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Join the nation's largest peace and justice organizations in demanding... NO MORE VICTIMS: a NATIONAL CALL-IN to END the WAR Call this week and again on OCTOBER 24th, 8 am - 5 pm EST
Since the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan began, U.S. air strikes have killed 4 UN workers and destroyed a Red Cross depot of desperately needed relief supplies. Over one million civilians have fled their homes in terror and hundreds of civilians are reported dead. Already dealing with a humanitarian crisis, aid workers are now expecting a disaster. In Iraq, the longest sustained air campaign since the Vietnam War continues. Eleven years of "routine" U.S.-led air strikes and comprehensive international sanctions have killed over one million civilians. The National Coalition for Peace and Justice (NCPJ), a coalition of the nation's largest peace and justice organizations, urges you to unite with thousands of other concerned citizens from across the country. Call President Bush, Secretary Powell and your elected Members of Congress this week and then again on October 24th, along with as many like-minded family and friends as you can mobilize!
CALL PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH via the White House comment line at 202/456-1111
CALL SEC. OF STATE COLIN POWELL tel. (202) 647-5291; fax (202) 261-8577
Urge SECRETARY OF STATE and the PRESIDENT to: (1) Immediately stop the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan before its too late! Millions of Afghan civilians will die if aid workers are not able to deliver the emergency aid and set up distribution networks before Winter hits on Nov. 15th. And despite some reports, bombs and food drops are not compatible. Doctors without Borders have condemned the effort as "military propaganda." (2) Ensure adequate U.S. funding for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, a nation that has been destroyed by international policies and neglect, and strongly support the UN special representative, Francesc Vendrell, and the UN-led peace process in Afghanistan. (3) Lift the economic sanctions against Iraq, which targets Iraqi civil society and have claimed the lives of at least half a million children since the 1991 Gulf War. (4 ) Defend civil liberties and condemn attacks on American Arabs, Muslims, and other U.S. citizens and residents.
CALL your MEMBERS OF CONGRESS via the Capitol Switchboard tel. (202) 225-3121 or (202) 224-3121
Urge your U.S. Representative and Senators to: (1) Show the same courage as Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) who broke ranks and criticized the war on Afghanistan, questioning whether the President had "thought this action out completely or fully examined America's cause." Ask them to support efforts to bring the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks to justice under law, not through war. (2) Allocate the billions of dollars needed to rebuild Afghanistan and encourage the administration to strongly support the UN-led peace process in Afghanistan. (3) Support measures that will stop damage to the Iraqi economy and further injury of innocent civilians. This means ending the 11-year-long economic siege on Iraq, while maintaining an international ban on all arms sales to Iraq until the Iraqi government respects human rights and the rule of law. (4) Defend civil liberties and condemn attacks on American Arabs, Muslims, and other U.S. citizens and residents.
Note: When calling Members of Congress, ask to speak with the staffer that handles foreign policy or national security. Be prepared to leave a brief voice message and your phone number if necessary.
TALKING POINTS on AFGHANISTAN
* Although the humanitarian 'food drops' might play favorably at home, they are mostly symbolic and are a disaster for humanitarian workers in the region who are at risk if they are not seen to be impartial. On Monday (USA Today, 10/08/01), Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the Nobel Prize-winning relief group, condemned the food drop on Monday as ''military propaganda'' designed to justify the air strikes. According to Dr. Jean-Herve Bradol of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), airdrops of food and medical aid are of 'little real value to the Afghan people', are 'potentially dangerous', and will likely 'cause real problems for truly independent non-governmental aid organizations who are less likely to be perceived as impartial actors in the future.'
* Before the air strikes, UN agencies and independent relief organizations were still able to get some food convoys into Afghanistan. Now, all convoys have stopped, and the delivery of aid has become nearly impossible.
* Although it has gone largely unreported, Afghanistan is in the grip of a three-year drought-the worst in decades-affecting over 50% of the population. Even before the war, much of Afghanistan was on the verge of starvation. The displacement of people increases this risk.
* United Nations humanitarian aid agencies predict as many as 1.5 million Afghans will seek refuge in Pakistan and other neighboring countries, but many are more likely to move within the country's borders (USA Today, 10/10/01).
* Although U.S. Defense officials have said the mission only targets military assets, civilians are being killed. In Kabul on the night on Oct. 8, a U.S. guided missile destroyed the office of the Afghan Technical Consultants (ATC), the oldest and largest anti-mine organization funded by the UN in Afghanistan. Four UN mine disposal workers were killed. Following the attack, the UN Coordinator for Afghanistan, Mike Sackett, appealed to the international community to meet its obligation to protect innocent civilians while military strikes were going on. More recently in Kabul, U.S. missiles destroyed a Red Cross depot.
* What happened on September 11th was a crime against humanity, and when there is a crime, those who are responsible must be held accountable and brought to justice, but without harming great numbers of innocent people.
TALKING POINTS on IRAQ
* Over 300 civilians have been killed by "routine" U.S. bombings over the last two years. The UN does not recognize the "no-fly-zones", which are enforced by the U.S. and UK and cover 65% of Iraq's territory. Under international law, these self-declared zones are illegal.
* Over 500,000 children have died in Iraq as a result of over ten years of crippling UN sanctions. Under-five child mortality in Iraq from 1984-1989 was 56 per 1000; from 1994-1999 it was 131 per 1000 - a 160% increase. No disease on earth has had as devastating an effect on children in as short a time as sanctions. [UNICEF, 2001]
* An August 1999 UNICEF nutritional survey showed that 21 percent of Iraqi children under five years of age were malnourished - a level on par with the neediest countries in the world.
*In 2000, there were more than 127,700 refugees and about 700,000 internally displaced persons in Iraq. [U.S. Committee for Refugees] Iraq has also seen mass emigration. Since 1990, over 20% of the population (4-5 million people) have left the country. This includes doctors, teachers, and other professionals essential to Iraqi civil society.
* Similar to the U.S. food air drops in Afghanistan, the Bush administration's "smart sanctions" proposal is widely viewed as being more symbolic than doing any good. And according to former UN Humanitarian Coordinator to Iraq Denis Halliday, it may even do harm. According to him, Iraq's fundamental problem is a lack of access to its own oil revenues. "Smart" sanctions are designed to further diminish what little revenue Iraq receives through trade outside of the UN Oil-for-Food program. (Note: Iraq does not receive any money from the Oil-for-Food program. Instead, the UN decides which commodities the funds can purchase and sends them to Iraq.)
* "Smart" sanctions make no provision for paying the salaries of civil servants in Iraq. Therefore regardless of how much medicine, chalk and chlorine arrive in Iraq, doctors, nurses, teachers, and water and sanitation engineers will remain underpaid and desperate to find the income to support their families.
- - - - - - This ALERT has been endorsed by the National Coalition for Peace & Justice (NCPJ), which includes Peace Action, War Resisters League, Fellowship of Reconciliation, American Friends Service Committee, Pax Christi, Women's Association for Nuclear Disarmament, the Education for Peace in Iraq Center and other national peace & justice groups. Visit http://www.saveageneration.org for more information about the war, and visit http://www.warresisters.org/demos.htm for a calendar of anti-war events around the country.
-- 180/Movement for Democracy and Education Clearinghouse 31 University Square Madison, WI 53715 Phone: (608) 256-7081 Fax: (608) 265-1131 clearinghouse at tao.ca www.corporations.org/democracy