Dear Veteran:
With the prospect of a major war looming just over the horizon, and the threats of more suffering from violence growing, the times are a changing -- for the worse!
If you are convinced that a U.S. invasion of Iraq is wrong, then you are confronted with a choice: You can ignore the growing crisis, dismiss it as another political conflict beyond your influence, or you can try to stop a war. You can band together with other veterans and give voice to what all of us know is wrong: a war with Iraq.
While others pontificate and theorize about war, veterans know about its realities. The present Administration is led by men and women who chose not to go into the military and today have little understanding of war and no comprehension of its consequences. They do not know what you know, or feel what you feel. For all too many of them, war is little more than an abstract exercise in geopolitics.
Whether you fought in a war, performed your duty in a support capacity or served our nation during a time of peace, it's all the same: America needs you, again! Whether you are liberal, conservative, libertarian, centrist, green or whatever -- our country needs you. Once, you put your body on the line in the service of our nation. You can now serve our nation with your experience and your wisdom.
This website will be a source for information and analysis, and in the coming weeks, a robust forum for discussion and debate. Please read the Statement of Purpose below, if you agree with it, fill out the form and submit. There is a separate form for family members. When Congress returns in January, this Statement with the list of signatories will be delivered to Congress and disseminated to the media.
Stewart Nusbaumer Igor Bobrowsky Jan Barry
Statement of Purpose
Veterans Against The Iraq War is a coalition of American veterans who oppose war with Iraq.
Until and unless the current U.S. Administration provides evidence which clearly demonstrates that Iraq or any other nation poses a clear, immediate danger to our country, we oppose all of the Administration's pre-emptive and unilateral military and diplomatic activities geared towards provoking or initiating a military conflict with Iraq. Furthermore, we cannot support any war that is initiated without a formal Declaration of War by Congress, as our Constitution requires.
Although we detest the dictatorial policies of Saddam Hussein and sympathize with the tragic plight of the Iraqi people, we oppose unilateral and pre-emptive U.S. military intervention on the grounds that it would establish a dangerous precedent in the conduct of international affairs, that it could easily lead to an increase of violent regional instability and the spread of a much wider conflict, that it would place needless and unacceptable financial burdens on the American people, that it would further divert us from addressing critical domestic priorities, and that it would distract us from our stated goal of destroying international terrorists and their lairs.
Furthermore, Veterans Against The Iraq War does not believe the American military can or should be used as the police-force of the world by any Administration, Republican or Democrat. Consequently, we believe that the lives and well-being of our nation's soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines should not be squandered or sacrificed for causes other than the direct defense of our people and our nation.
Finally, we believe that a pre-emptive and unilateral US military attack on Iraq would be illegal, unnecessary, counterproductive and present a truly dire threat to our vital international interests and basic national security. As military veterans, we have a unique understanding of war and know the many hidden truths that lie behind easy theories and promises, as well as behind the tragic consequences that even victory brings. We therefore call on all like-minded American veterans to join and support VAIW in its efforts to avert a national tragedy and an international calamity before it begins.
<http://www.vaiw.org/vet/index.php> *****