Ban Nuclear Weapons - Petition Your Senators

From Friends Committee for National Legislation:

Yesterday, in Prague, addressing Europe and the world, Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to declare that the U.S. will seek peace and security in "a world without nuclear weapons." The president, in his Palm Sunday speech, said that the building blocks of nuclear disarmament will include a new national security strategy free of nuclear weapons, a new agreement with Russia to cut the size of U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, and ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

President Obama needs your support; he cannot do this alone. Please sign a petition urging your senators to speak out in favor of nuclear disarmament.

Although many prominent analysts of both major political parties have embraced Obama's call for nuclear disarmament, already some in Congress are saying that total nuclear disarmament is unrealistic. FCNL's lobbyists have learned that some senators are moving to block ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and other components of the president's nuclear disarmament goal.

TAKE ACTION: Ask your senators to speak out publicly in support of President Obama's call for a world free of nuclear weapons. Ask three friends to sign as well.

The 9/11 Choice

from the Friends Committee on National Legislation


Seven years ago today, the United States was the victim of a premeditated attack that killed more than 3,000 people. In the days following, as expressions of support and sympathy and offers to help poured in from around the world, our government faced a choice of how to respond.

In the grief and panic that gripped the nation after September 11, 2001, the U.S. faced a choice: seek immediate vengeance or build the foundations of strong and lasting peace. U.S. leaders chose retribution and preemptive violence. Today we see the results of that choice: more violent groups are planning attacks on the United States than before the attacks, support for the United States has fallen throughout the world, and here at home government policies are undermining fundamental constitutional principles in the name of national security. It is time to take a new approach to global security.

No one can know what would have happened after September 11 if the United States had instead embraced the international community's generous offers. Fortunately, there are still opportunities for this country to re-engage with the rest of the world, expand support for international institutions, and rebuild U.S. relations with the U.N. system. The next Congress and president have many fences to mend as they take re-examine U.S. international relations. One important step would be for the United States to pay its full share of dues to the United Nations.

Take Action

Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper responding to its coverage of the September 11 anniversary. Urge candidates running for Congress in your community to commit to supporting policies that abandon the unilateral, go-it-alone strategies of the last seven years and re-engage with the rest of the world. The United States could signal the beginning of this new policy by agreeing to repay the nearly $2 billion in back dues that it owes to the United Nations.

Find Out More

FCNL's Col. Dan Smith (USA, Ret.) reflects on the September 11 anniversary.

Strengthen the Peace Voter

from Voters for Peace

As the Republicans nominate John McCain as their candidate for president, please write Senator McCain to highlight the inconsistency between his rhetoric favoring democracy around the world and his refusal to agree to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq - when the Iraqi people and their representatives have made it clear they want the U.S. to leave.


No matter who you are voting for it is important for peace voters to urge all the candidates to end the Iraq war and prevent future wars of aggression. Earlier this year we urged you to write Senator Obama and on our web page we have petitions to both Senator Obama and Senator McCain, and we also provide the ability to write third party and independent candidates. Candidates need to hear from voters opposed to war.


Help Voters for Peace make the peace voter as strong as possible in this election year. Please take the following steps:

• Send Voters for Peace a donation today.
  


• Send Senator McCain a letter urging him to end the Iraq war and respect Iraqi democracy.
  


• Join our Million Doors for Peace campaign and help us build the anti-war movement as well as pressure Congress to end the war by engaging your community in a nationwide campaign on September 20, 2008.
  


• Let your friends, colleagues and neighbors know about Voters for Peace. Send them a link to our website and urge them to take action as well.

No War with Iran!

from Peace Action

George W. Bush is now regularly accusing Iran of supporting attacks on U.S. troops, without any evidence, - remember the WMD's in Iraq, anyone? - adding that "we will seek out and destroy" these networks. Bush has authorized U.S. forces to kill Iranian "operatives" in Iraq, and he is sending nuclear aircraft carriers and missile defense batteries to the Persian Gulf. The unthinkable - a wider war in the Middle East - is unfolding.

John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., chairman of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, said that any military move by his nation into Iran would be "catastrophically stupid" and would "unleash a conflagration like we've never heard of before."

We could not possibly agree more.

Resistance to a Bush planned military strike on Iran is growing in Congress, but it needs your help! Sign our petition to Congress - No War with Iran! House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said recently that she would introduce legislation to stop such a strike, so our demand is beginning to get through. But the pressure needs to be much, much stronger to stop a man who has apparently gone mad with war and his own power.

SIGN THE PETITION

OKC Peace Rally Draws 500

About 500 peaceniks gathered in Oklahoma City's Peace Rally today. James Nimmo of OK Stonewall Democrats reports on a subtle act of civil disobedience at the State Capital building:

[W]e heard from, among others in the state legislature, Sen. Constance Johnson and Rep. Anastasia Pittman. ... Family members of deceased American veterans and those who have survived tours of duty to the Iraq Civil War also spoke of their experiences. Keynote speaker for Saturday was the redoubtable Dr. Robin Meyers, senior minster at OKC's Mayflower Congregational Church. Dr. Meyers spoke of the economic draft created by the Bu$h Administration in which an economy geared for tax cuts for the wealthy as created so little advantage for the the middle and poor classes of America that they have little opportunity other than to join the military. ... De-facto President Cheney did not go unremarked. Cheney, by calling those who see the need for a withdrawal from Iraq as dividing America's support for the troops as a 'slow bleed', Dr. Meyers turned the tables and referred to the budget cuts in veterans assistance and health care as well as the lack of military equipment such as body and vehicle armor as the insidious siphoning off of our human treasure and moral reputation. ...

The rally concluded with a reading of all of the Oklahoma military personnel killed so far in the Iraq Civil War. As the Oklahoma legislature has passed a law forbidding the public use of these names in the public record, this respectful reading of these Oklahoma citizens is an act of civil disobedience, an intervention, in which many Oklahomans, including this writer, stepped forward to participate. The activities today and on Sunday could not have taken place without the experience and good nature of the OKC Peace House volunteers, Nathaniel Batchelder, director, ; and Darla Sheldon, of MoveOn. OK Stonewall Democrats was a co-sponsor.

The Associated Press reports on the big March on the Pentagon via the Guardian.

Gearing Up for March 17 Antiwar Protests

Peace and antiwar activists will flock to Washington, DC, and sites across the country on Saturday, March 17, 2007 to call for an end to the Iraq occupation. All kinds of info and event updates are available at MarchOnPentagon.org.

ALSO: Million Musician March for Peace - Austin, TX

March 17, 2007 - 12:00pm

Info: Austin Against War or Instruments of Peace