To:    Churches for Middle East Peace E-mail Network
From: Corinne Whitlatch, CMEP Director
Re:    Action Against War With Iraq

There is an interesting and easy action available that involves you registering on the "Win Without War" website www.moveon.org/winwithoutwar to participate in an email and fax campaign of Senate offices on Wednesday, February 26. On that same day, there will be many lobbyists for Middle East peace in those same offices, thanks to the people coming for the Africa and the Middle East Advocacy Days conference which CMEP is cosponsoring.

The following is a note from Win Without War’s National Director Tom Andrews. The advocacy message for this virtual march is "Don't invade Iraq. We can contain Saddam Hussein without killing innocent people, diverting us from the war on terrorism and putting us all at risk."

A number of CMEP member churches and organizations are part of the Win Without War coalition: American Friends Service Committee Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men’s Institutes Evangelical Lutheran Church in America National Council of Churches Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society

WIN WITHOUT WAR LETTER

Dear Friend,

Our government is on the threshold of making a terrible mistake by invading Iraq when Saddam Hussein can be contained and disarmed without war. We need your help to stop it. If you agree with me that the United States should let proven alternatives to disarming Saddam Hussein work - without an invasion and occupation of Iraq - then please join me and hundreds of thousands of Americans in a national demonstration of our opposition to this unnecessary war. The Virtual March on Washington on February 26th will be a single day when Americans from throughout the nation will overwhelm Washington with a clear message:

"Don't invade Iraq. We can contain Saddam Hussein without killing innocent people, diverting us from the war on terrorism and putting us all at risk."

Participating is as easy as it will be significant. Simply go to our campaign headquarters at www.moveon.org/winwithoutwar and get all the information you need to sign up. Then, e-mail this letter to everyone in your address book and ask them to do the same.

Can the Virtual March on Washington make a difference? Yes! I am a former member of the U.S. Congress and am now the national director of Win Without War, a coalition of 32 national organizations and millions of Americans who are opposed to a U.S. invasion of Iraq. Believe me, political leaders in Washington will get the message when their phones and fax machines light up -- and stay lit up -- from morning until night. They will know that there are a lot of us, that we care deeply about this unnecessary march to war, and that we are organized. Our message will be heard. But, we absolutely need you to make this work.

As the Bush administration moves ever closer to war on Iraq, it is crucial that Americans who oppose this war stand up and be counted. So please take a moment today to register for the Virtual March on Washington and urge your family and friends to do the same. It's quick, it's easy and there is so much at stake. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Tom Andrews
National Director
Win Without War

P.S. Here are some of the reasons we feel so strongly that an invasion of Iraq is wrong:

1) We can contain and disarm Saddam Hussein without invading Iraq. As Secretary of State Colin Powell stated in his February 5th speech to the UN Security Council, UN weapons inspectors were remarkably effective in the 1990s in dismantling Iraq's nuclear weapons program. Continued tough inspections, along with cooperation from U.S. intelligence agencies, is the most prudent and effective way to neutralize whatever threat Saddam Hussein poses. If the weapons inspectors need more tools to do the job, let's give them every tool they need. Better to have 1,500 inspectors in Iraq than 150,000 American soldiers. We don't need to go to war to protect ourselves.

2) By going to war with Iraq, the U.S. will be taking significant and unnecessary risks:

- As the CIA pointed out months ago, Iraq poses no imminent threat to its neighbors or to the United States unless we invade, at which point Saddam has nothing to lose and might be likely to use whatever weapons he has at his disposal.

- A U.S. invasion of Iraq plays into the hands of Osama bin Laden and other terrorists who will use it as an opportunity to recruit and attack. It would be the greatest terrorist recruitment tool that Osama bin Laden could imagine.

- Experts warn that an attack on Iraq could seriously undermine and destabilize regimes in the region whose populations are overwhelmingly opposed to an invasion. One of these, Pakistan, has nuclear weapons.

3) A military invasion would increase human rights abuses and exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. The Bush administration has asserted that toppling Saddam Hussein through force is justified in part because of the regime's atrocious human rights record. However, the possible use of weapons of mass destruction during wartime endangers thousands of Iraqi civilians, and military strikes on Iraq would further destroy the country's infrastructure and spur refugee flows.

4) The cost of a war with Iraq is estimated at $100 to $200 billion. These estimates do not include the cost of rebuilding Iraq after a war nor take into account the economic losses during wartime incurred by countries around the world. The U.S. has suffered the worst revenue decline since World War II and, after four years of surpluses, the federal government will run a $157 billion deficit this year. Rather than spending millions on war in Iraq, the U.S. should devote more resources to cooperative threat reduction programs, international peacekeeping, health care, the environment and education.

Please go to our web site now www.moveon.org/winwithoutwar and make a difference. Thank you!

Karl Shelly
Win Without War Coalition
Fourth Freedom Forum
1-800-233-6786