions of people. Besides signing the online petition and sending emails and faxes, please also call member states of the UN Security Council urging members to "Unite for Peace to Resolve the Iraq Crisis." The following URL link has contact and other information:
http://www.flybynews.com/cgi-local/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1045091648,41257, Thank You for reading Flyby News and most importantly, taking actions for peace.
1) Emergency Petition to the Security CouncilFrom MoveOn.org
We've launched an emergency petition from citizens around the world to the U.N. Security Council. We'll be delivering the list of signers and your comments to the 15 member states of
the Security Council on THURSDAY, MARCH 6.
If hundreds of thousands of us sign, it could be an enormously important and powerful message -- people from all over the world joining in a single call for a peaceful solution. But we really need your help, and soon. Please sign and ask your friends and colleagues to sign TODAY at:
http://www.moveon.org/emergency/In the next week, the U.N. Security Council will likely meet to decide on authorizing a war against Iraq. If the Council votes to accept a second resolution, it'll be very difficult to avert a war. But if the resolution doesn't get enough votes, it'll be a major setback for the Bush Administration's plans to invade and occupy Iraq.
In the United States and around the world, millions of us oppose a war against Iraq. We believe that tough inspections can disarm Saddam Hussein without the loss of a single life. This week may represent our last chance to win without war.
The stakes couldn't really be much higher. A war with Iraq could kill tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians and inflame the Middle East. According to current plans, it would require an American occupation of the country for years to come. And it could escalate in ways that are horrifying to imagine.
We can stop this tragedy from unfolding. But we need to speak together, and we need to do so now. Let's show the Security Council what world citizens think. You can add your voice at:
http://www.moveon.org/emergency/Sincerely,
--Eli Pariser
International Campaigns Director
MoveOn.org
March 3rd, 2003
P.S. Here's the letter we'll be delivering to the Security Council members along with the petition:
Dear Member of the U.N. Security Council,
We are citizens from countries all over the world. We are speaking together because we will all be affected by a decision in which your country has a major part -- the decision of how to disarm Iraq.
The first reason for its existence listed in the Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations is "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind." If your country supports a Security Council resolution that would authorize a war on Iraq, you will directly contradict that charter. You will be supporting an unnecessary war -- a war which immediately, and in its unknown consequences, could bring "untold sorrow to mankind" once again.
The U.N. was created to enable peaceful alternatives to conflict. The weapons inspections under way are a perfect example of just such an alternative, and their growing success is a testament to the potential power the U.N. holds. By supporting tough inspections instead of war, you can show the world a real way to resolve conflict without bloodshed. But if you back a war, it will undermine the very premise upon which the U.N. was built.
President Bush argues that only by endorsing a war on Iraq can the United Nations prove its relevance. We argue the opposite. If the Security Council allows itself to be completely swayed by one member nation, in the face of viable alternatives, common sense and world public opinion, then it will be diminished in its role, effectiveness, and in the opinion of humankind.
We do not support this war. For billions of citizens in hundreds of countries, and for the future generations whose lives will be shaped by the choice you make, we ask that you stand firm against the pressuring of the Bush Administration, and support tough inspections for Iraq. The eyes of the world are on you.
Sincerely,
[Number] citizens of the world.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Editor's Note: TODAY - Wednesday 5 March - is the last day to sign this petition. If you have difficulty getting to their site, keep trying, and for more information on contacting the UN about taking a pro-active position to ensure peace, see:
"Uniting for Peace to Resolve the Iraq Crisis" http://www.flybynews.com/cgi-local/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1045091648,41257,= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
More from MoveOn: Free Call to SUPPORT the filibuster to stop Miguel Estrada
As we continue our Iraq campaign, we're also working to track the most pressing domestic challenges from the Bush administration. While Iraq is taking all the media focus, the right wing is using this diversion to cover attacks on almost every front.
Tomorrow -- Thursday, March 6th -- our ability to withstand this onslaught may come down to one crucial Senate vote. This vote -- on the Miguel Estrada judicial nomination -- is widely seen as a key moment defining whether the Democratic opposition can turn back the worst of the right-wing initiatives.
The Senate will be voting on the filibuster* on the nomination of Miguel Estrada to the D.C. appeals court. We need to support this filibuster and the courageous Senators who are stepping forward at this key moment. Please call your Senators *immediately* to make your voice heard.
We've arranged a TOLL-FREE number for you to use. Please call it twice to speak with both your Senators:
1-888-508-2974
If that number is busy, please call your Senators directly, at:
The Congressional Switchboard telephone number: 202-224-3121
Make sure the staffers know you're a constituent. Then urge your Senators to:
-- "Please SUPPORT the filibuster to stop Miguel Estrada."
-- "Please vote AGAINST cloture."
Please let us know you're making these important calls, at:
http://www.moveon.org/callmade2.htmlMiguel Estrada is a stealth right-wing extremist who has never served as a judge before, yet has been nominated by the White House to a seat on America's second-highest court. He stonewalled the Senate during his confirmation hearings last year, refusing to answer basic questions about his legal & judicial philosophy. Estrada is widely thought to be President Bush's top choice for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. His silence on his views on the law is a direct challenge to all of us.
A recent New York Times story on the filibuster is at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/12/politics/12ESTR.htmlFor more information on Estrada, there's a good fact sheet at:
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=7795* For more information on filibusters, see our bulletin at:
http://www.moveon.org/moveonbulletin/bulletin11.html
2) Join Helen Caldicott to request that the Pope go to IraqDr. Helen Caldicott and the National Council of Churches are calling for the Pope to act as a human shield for the people of Iraq. Imagine if this could happen. She is asking for help from around to world to contact the Pope and urge him to go to Iraq.
Subject: An Appeal from Dr. Helen Caldicott to the Pope
From: Helen Caldicott
hcaldic@bigpond.comSent: Saturday, March 01, 2003 11:01 AM
Dear Friends:
I write this appeal for your help as a pediatrician, a mother, and a grandmother -- and I am writing about the lives of tens of thousands of children.
Although the current administration has demonstrated it has no reservations about slaughtering up to 500,000 innocents in Iraq, there is one person whose life they absolutely will not risk. That person is Pope John Paul II.
The Pope has already formally denounced the proposed war, calling it a defeat for humanity, and also has sent his top spokesperson. However, to stop the war, he now must take a historically unprecedented action of his own and travel to Baghdad. The Pope's physical presence in Iraq will act as the ultimate human shield, during which time leaders of the world's nations can commit themselves to identifying and implementing a peaceful solution to a war that the world's majority clearly does not support.
To persuade the Holy Father to take this unusual but potent action, he must hear from you and millions of others around the world who have already been inspired to stand up and speak out for peace. A mountain of surface mail, email, faxes, and phone calls are our devices to inspire him.
Please understand that your taking just a few minutes right now to communicate with him may ultimately spare the lives of thousands of innocent people who at this moment live in complete terror from the threat of an imminent U.S.-lead military strike on their homeland.
So here is what you can do to be a part of this powerful final action to stop the march to war in Iraq.
Email the Pope at:
accreditamenti@pressva.vaShould you wish to phone the Vatican directly, (from USA) dial 011-39-06-69-82--all other countries must use their appropriate international prefix.
Pass this original email on to as many people you can so as to assure a critical mass is reached in this action.
Thank you for participating in this formal request of the Pope. We just may stop this war in Iraq -- and save these children's lives.
Dr. Helen Caldicott
3) A war policy in collapseA war policy in collapse
By James Carroll, 3/4/2003
What A Difference a month makes. On Feb. 5, Secretary of State Colin Powell made the Bush administration's case against Iraq with a show of authority that moved many officials and pundits out of ambivalence and into acceptance. The war came to seem inevitable, which then prompted millions of people to express their opposition in streets around the globe. Over subsequent weeks, the debate between hawks and doves took on the strident character of ideologues beating each other with fixed positions. The sputtering rage of war opponents and the grandiose abstractions of war advocates both seemed disconnected from the relentless marshaling of troops. War was coming. Further argument was fruitless. The time seemed to have arrived, finally, for a columnist to change the subject.
And then the events of last week. Within a period of a few days, the war policy of the Bush administration suddenly showed signs of incipient collapse. No one of these developments by itself marks the ultimate reversal of fortune for Bush, but taken together, they indicate that the law of ''unintended consequences,'' which famously unravels the best-laid plans of warriors, may apply this time before the war formally begins. Unraveling is underway. Consider what happened as February rolled into March:
Tony Blair forcefully criticized George W. Bush for his obstinacy on global environmental issues, a truly odd piece of timing for such criticism from a key ally yet a clear effort to get some distance from Washington. Why now?
The president's father chose to give a speech affirming the importance both of multinational cooperation and of realism in dealing with the likes of Saddam Hussein. To say, as the elder Bush did, that getting rid of Hussein in 1991 was not the most important thing is to raise the question of why it has become the absolute now.
For the first time since the crisis began, Iraq actually began to disarm, destroying Al Samoud 2 missiles and apparently preparing to bring weapons inspectors into the secret world of anthrax and nerve agents. The Bush administration could have claimed this as a victory on which to mount further pressure toward disarmament.
Instead, the confirmed destruction of Iraqi arms prompted Washington to couple its call for disarmament with the old, diplomatically discredited demand for regime change. Even an Iraq purged of weapons of mass destruction would not be enough to avoid war. Predictably, Iraq then asked, in effect, why Hussein should take steps to disarm if his government is doomed in any case? Bush's inconsistency on this point -- disarmament or regime change? -- undermined the early case for war. That it reappears now, obliterating Powell's argument of a month ago, is fatal to the moral integrity of the pro-war position.
The Russian foreign minister declared his nation's readiness to use its veto in the Security Council to thwart American hopes for a UN ratification of an invasion.
Despite Washington's offer of many billions in aid, the Turkish Parliament refused to approve US requests to mount offensive operations from bases in Turkey -- the single largest blow against US war plans yet. This failure of Bush diplomacy, eliminating a second front, might be paid for in American lives.
The capture in Pakistan of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a senior Al Qaeda operative, should have been only good news to the Bush administration, but it highlighted the difference between the pursuit of Sept. 11 culprits and the unrelated war against Iraq. Osama bin Laden, yes. Saddam Hussein, no.
Administration officials, contradicting military projections and then refusing in testimony before Congress to estimate costs and postwar troop levels, put on display either the administration's inadequate preparation or its determination, through secrecy, to thwart democratic procedures -- choose one.
In other developments, all highlighting Washington's panicky ineptness, the Philippines rejected the help of arriving US combat forces, North Korea apparently prepared to start up plutonium production, and Rumsfeld ordered the actual deployment of missile defense units in California and Alaska, making the absurd (and as of now illegal) claim that further tests are unnecessary.
All of this points to an administration whose policies are confused and whose implementations are incompetent. The efficiency with which the US military is moving into position for attack is impressive; thousands of uniformed Americans are preparing to carry out the orders of their civilian superiors with diligence and courage. But the hollowness of that civilian leadership, laid bare in the disarray of last week's news, is breathtaking.
That the United States of America should be on the brink of such an ill-conceived, unnecessary war is itself a crime. The hope now is that -- even before the war has officially begun -- its true character is already manifesting itself, which could be enough, at last, to stop it.
[James Carroll's column appears regularly in the Globe.]
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/063/oped/A_war_policy_in_collapseP.shtml= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
For a related article, "War" by Howard Zinn, is posted at:
http://www.CommonDreams.org/views03/0227-12.htm
4) North Korea Says a U.S. Attack Could Lead to a Nuclear War NY Times -
North Korea Says a U.S. Attack Could Lead to a Nuclear War
By KEITH BRADSHER
SEOUL, South Korea, Monday, March 3 - North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, has warned that nuclear war could break out if the United States attacks his country's nuclear program. The remarks were his first public pronouncement since North Korea restarted a nuclear reactor last Wednesday.
The statements by Mr. Kim, which were read by an announcer for North Korean radio and monitored by the BBC, were consistent with statements in North Korean newspapers over the weekend, as North Korea has increased its criticisms of American policies in response to growing worries in Washington that North Korea may soon begin production of nuclear weapons.
For the complete article, see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/03/international/asia/03KORE.html
5) U.S. Public Opposition to War GrowsFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 26, 2003
Contact: Gordon Clark, 301-589-2355
U.S. Public Opposition to War Grows
Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Actions Planned in 43 U.S. Cities
As one of the strongest signs yet of public opposition to war in Iraq, organizers are currently planning nonviolent civil disobedience actions in dozens of U.S. cities. Many of the actions are planned as response or "day after" actions, while a number are planned for set dates.
"As President Bush continues to press for war against Iraq, we are continuing to escalate our resistance to that war," said Gordon Clark, National Coordinator of the Iraq Pledge of Resistance. "The illegality and immorality of this war, which will kill thousands of innocent Iraqis, is compelling thousands of Americans to put their bodies on the line in a nonviolent attempt to stop it. This is the largest nationwide coordinated civil disobedience since the Central America Pledge of Resistance in the 1980s, which had a significant impact on the Reagan Administration's military plans for that region."
"Opposition to this war will not end if the Bush Administration chooses to flout world opinion and initiate military action - it will begin a new season of resistance," added Mr. Clark.
The Iraq Pledge of Resistance is a campaign of nationally coordinated nonviolent civil disobedience to oppose war in Iraq, sponsored by over a dozen major U.S. peace groups Initiated in October of 2002, there are now local groups and coalitions in over 50 cities actively organizing around the Iraq Pledge of Resistance; more information is available at
http://www.peacepledge.org/resist
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