[JPI] anti-war Eagle ad/IMPORTANT!!

[Cecelia Hawkins]

Dear Friends,
   In the body of this email you will find the proposed text for a large ad 
that will be run in our local newspaper, The Eagle, voicing concern over the 
proposed war on Iraq. The ad includes overall concerns and then a letter 
that can be cut out and mailed to the President. If you are willing to add 
your name to the list of names, please send an email to 
danita.noland at worldnet.att.net , giving us permission to do so. You may also 
give us feedback on the ad and letter, but please be aware that time 
constraints may prohibit us from making use of them and sending out revised 
drafts. We have stated where we will add information in this draft and will 
work on the formatting with the newspaper, but we do not plan to alter the 
content substantially. We worked on advice of those we met with last night 
who decided it was best to focus on the issues of preemptive unilateral 
military action at this time, rather than a blanket opposition to war. We 
hope that by including all of this in the body of the email, we will avoid 
technical problems of attachments. We need to receive your permission to 
include your name immediately due to a Wednesday, Oct 9th, deadline for 
submitting this ad.
Sincerely,
Rev. Danita Noland
Heather Gert


We the undersigned citizens of the Brazos Valley love our Nation, and 
respect its ideals. We therefore stand opposed to any policy of unilateral 
preemptive force, and in particular to implementing this policy against 
Iraq. These are just a few of our concerns:

The UN Charter prohibits, and basic American ideals forbid, attacking any 
nation for the purpose of removing its political leaders.
Respect for the rule of law is a core American value. A policy allowing 
unilateral preemptive military action not only violates international law, 
it encourages other nations to do the same. By implementing such a policy we 
would jepordize our moral authority in all our interactions with other 
nations.
We are not convinced that a war on Iraq would serve to increase our 
security:
The American people have not been provided with information explaining why 
Iraq should be targeted at this time. In fact, much reliable testimony has 
been given that this is not the case. General Wesley Clark, former Supreme 
Allied Commander in Europe testified before the Armed Services Committee on 
September 23 that other nations have closer ties to terrorism than Iraq. On 
March 12 CIA Director Tenet testified that Al Qaeda is "the most immediate 
and serious threat" to the United States.
Most members of Al Qaeda are outside of Iraq, and these individuals, who do 
not fear bringing about their own deaths would certainly be provoked to 
attack Americans in the event of any military action taken against Iraq.
All nations surrounding Iraq, and which therefore have most reason to be 
concerned, are opposed to military action. They reasonably fear that any 
such action would destabilize their current moderate governments.
If you share these concerns, please mail the letter below to our President, 
immediately. We encourage you send similar letters to all of your 
representatives, or to call them. FULL CONTACT INFORMATION WILL BE INCLUDED 
IN THE FINAL DRAFT.

This advertisement has been brought to you by the following concerned 
citizens of the Brazos Valley

NAMES NAMES NAMES

For more information see the following websites: www.endthewar.org, 
www.rmpjc.org,

If you would like to contact other concerned citizens of the Brazos Valley 
about this issue, please write: BCSPEACE at hotmail.com.



The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D 20500

Dear Mr. President,
I am alarmed by comments made by yourself and others in the Administration 
about unilateral preemptive military action against Iraq. Thoughtful and 
experienced retired military officers, National Security Council advisors, 
and members of Congress have cautioned that unilateral U.S. military action 
against Iraq may well undermine U.S. security, U.S. interests in the region, 
and world peace in the long run. Such a war, and the policy that underlies 
it, would legitimize preemptive military strikes by all nations that feel 
threatened by others. Such a terrible precedent would undermine 
international law and the UN Charter and could lead to a tremendous increase 
in wars and violence in the future.

I join many other concerned citizens who feel that we have not been provided 
with convincing evidence that Iraq is an imminent threat to either the 
region or to the United States. For this reason the UN Security Council must 
be given time to pursue renewed weapons inspections and other diplomatic 
alternatives. You have a responsibility to the citizens of the United 
States, our nation’s military personnel, and innocent Iraqi civilians to 
support the rule of law and to exhaust all avenues for a peaceful resolution 
to this crisis before resorting to military action.

Sincerely,

                       Name __________________

                       Address __________________

                                   __________________

                                   __________________



_________________________________________________________________
Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com