Call Bush on 10/24! National Anti-War Call-In

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Join the nation's largest peace and justice organizations in
demanding...
NO MORE VICTIMS: a NATIONAL CALL-IN to END the WAR
Call this week and again on OCTOBER 24th, 8 am - 5 pm EST

Since the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan began, U.S. air strikes have
killed 4
UN workers and destroyed a Red Cross depot of desperately needed relief
supplies. Over one million civilians have fled their homes in terror
and
hundreds of civilians are reported dead. Already dealing with a
humanitarian crisis, aid workers are now expecting a disaster. In Iraq,
the
longest sustained air campaign since the Vietnam War continues. Eleven
years of "routine" U.S.-led air strikes and comprehensive international
sanctions have killed over one million civilians. The National
Coalition
for Peace and Justice (NCPJ), a coalition of the nation's largest peace
and
justice organizations, urges you to unite with thousands of other
concerned
citizens from across the country. Call President Bush, Secretary Powell
and
your elected Members of Congress this week and then again on October
24th,
along with as many like-minded family and friends as you can mobilize!

CALL PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
via the White House comment line at 202/456-1111

CALL SEC. OF STATE COLIN POWELL
tel. (202) 647-5291; fax (202) 261-8577

Urge SECRETARY OF STATE and the PRESIDENT to:
(1) Immediately stop the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan before its too
late!
Millions of Afghan civilians will die if aid workers are not able to
deliver the emergency aid and set up distribution networks before
Winter
hits on Nov. 15th. And despite some reports, bombs and food drops are
not
compatible. Doctors without Borders have condemned the effort as
“military
propaganda.”
(2) Ensure adequate U.S. funding for the reconstruction of
Afghanistan, a
nation that has been destroyed by international policies and neglect,
and
strongly support the UN special representative, Francesc Vendrell, and
the
UN-led peace process in Afghanistan.
(3) Lift the economic sanctions against Iraq, which targets Iraqi
civil
society and have claimed the lives of at least half a million children
since the 1991 Gulf War.
(4) Defend civil liberties and condemn attacks on American Arabs,
Muslims,
and other U.S. citizens and residents.

CALL your MEMBERS OF CONGRESS via the Capitol Switchboard
tel. (202) 225-3121 or (202) 224-3121

Urge your U.S. Representative and Senators to:
(1) Show the same courage as Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) who broke ranks
and
criticized the war on Afghanistan, questioning whether the President
had
"thought this action out completely or fully examined America's cause."
Ask
them to support efforts to bring the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks
to
justice under law, not through war.
(2) Allocate the billions of dollars needed to rebuild Afghanistan and
encourage the administration to strongly support the UN-led peace
process
in Afghanistan.
(3) Support measures that will stop damage to the Iraqi economy and
further injury of innocent civilians. This means ending the
11-year-long
economic siege on Iraq, while maintaining an international ban on all
arms
sales to Iraq until the Iraqi government respects human rights and the
rule
of law.
(4) Defend civil liberties and condemn attacks on American Arabs,
Muslims,
and other U.S. citizens and residents.

Note: When calling Members of Congress, ask to speak with the staffer
that
handles foreign policy or national security. Be prepared to leave a
brief
voice message and your phone number if necessary.


TALKING POINTS on AFGHANISTAN

* Although the humanitarian 'food drops' might play favorably at home,
they
are mostly symbolic and are a disaster for humanitarian workers in the
region who are at risk if they are not seen to be impartial. On Monday
(USA
Today, 10/08/01), Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières
(MSF),
the Nobel Prize-winning relief group, condemned the food drop on Monday
as
''military propaganda'' designed to justify the air strikes. According
to
Dr. Jean-Herve Bradol of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans
Frontières
(MSF), airdrops of food and medical aid are of 'little real value to
the
Afghan people', are 'potentially dangerous', and will likely 'cause
real
problems for truly independent non-governmental aid organizations who
are
less likely to be perceived as impartial actors in the future.'

* Before the air strikes, UN agencies and independent relief
organizations
were still able to get some food convoys into Afghanistan. Now, all
convoys have stopped, and the delivery of aid has become nearly
impossible.

* Although it has gone largely unreported, Afghanistan is in the grip
of a
three-year drought-the worst in decades-affecting over 50% of the
population. Even before the war, much of Afghanistan was on the verge
of
starvation. The displacement of people increases this risk.

* United Nations humanitarian aid agencies predict as many as 1.5
million
Afghans will seek refuge in Pakistan and other neighboring countries,
but
many are more likely to move within the country's borders (USA Today,
10/10/01).

* Although U.S. Defense officials have said the mission only targets
military assets, civilians are being killed. In Kabul on the night on
Oct.
8, a U.S. guided missile destroyed the office of the Afghan Technical
Consultants (ATC), the oldest and largest anti-mine organization funded
by
the UN in Afghanistan. Four UN mine disposal workers were killed.
Following
the attack, the UN Coordinator for Afghanistan, Mike Sackett, appealed
to
the international community to meet its obligation to protect innocent
civilians while military strikes were going on. More recently in Kabul,
U.S. missiles destroyed a Red Cross depot.

* What happened on September 11th was a crime against humanity, and
when
there is a crime, those who are responsible must be held accountable
and
brought to justice, but without harming great numbers of innocent
people.

TALKING POINTS on IRAQ

* Over 300 civilians have been killed by "routine" U.S. bombings over
the
last two years. The UN does not recognize the "no-fly-zones", which are
enforced by the U.S. and UK and cover 65% of Iraq's territory. Under
international law, these self-declared zones are illegal.

* Over 500,000 children have died in Iraq as a result of over ten years
of
crippling UN sanctions. Under-five child mortality in Iraq from
1984-1989
was 56 per 1000; from 1994-1999 it was 131 per 1000 - a 160% increase.
No
disease on earth has had as devastating an effect on children in as
short a
time as sanctions. [UNICEF, 2001]

* An August 1999 UNICEF nutritional survey showed that 21 percent of
Iraqi
children under five years of age were malnourished - a level on par
with
the neediest countries in the world.

*In 2000, there were more than 127,700 refugees and about 700,000
internally displaced persons in Iraq. [U.S. Committee for Refugees]
Iraq
has also seen mass emigration. Since 1990, over 20% of the population
(4-5
million people) have left the country. This includes doctors, teachers,
and
other professionals essential to Iraqi civil society.

* Similar to the U.S. food air drops in Afghanistan, the Bush
administration's "smart sanctions" proposal is widely viewed as being
more
symbolic than doing any good. And according to former UN Humanitarian
Coordinator to Iraq Denis Halliday, it may even do harm. According to
him,
Iraq's fundamental problem is a lack of access to its own oil
revenues. "Smart" sanctions are designed to further diminish what
little
revenue Iraq receives through trade outside of the UN Oil-for-Food
program.
(Note: Iraq does not receive any money from the Oil-for-Food program.
Instead, the UN decides which commodities the funds can purchase and
sends
them to Iraq.)

* "Smart" sanctions make no provision for paying the salaries of civil
servants in Iraq. Therefore regardless of how much medicine, chalk and
chlorine arrive in Iraq, doctors, nurses, teachers, and water and
sanitation engineers will remain underpaid and desperate to find the
income
to support their families.

- - - - - -
This ALERT has been endorsed by the National Coalition for Peace &
Justice
(NCPJ), which includes Peace Action, War Resisters League, Fellowship
of
Reconciliation, American Friends Service Committee, Pax Christi,
Women's
Association for Nuclear Disarmament, the Education for Peace in Iraq
Center
and other national peace & justice groups. Visit
http://www.saveageneration.org for more information about the war, and
visit http://www.warresisters.org/demos.htm for a calendar of anti-war
events around the country.


********************************************
Peter Lems
Program Assistant for Iraq - Middle East Peace Education

American Friends Service Committee

1501 Cherry Street

Philadelphia, PA. 19102

Tel: 215/241-7170

Fax: 215/241-7177

http://www.afsc.org/conscience