VETERANS FOR PEACE
"Fightback against the Patriot Act."
Mon Aug 25 00:35:25 2003
64.140.159.184

VETERANS FOR PEACE, NION & OTHERS
ENDORSE OCT. 25 INT'L MARCH ON WASHINGTON DC

New endorsers for the October 25 International March on
Washington DC include Veterans for Peace, the Not in Our
Name Project (NION) and Quest for Peace, among many
others. At the end of this message is the resolution
adopted by Veterans for Peace at its National Convention
held the weekend of August 9 in San Francisco, California.

It is a significant political development that soldiers,
family members, their loved ones and friends, and veterans
are increasingly speaking out against the occupation of
Iraq and supporting the demand "Bring the Troops Home
Now."

A large number of veterans and family members of U.S.
soldiers are expected to participate in the October 25
mass demonstration under the slogans "End the occupation
of Iraq" and "Bring the troops home now." The
demonstration will also demand "Money for jobs, education
& healthcare - Not war," "Defend civil liberties and civil
rights" and "Fightback against the Patriot Act."

Additional endorsers of October 25 include Ramsey Clark,
former U.S. attorney general; Howard Zinn, Historian and
Author; San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO); Rev.
Graylan Hagler, Senior Minister, Plymouth Congregational
Church; Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation; Bishop
Thomas Gumbleton, Auxiliary Bishop, Catholic Archdiocese
of Detroit; Rev. Herbert Daughtry, National Pastor, House
of the Lord Pentecostal Church; A.N.S.W.E.R. Youth &
Student National Coalition; Leslie Feinberg, author;
National Lawyers Guild; Free Palestine Alliance; Northeast
Ohio Anti-War Coalition; Voices in the Wilderness; Bay
Area United Against War; Office of the Americas; Muslim
Student Association of the U.S. and Canada; Bayan
USA-International; DC Statehood Green Party; and many
others.

It is noteworthy that a large number of local grassroots
peace, anti-war and anti-racist organizations, based
either in the community or on campuses and in high schools
have announced their support for the National March on
Washington. Just a few of these groups include Everett
Peace Action, Oswego Peace Council, Savannah Peace
Coalition, Students for Social Justice in Chicago,
Students' Movement for Justice at Wayne State University,
Ann Arbor Coalition Against the War, Florida Alliance for
Peace and Social Justice, Iowans For Peace, Texans for
Peace, Central NJ Coalition for Peace & Justice, Central
Vermont Peace, Anti-War Committee in Minnesota, Eastern
Upper Peninsula Peace Council, Peace Orlando, St. Pete for
Peace, among the more than 1,700 endorsers.

For more endorsers, go to
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/o25/endorsers.html

Following is the resolution adopted by Veterans for Peace.
We encourage people to forward this resolution to email
listserves in your area.

RESOLUTION OF VETERANS FOR PEACE ENDORSING OCT. 25

Adopted August 9, 2003
San Francisco, California

- Bring the troops home now
- End the occupation of Iraq
- Money for human needs, not war
- Repeal the Patriot Act

Whereas, the people in Iraq want the US occupation to end,
and the US soldiers in Iraq want to come home. We ask: Who
is benefiting from this war, and who is paying the price?;
and

Whereas, every day, people are dying as a consequence of
this illegal occupation... Every day human misery expands
in the drive for world Empire and corporate
globalization... Every day, jobs are lost and vital social
programs that serve and protect working people are being
looted and destroyed, as the Bush administration cynically
manipulates the so-called "war on terrorism" to carry out
the social transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top;
and

Whereas, the Bush administration lied to the people, to
the Congress, and to the United Nations as it raced to
wage war against Iraq. Now tens of thousands of Iraqis and
many hundreds of GIs have been killed or maimed - by
Rumsfeld's count over 1000 attacks on US forces since May
1st. As the anger of the Iraqi people inevitably grows,
the body count on both sides will sharply increase; and

Whereas, as the anti-war movement predicted, the Iraqi
people view US forces as colonial occupiers, not
liberators. American soldiers are killing and being killed
in a war that serves only the interests of U.S. oil
monopolies and corporate elites - George W. Bush's real
constituents. Soldiers and their families are realizing
that high government officials, mostly millionaires who
shuttle between corporate boardrooms and government posts,
are using U.S. troops as a private security detachment for
the multinational corporations' plunder of Iraq's oil
riches; and

Whereas, the Pentagon now admits they will have 150,000
troops in Iraq for the "foreseeable future," at a cost of
nearly $4 Billion a month - on top of the cost of
maintaining US troops and bases in 130 other countries -
and this rapid rise in the power and reach of the military
is closely linked to the unprecedented assault on the
civil rights, union rights, benefits (including veterans'
benefits), and living standards of working people going on
right now in the United States; and

Whereas, the Bush administration - which only came to
power due to massive racist disenfranchisement and voting
fraud - has used the excuse of their "endless war" to
sponsor a wholesale assault on the Bill of Rights,
institutionalize racial profiling, assume extraordinary
powers for the Executive branch, and adopt new repressive
laws like the Patriot Act; and

Whereas, on October 25, 2003 the anti-war, civil rights,
social justice and labor movements - joined in ever
increasing numbers by family members of military personnel
and veterans and international delegations - will march on
Washington, D.C. to demand an immediate end to the US war
and occupation in Iraq, repeal of the Patriot Act, and
money for human needs, not for war; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that Veterans for Peace, meeting in convention,
8/9/2003, demands: 1) an immediate end to the US/British
war and occupation in Iraq - Bring the Troops Home Now; 2)
repeal of the Patriot Act and other repressive laws; 3)
reordering of national priorities toward the human needs
of our people. We need jobs and real security, not
militarism and empire-building; and be it further

RESOLVED: that Veterans for Peace endorse the October 25,
2003 International March on Washington, D.C. behind the
banner: Bring the Troops Home Now...End the Occupation of
Iraq...Repeal the Patriot Act...Money for Human Needs, not
for War and Empire.

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*MORE INFORMATION*

To read the Oct. 25 CALL TO ACTION, go to:
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/o25/index.html

For view a list of ENDORSERS, go to
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/o25/endorsers.html

TO ENDORSE, fill out the easy-to-use form at
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/o25/index.html#endo

To DOWNLOAD FLYERS & STICKERS, go to
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/resources/index.html

IF YOU ARE ORGANIZING TRANSPORTATION from your area, fill
out the form at
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/o25/index.html#transp
so your information can be listed on the website

To find an initial LIST OF CITIES ORGANIZING
TRANSPORTATION, go to
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/o25/oct25transp.html

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