A Message from the New Board Chair
I am honored to serve as PAM's board chair. All of you who know Rosalie Paul
and Sally Breen and the incredible work they have done over the past four
years as chair and vice-chair, will want to extend a huge thank you to them.
Their passion, intelligence, organizational skills and boundless energy have
helped to make Peace Action a group that the Maine peace and justice
community, media and congress people look to for education and direction on
issues of disarmament and non-violent resolution of conflict.. Rosalie and
Sally are remaining on the board and are as dedicated as ever to the work
ahead. Sally will continue as disarmament committee chair. We are currently
11 members: Cush Anthony. vice-chair; Sarah Standiford, secretary; Sharon
Reiser, treasurer; Ursula Slavick, Monique Crochet, John Smith, Mansour
Al-Alwi, Jeff Fetterer, Rosalie, Sally and me. We would like to be even
larger, so please consider coming to a committee or board meeting and see
what we're doing. The work is vital and challenging and we manage to have
quite a lot of fun.
Now, down to business. With so many issues of crucial importance it is hard
for Peace Action to know what to put on the front burners. We have a
disarmament committee that works hard to prioritize and plan events,
actions, seminars. We try to stay as proactive as possible. In the past
months. we have been focusing on National Missile Defense, which Sally calls
National Missile Offense; the Israeli/Palestinian conflict; Nuclear Posture
Review and the ongoing "War on Terrorism."
Two issues are so crucial that we are quickly adding them to our agenda. One
is the potential nuclear exchange between Pakistan and India. Something we
can all do is sign an on-line petition at: www.moveon.org which urges Indian
and Pakistani leaders to avoid war over Kashmir. The petition will be
presented to the two governments. The other issue we are addressing is the
mounting evidence that the White House plans to launch an all-out war
against Iraq. On April 29, a delegation of peace groups and faith
communities met with MA Congressman John Tierney to discuss the possible
invasion. Tierney told the delegation that Congress is not hearing any
opposition from the public, and asked people to write letters to the editor,
to Congress, and to Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor. Let's do
it!!! Below I am listing the "talking points" that I received from our
national organization. I have found them very helpful in framing the issue.
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1) Only Congress has the Constitutional right to declare such a war,
therefore Bush would be violating the Constitution if he ordered a war
against Iraq.
2) There is no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the bombing of the
World Trade Center, which Bush uses as the justification for attacking.
3) An attack will damage U.S. relations with all Arab people and nations
and kill any prospects for Middle East peace.
4) An attack will generate enormous anti-American sentiments. We have
already witnessed huge marches and rallies in Arab capitals. A war against
Iraq would certainly increase the likelihood of more terrorist acts against
the U.S. and Israel.
5) The Pentagon admits that for to succeed in getting Saddam out, massive
ground troops would have to be used, resulting in U.S. casualties greater
than in the Gulf War. If the U.S. hasn't been able to get Osama Bin Laden
after massive bombing and ground troop action, what makes us confident we
could get Saddam?
6) Trying to overthrow or liquidate Saddam Hussein will open the door for
counter attacks in our country. Widening the U.S. war in Afghanistan to Iraq
and other nations would be counter-productive for stopping terrorism. U.S.
military attacks against Iraq will only convince more victims to resort to
martyring themselves in retaliation.
7) Enough blood has been spilt in the Middle East. Thousands more
innocents will die. Enough is enough. Say no to violence. Say no to war.
8) The U.S. is completely isolated internationally on this issue. The
leaders of all nations allied with the U.S., European as well as Arab
countries, have warned Bush not to attack Iraq.
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Also, let's all try to extend our reach to people who aren't already a part
of our peace and justice community. I think these talking points can help.
Thanks,
Karen Wainberg
Back to Peace Talk Index, Summer, 2002