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

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

August 13, 2003

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