CONDEMN EXPANDED U.S. WAR ON SYRIA AND PAKISTAN

Sign the online petition at: http://www.iacenter.org/syriapakistan

All who want to stop the Bush White House from starting another war should immediately protest the unilateral, unjustifiable and criminal October 26 U.S. assaults on Syrian and Pakistani sovereignty. Don’t let Bush get away with expanded war crimes in the Middle East. Condemn his efforts to hand a wider war to the next administration.

• Make your opposition heard NOW! Sign the online petition (text below) and send a strong, clear message to the White House, Congress, the media and the UN. 
  
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Online petition text:

To: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Security Council President Wang Guangya, President Bush, Secretary Rice, Secretary Gates, Senators Obama and McCain, and Congressional leaders
cc: members of the media

The criminal acts of war on October 26 against both Syria and Pakistan by U.S. armed forces violates the sovereignty of both countries and must be roundly condemned. The attempt by the Bush administration to justify them by invoking an expanded theory of a right to carry out acts of war on any country's territory without permission or even consultation with the country's government is a complete repudiation of the principle of national sovereignty on which the U.N. charter is based.

These acts of war are unjustified and illegal, and can lead to wider U.S. wars in the Middle East and South Asia. The U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have already cost hundreds of thousands of deaths and over $1 trillion. At the same time, the entire world is in the grip of the largest economic catastrophe since the great depression. It is more urgent than ever that all the U.S. troops be brought home now and money be used for human needs, not newly expanded wars of aggression whether in Syria or Pakistan or Iran.

Sincerely,
(Your signature here)
To sign, edit  and send the above statement to the U.N., administration officials, congressional leaders and the media, go to http://www.iacenter.org/syriapakistan

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The International Action Center condemns the U.S. attacks of  October 26 in Syria and Pakistan. Eight Syrian civilians died in the latest U.S. attack, including three children. Washington first refused to admit a U.S. role in the attack. Then the U.S. State Department defended it as a new and provocative strategy – the U.S. military forces can attack across any border of any country whenever they think it might give them a military advantage.

As U.S. Special Forces moved into Syria, a U.S. drone aircraft flew from Afghanistan into Pakistan and killed 20 Pakistanis. The Pentagon is not only expanding its war drive, it is presenting this expansion as a dangerous new doctrine.

This is the arrogant behavior that led to the two current disastrous wars that more than 70 percent of people in this country—and 90 percent in the world oppose.

Throughout the world people and governments have greeted this war doctrine with the hostility it deserves. Syria condemned the attack as “terrorist aggression”. Russia, China and Iran condemned the attack for violating Syrian sovereignty. Even U.S. client states and allies had to dissociate themselves from the attack. This included the pro-U.S. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of Lebanon, the U.S. client regime in Egypt, the Arab League and the rightist French government of Sarkozy. Even the puppet Iraqi regime has criticized the attack.

Faced with such broad opposition abroad, the Pentagon tried to build support at home by claiming it had killed an alleged al-Qaeda in Iraq agent. While there is no way to independently check this information, it is interesting that al-Qaeda sources say the person named has been dead since 2004. Since we’ve heard nothing but lies out of Washington since “weapons of mass destruction,” there’s no reason to believe these new “terrorist” stories from the White House. To the Pentagon every peasant family in Syria and every wedding party in Pakistan are considered “terrorist” gatherings.

This new aggression raises the danger that Bush, Cheney and the rest of the gang of war profiteers will try to use their last months in office to start a new war—perhaps against Iran. They were frustrated a year ago in this effort when 16 U.S. spy agencies publicly exposed the lack of evidence that Iran was manufacturing nuclear weapons, Washington’s favorite excuse for new aggression.

With the cooperation of both political parties and the media, from 2001 to 2003 Bush led the U.S. into two major wars of aggression and occupation, in Iraq and Afghanistan. These wars have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, cost over a trillion dollars and turned into quagmires for the Pentagon. While they have isolated Bush, he still has three months to cause far greater destruction. And neither of the major presidential candidates is confronting and condemning the invasion of Syria or the attacks on Pakistan.

This is a time when the global economy is in crisis. Millions face unemployment, the loss of their homes, savings and futures.

Under these circumstances, it is up to independent anti-war forces to protest this latest example of blatant U.S. military aggression, to mobilize to condemn the invasion of Syria, the attacks on Pakistan and to demand: “bring the troops home now and stop further war adventures. We need jobs, housing and health care, not endless war.”

Make your opposition heard NOW! Sign the online petition and send a strong, clear message to the White House, Congress, the media and the UN.  You can sign online at http://www.iacenter.org/syriapakistan

Make an immediate donation to help circulating immediate anti-war material in an urgent national campaign.  Donate at http://iacenter.org/donate.