Veterans 'Call to Conscience'

This statement is produced by a group of veterans representing a variety of different political perspectives and experiences. As veterans of U.S. military aggressions we need to speak directly to the troops being deployed to Iraq.. Veterans need one loud strong voice.

- Anton Black

Call to Conscience from Veterans to Active Duty Troops and Reservists Started December 6, 2002

We are veterans of the United States armed forces. We stand with the majority of humanity, including millions in our own country, in opposition to the United States' all out war on Iraq. We span many wars and eras, have many political views and we all agree that this war is wrong. Many of us believed serving in the military was our duty, and our job was to defend this country. Our experiences in the military caused us to question much of what we were taught. Now we see our REAL duty is to encourage you as members of the U.S. armed forces to find out what you are being sent to fight and die for and what the consequences of your actions will be for humanity. We call upon you, the active duty and reservists, to follow your conscience and do the right thing.

In the last Gulf War, as troops, we were ordered to murder from a safe distance. We destroyed much of Iraq from the air, killing hundreds of thousands, including civilians. We remember the road to Basra-the Highway of Death-where we were ordered to kill fleeing Iraqis. We bulldozed trenches, burying people alive. The use of depleted uranium weapons left the battlefields radioactive. Massive use of pesticides, experimental drugs, burning chemical weapons depots and oil fires combined to create a toxic cocktail affecting both the Iraqi people and Gulf War veterans today. One in four Gulf War veterans is disabled.

During the Vietnam War we were ordered to destroy Vietnam from the air and on the ground. At My Lai we massacred over 500 women, children and old men. This was not an aberration, it's how we fought the war. We used Agent Orange on the enemy and then experienced first hand its effects. We know what Post Traumatic Stress Disorder looks, feels and tastes like because the ghosts of over two million men, women and children still haunt our dreams. More of us took our own lives after returning home than died in battle.

If you choose to participate in the invasion of Iraq you will be part of an occupying army. Do you know what it is like to look into the eyes of a people that hate you to your core? You should think about what your "mission" really is. You are being sent to invade and occupy a people who, like you and me, are only trying to live their lives and raise their kids. They pose no threat to the United States even though they have a brutal dictator as their leader. Who is the U.S. to tell the Iraqi people how to run their country when many in the U.S. don't even believe their own President was legally elected?

Saddam is being vilified for gassing his own people and trying to develop weapons of mass destruction. However, when Saddam committed his worst crimes the U.S. was supporting him. This support included providing the means to produce chemical and biological weapons. Contrast this with the horrendous results of the U.S. led economic sanctions. More than a million Iraqis, mainly children and infants, have died because of these sanctions. After having destroyed the entire infrastructure of their country including hospitals, electricity generators, and water treatment plants, the U.S. then, with the sanctions, stopped the import of goods, medicines, parts, and chemicals necessary to restore even the most basic necessities of life.

There is no honor in murder. This war is murder by another name. When, in an unjust war, an errant bomb dropped kills a mother and her child it is not "collateral damage," it is murder. When, in an unjust war, a child dies of dysentery because a bomb damaged a sewage treatment plant, it is not "destroying enemy infrastructure," it is murder. When, in an unjust war, a father dies of a heart attack because a bomb disrupted the phone lines so he could not call an ambulance, it is not "neutralizing command and control facilities," it is murder. When, in an unjust war, a thousand poor farmer conscripts die in a trench defending a town they have lived in their whole lives, it is not victory, it is murder.

There will be veterans leading protests against this war on Iraq and your participation in it. During the Vietnam War thousands in Vietnam and in the U.S. refused to follow orders. Many resisted and rebelled. Many became conscientious objectors and others went to prison rather than bear arms against the so-called enemy. During the last Gulf War many GIs resisted in various ways and for many different reasons. Many of us came out of these wars and joined with the anti-war movement.

If the people of the world are ever to be free, there must come a time when being a citizen of the world takes precedence over being the soldier of a nation. Now is that time. When orders come to ship out, your response will profoundly impact the lives of millions of people in the Middle East and here at home. Your response will help set the course of our future. You will have choices all along the way. Your commanders want you to obey. We urge you to think. We urge you to make your choices based on your conscience. If you choose to resist, we will support you and stand with you because we have come to understand that our REAL duty is to the people of the world and to our common future.

VETERAN SIGNERS

Anton Black, Navy, 1977-84 
Howard Zinn, Air Force, 1943-45 
Blase Bonpane, Marine Corps Reserve, 1948-50 
Fr. Bob Bossie, SCJ, Air Force, 1955-59 
and other signers.

ACTION: To sign, contact Veterans Call to Conscience (VCC) 4742-42nd Ave SW #142, Seattle, WA, 98116-4553 www.calltoconscience.net, Stmttotroops@excite.com For questions about GI rights visit: www.girights.org or call: GI Rights Hotline: (888) 231-2226,

Not a just or moral war: God, country and the duty of dissent

By MYRTLE OSNER

Although some Stanislaus Connections readers are not religious adherents, you should all know that dissent in America is swelling among people of faith. A number of national Christian denominations have come out with statements clearly speaking to the immorality of war in the Middle East.

The case for dissent is outlined in Sojourners magazine, illustrated by a march with posters familiar to us here in Modesto: “No War in Iraq,” “Peace is Patriotic,” and “Start Seeing Iraqi Children.” In general, demonstrations all over the US have attracted little media attention. Protestant, progressive evangelicals, and Catholic pacifists have been the most vocal and visible in raising the issues.

“What we are doing must be condemned without equivocation. It is morally bankrupt, totally depraved,” said Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit.

An Sojourners article (Jan./Feb. 2003) compares the situation during the buildup for the Vietnam War and how the situation is very different today. Christian leaders all over the world have voiced concern that the international community is being stampeded toward an ill-conceived and highly questionable conflict. The threat of a unilateral, pre-emptive strike in Iraq has been condemned for its “apparent drift towards military confrontation in Iraq.”

Most of the religious response to the unfolding of the Bush Iraq policy uses elements of the “just war” theory in making its case against the war. The insistence that a pre-emptive strike is justified is roundly condemned by the denominational heads of these churches, especially since the threat of war by the US against Iraq takes no account of consequences, not only to the Iraqi civilian population but to the rest of the Middle East and to many Asian states, Indonesia, and Pakistan.

“The case for a pre-emptive attack on Iraq has not been made,” top officials of the United Church of Christ (Congregational) said. “The death that would be inflicted on all sides in a war is certain. Striking against Iraq now will not serve to prevent terrorism or defend our nation’s interests.”

The churches, and especially Christian-related relief and aid agencies, argue that the Bush policy, among other objections, does not give consideration to the likely humanitarian consequences of military attack. They have been concerned about the decade-old sanctions under which 1.6 million Iraqi children have died and 1 million children are undernourished. Raising the ancient Christian teaching of the “just war” theory and exercising our citizenship as people of faith (of any religion) requires that we consider also a moral and ethical case as well. On that score citizens cannot justify the war against Iraq that is being pushed so hard by the Bush administration.

“Patriotism is not enough”, says Peter J. Gomes, professor and minister at Harvard University. “Our country is lovely, and we love it. It is because we love it that we dare to speak out to affirm the virtue and power of its core values and to speak against the things that would harm it. Our country is lovely because we have the right and the duty to criticize those in power and to dissent if we think policies are wrong.”

We deserve to hear in the national and local media about all the protests that are taking place and the fact that approval of a war on Iraq is dropping like a stone. So far, we aren’t getting the story anywhere but papers like this one.

--Portions of this article are from the January/February 2003 issue of Sojourners: Permission granted by Sojourners, whose editor-in-chief Jim Wallis, was guest speaker at our first Peace Camp in 1983. www.sojo.net

We respectfully urge you to step back from the brink of war and help lead the world to act together to fashion an effective global response to Iraq's threats that conforms with traditional moral limits on the use of military force. 

--US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Letter to President Bush, Sept. 13, 2002

The question for us now must be: what is our role in the community of nations? I believe we have the capacity within us to help lead our world into the way of justness and peace. The freedoms we enjoy as citizens of the United States oblige us to attend not only to our own welfare, but to the well-being of the world around us. A superpower, especially one that declares itself to be "under God," must exercise the role of super servant. Our nation has an opportunity to reflect the values and ideals that we espouse by focusing upon issues of poverty, disease and despair, not only within our own nation but throughout the global community of which we are a part. 

--Episcopalians, The Presiding Bishop's statement on military action against Iraq, September 6, 2002

International cooperation is far, far better than unilateral action, and the U.S. must explore all reasonable means of attaining such support. Non-military action is always preferable to military action, and the U.S. must fully explore all options to resolve the situation through such means. If the effort to obtain international cooperation and support through the United Nations fails, the U.S. must work with other nations to obtain cooperation in any military action. 

--Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Executive Committee Decision on Unilateral Action by the U.S. Against Iraq

While we are fully aware of the potential threat posed by the government of Iraq and its leader, I believe it is wrong for the United States to seek to over-throw the regime of Saddam Hussein with military action.  Morally, I oppose it because I know a war with Iraq will have great consequences for the people of Iraq, who have already suffered through years of war and economic sanctions. Further, I believe it is detrimental to U.S. interests to take unilateral military action when there is strong international support for weapons inspections, and when most other governments oppose military action.  I also believe that U.S. military action at this time will further destabilize the region.  I call upon members of our congregations to be fervent in prayer, engaged in conversation with one another and with our leaders.  In the final analysis, we must stand unequivocally for peace. . 

--ELCA (Lutheran) Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson's Statement on Iraq Situation, August 30, 2002

United Methodists have a particular duty to speak out against an unprovoked attack. President Bush and Vice-President Cheney are members of our denomination. Our silence now could be interpreted as tacit approval of war. Christ came to break old cycles of revenge and violence. Too often, we have said we worship and follow Jesus but have failed to change our ways. Jesus proved on the cross the failure of state-sponsored revenge. It is inconceivable that Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior and the Prince of Peace, would support this proposed attack. 

--Secretary Jim Winkler of The United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society, August 30, 2002

We urge Presbyterians to oppose a precipitate U.S. attack on Iraq and the Bush administration’s new doctrine of pre-emptive military action.  We call upon President George W. Bush and other leaders to:  Refrain from language that seems to label certain individuals and nations as ‘evil’ and others as ‘good’; Oppose ethnic and religious stereotyping, Guard against a unilateralism, rooted in our unique position of political, economic and military power, that perpetuates the perception that ‘might makes right’; Allow United Nations weapons inspections in Iraq, without undue pressure or threats of pre-emptive, unilateral action; and End the economic sanctions against Iraq, which have been ineffectual but have done untold damage to the Iraqi people. 

--The General Assembly Council and the staff leadership team of the Presbyterian Church (USA), September 28, 2002

We will not all stand in the same place on this issue. But we can all stand in the same faith. Above all, that is my hope. In these troubling days and all those that lie ahead, my deepest prayer is that we stand in this faith with Universalist Olympia Brown, who wrote, over one hundred years ago, “Every nation must learn that the people of all nations are children of God, and must share the wealth of the world. You may say this is impracticable, far away, can never be accomplished, but it is the work we are appointed to do."  

--Responding to the Threat of War: A Pastoral Letter from the Rev. William G. Sinkford, President, Unitarian Universalist Association, September 20, 2002

With heavy hearts we hear once again the drumbeat of war against Iraq. As leaders committed to God’s reign of justice and peace in the world and to the just conduct of our nation, we firmly oppose this advance to war. While Iraq’s weapons potential is uncertain, the death that would be inflicted on all sides in a war is certain. Striking against Iraq now will not serve to prevent terrorism or defend our nation’s interests. We fear that war would only provoke greater regional instability and lead to the mass destruction it is intended to prevent. 

--United Church of Christ leaders, September 13, 2002

To speak against war and invasion is to hold up a conviction that, in light of all uncertainties, peace and security are enlarged when authorities choose the path of non-violent diplomacy. The concerns noted above convince us that this is both a moral and a practical path. Our call is also a statement of belief that God wills the path of peace and will work alongside those who have the courage to take risks for peace. 

--Statement of the Mennonite Central Committee, April 20, 2002

We call upon Friends to witness and work to prevent this war, to reverse this new military doctrine, to call upon our governments to implement multilateral, diplomatic responses to the threats posed by the government of Iraq, and to continue developing positive, nonviolent approaches to resolving international conflicts. We know that there are millions of people of good will with whom we can join in this work. 

--Joint Statement in Response to Threat of War with Iraq from the General and Executive Secretaries of Five Quaker Organizations, September 24, 2002

 While I love the U.S. (a) war in Iraq has nothing to do with defending our shores. It has everything to do with a settling an old grudge, with the interests of major corporations and controlling Iraq’s oil reserves.

My son is going to be deployed: a father’s thoughts

By JEFF MCKENZIE

As we enter a New Year a major storm is brewing outside. The howling winds are picking up out of the west and dark ominous clouds are piling up on the horizon. The high seas are turbulent and the mighty waves are crashing on shore. People are preparing for what seems to be the inevitable and the unpredictable. They are stockpiling supplies, battening down the hatches and spending time with loved ones. Those that are far away from their loved ones are reflecting on memories of times past, thoughts of the present and the uncertainty of the future.

The forecasters are projecting when and where the storm will hit or if it will blow over. The experts are predicting the damage to property and the number of casualties. Planners are making educated guesses of what will be needed as the storm gains in strength and the amount of havoc it will raise when and if it strikes land. Officials are posturing, spewing propaganda, preparing the masses, not trying to alarm but reassure. Yet uncertainty abounds. What will become of this fierce storm, will it spawn other storms or will it fizzle out?

The storm I am describing is the looming war in Iraq and the rumors of other wars around the globe, not to mention the couple dozen of wars already raging around the planet. Too often we only look at war in this abstract way, we ignore the human element, especially when the war is thousands of miles away and our lives remain relatively unchanged. But those amassing on the battlefields, those awaiting orders to deploy and those with members of their own family in harms way, know the realities of warfare or are about to whether they want to or not.

My son, Jeremy has received his orders to deploy to Kuwait sometime before the first of February, along with his entire unit. Jeremy and my daughter-in-law, Nicole, are only two of the millions of young men and women proudly serving their country in uniform. These young men and women have much in common with others that serve their country. They stand by the ideals of what their country stands for and have chosen to defend their country from enemy attack, laying their lives on the line if need be. Jeremy is a Captain in the U.S. Army, a command helicopter pilot in his Medical Company. Nicole is presently in the National Guard after having completed her enlistment in the regular Army last year. Nicole is also deployable.

Jeremy is working on his Masters degree and Nicole is part way through the nursing program at Columbus State University. They would also like to start thinking about having a child. But uncertainty hangs in the air.

The passing and approaching storms have swept me into action. While I love the U.S. and Jeremy and Nicole, I am strongly opposed to a war with Iraq and the Bush administration policies. A war in Iraq has nothing to do with defending our shores. It has everything to do with a settling an old grudge, with the interests of major corporations and controlling Iraq’s oil reserves. Our leaders use those in uniform as pawns in a giant chess game, in order to amass more power and wealth.

The Bush administration and its policies are moving us into a dangerous new game of brinkmanship. Bush has put the whole world on notice that “either you are with us or against us.” He has also singled out several countries as being part of his so-called “axis of evil.” Our policy of defending our soil is being scrapped and replaced with a policy of aggression. The U.S. is flagrantly ignoring international laws and arm-twisting allies and enemies alike to gain support, while openly saying it will go it alone if it has to.

In response I have joined millions around the world who are patriots for peace and our ranks continue to grow. Last year I helped found the Brockport Students Against War. About a month ago, I decided to reach out to other military families opposing war in Iraq. We are forming Military Families Speak Out (against war with Iraq), http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MilitaryFamiliesSpeakOut . If you or someone you know in the military is questioning the current tide, contact us.

So President Bush, Congress and the American people; I will hold you responsible should my son or daughter-in-law or anyone else wearing the uniform die while serving in Iraq under current administration policies. I will not accept an attack on Iraq and the deaths of those Iraqis defending their country against an aggressor nation. I will not accept the loss of more innocent children, women or men, the damage and destruction of their homes, their infrastructure and their livelihoods. I call upon the U.S, Britain and the UN to lift the sanctions against Iraq because they only drastically affect the downtrodden and neglected. The sanctions are responsible for the deaths of over a million innocent people in Iraq.

God does not bless America’s death, destruction and global domination policies. Christ weeps, while Satan gloats. Open your eyes and see; war cannot bring about peace. Terrorism can not be defeated by using terror tactics. We must call for an end to this spiraling cycle of violence that only assures we will be caught into it, before it is too late.

We are all part of the same human family. We share the same planet, breathe the same air, drink the same water and what we eat comes from the same ground. War is devastating to all of us: it contaminates: our water, the air and the soil that we all need to survive. War kills or maims members of our own family. Supporting the Bush administration’s foreign policies or by sitting idly by, we become part of the evil in the world.

As a father my emotions and feelings are really torn. I love my son, who in so many ways is like a brother and my best friend. Our relationship has always been close but especially after his mom’s death when he was only ten. We shared much together as he grew up, traveling all over the states, to Israel and Egypt and for a time living among the Mennonites and Amish. Jeremy played soccer while I coached. Together we joined Civil Air Patrol (an auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force); I was Deputy Commander of Cadets, while Jeremy progressed to become Cadet of the Year for all of NY State.

So as my son prepares to deploy in Kuwait, I will let him know I love him. I will tell him I am proud of him and what he does because his task is to fly a medical ambulance to pick up the wounded no matter what side they serve on. But I can not tell him I agree with his deployment or the orders of his commander and chief — I do not and I strongly oppose both. God knows I want my son to return safely, but I wish that for all of God’s children be they American, Iraqi, Afghani, Iranian, Israeli, all people, regardless of their religion or lack thereof.

So I ask that, throughout the year, you pray for peace, work for peace and love those around you — be they yellow, brown, red, white or black. Love those both young and old, far away and near. Please join with me and the millions of others saying, ‘”NO,” to a war in Iraq, “NOT IN OUR NAME”’. It is time we taught our children not to wage war but to make peace.

Love and peace.

(Slightly edited.)

BREAK THE SANCTIONS: challenge to U.S. Government fines and economic sanctions against Iraq

On November 6, 2002, the US Treasury office in charge of sanctions (Office of Foreign Assets Control-OFAC) sent a letter to Voices in the Wilderness (VitW) and co-founder Kathy Kelly imposing a fine of $20,000 for delivering medicine without a permit to Iraq on two occasions in 1998.

OFAC simultaneously sent a letter to activist Dan Handelman of Portland, Oregon, imposing a fine of $10,000 for his part in a November, 1997 VitW delegation to deliver medicine to Iraq. This notice was similar to ones received in May and June of 2002 by other members of that delegation, Bert Sacks, a retired engineer, and Rev. Randall Mullins, both of Seattle, Washington. Both Bert and Randall refused to pay their fines, and instead raised money for more medicine, which was delivered to Iraq in September.

Since 1996, VitW members have broken sanctions with over fifty delegations to Iraq. They stand with hundreds of others who have traveled on humanitarian, fact-finding and rebuilding missions, and who refuse to see the people of Iraq as enemies.

Responding to the OFAC notice, members of VitW are reaffirming their commitment to bring medicine and basic necessities to Iraqi children and families in need. VitW is committed to ending the U.S./U.N. embargo on Iraq, an embargo that has contributed to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians. They will be asking people to join them in again breaking the sanctions.

They will also explain why VitW cannot ask for a government license, why they will not pay the fines, and why, instead, Voices in the Wilderness will immediately begin raising $30,000 toward humanitarian and peacemaking efforts in Iraq as an alternative to paying penalties to the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

We ask you to join our efforts:

(a) sign on to our response letter to the Treasury Department in solidarity with Voices in the Wilderness

(b) make a financial donation

(c) send children’s vitamins, medical journals on CD, or iron tablets to Iraq through Voices in the Wilderness.

ACTION: Contact Voices in the Wilderness directly for specific requirements for donating medicine. Any contribution you can make is significant. Please mark on your check, money order, or package of medicine, “Break the Sanctions.” Your donation—unless you ask for it to be anonymous—will add your name to the growing list of those who have brought or sent medicines to Iraq without requesting government approval to do so. A full list will be available on www.vitw.org.Voices in the Wilderness 1460 West Carmen Avenue Chicago, IL 60640 Tel: (773) 784-8065 Fax: (773) 784-8837 | email: info@vitw.org Web: vitw.org or iraqpeaceteam.org

LINK: See article by Kathy Kelly, director of Voices in the Wilderness, Crossing border: Christmas in Iraq, below

Crossing borders: Christmas in Iraq
By KATHY KELLY

Nathan Musselman and I boarded the public bus that travels from Baghdad to Amman on Christmas Eve after an absurdly hurried packing job. Nathan had discovered, much to our dismay, that he unwittingly let his visa expire. "Sorry," said the Iraqi immigration official. "There is no chance. You must leave." Nathan's only option for remaining in Iraq during a time when our team greatly needs his experience is to petition, from Amman, for a new visa. As for me, Chicago friends insist that I'm needed at home for a few weeks if we're to form new "waves" of Iraq Peace Team participants. I'd just learned that the only flight from Amman to Chicago with an available seat departs on December 26.

Last night Nathan and I had given way, emotionally, to hapless uncertainty and near despair. We stood for hours, shivering helplessly during a seven hour ordeal of "border-crossing." It was a bone-chilling, damp, cold night. We cursed our stupidity in not dressing warmly enough to weather the long hours outdoors and in unheated "reception" rooms while waiting for officials at the Iraqi and then the Jordanian border to search luggage and check papers for each of the bus passengers.

I began shaking visibly, at which point Rabab, a kindly English teacher from Qut, came up and draped a warm blanket over my shoulders. Then an elderly fellow stripped off his long gold colored abaya and insisted that I wear it. Enfolded in their kindness I could only smile gratefully and wish that my limping Arabic could tell them how ironic it is that a US Christian has small chance to identify with the Christmas narrative of Jesus, Mary and Joseph finding no room at the inns when surrounded by unfailing Arab hospitality. Nor could I voice my sorrow over knowing that, bleak as the scene was, and really it couldn't have been more stark, the Iraqi passengers crossing out of Iraq are no doubt envied by millions of Iraqis. As a fearful cold spell of impending war, upheaval and chaos locks in place, Iraqis dream of bundling their families into buses and taxis to reach safer terrain in any land other than Iraq.

Like many thousands of people worldwide who despise the sinister buildup of a killing machine that hides behind the transparently fanciful excuse of delivering and liberating Iraqis from the undeniable miseries they've suffered under the current regime, Nathan and I would give anything to be effective, compelling antiwar voices. Time is running out as the window of opportunity to avoid war seems weighted to slam shut. US people still don't comprehend the complexities Iraqis have faced. If the antiwar movement could instill deeper understanding, perhaps ordinary US people might yet feel motivated to have compassion for ordinary Iraqis. Those who've succumbed to a belief that the war is wrong but unstoppable might yet be awakened into risk-taking resistance. Yet I fear there will be no room in the inn of US hearts for Iraqis bracing themselves for war. I can't imagine more innocent and more defenseless people. When I return to Iraq in several weeks, as I hope to do, the psychological burden of agonizing expectation may well have intensified beyond what seem to be already unbearable limits.

Just now, it's a gift to remember Rabab's kindness, to feel the heavy blanket of warmth that she wrapped around me, and to stand aligned with the forgiveness that brings to life the Christmas message.

My return to the US is a gamble. Customs officials could confiscate my US passport upon arrival, making it difficult for me to return to Iraq. Normally that threat isn't so worrisome as I have an Irish passport as well. But my Irish passport was water damaged last spring when I hastily stuffed a leaky water bottle in my pack while running down a mountain side in Palestine, hoping to evade Israeli surveillance planes and snipers. And I've learned that the New York authorities have bumped me up to fugitive status because I missed court dates for nonviolently vigiling on the steps to the US Mission to the UN during a 40 day fast in the summer of 2001.

We had offered lentils, rice and untreated water to officials at the US Mission, once a week, occasioning five arrests on misdemeanor trespass charges for calmly remaining on the steps, even after we were asked to leave. A kindly lawyer thinks that if I'm detained he might be able to convince a judge that I didn't act in contempt of court by missing the court dates. But if asked, I'll probably tell a judge that I don't believe any of my actions have been criminal and that I've had no time to appear in US courts because I've been too busy trying to appear before the court of US public opinion to plead for an end to criminal US warmaking against innocent and defenseless people in Iraq. I don't expect a judge to let me off the hook, but I hope the dear and earnest lawyer will forgive me!

Good friends have urged me to look for hooks, when I write, with which ordinary people in the US can identify. Tonight my narrative might best be understood by deportees, homeless people, and detainees. But perhaps those who lit candles tonight and remembered the Christ child born in a manger, surrounded by cave dwellers, soon to be a fugitive, will hearken to a narrative begging for the light to shine in the darkness… and the darkness shall not overcome it.

Kathy Kelly is director of Voices in the Wilderness.

We can stop this war: women working for peace

By PATRICIA BURKHARDT

It’s not many times in our lives that we have a real chance of stopping a war before it starts. Right now, in the case of Iraq, we do. We at the Women’s Peace Vigil in Washington DC are a critical part of that Herculean task, and we need you to join us!

Since November 17, we have been outside the White House with our banners and petitions from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., seven days a week. This vigil is the country’s only daily show of protest in our nation’s capitol, where the decision to go to war or not will be made. And this effort is making a difference!

Leaders in the government and press are noticing the women taking to the streets. We have appeared on major television networks, the Washington Post, NPR and local newspapers and radio around the country. Even the Secret Service has assured us that our presence is “having an impact”! And everyday people, from cabdrivers to teachers to veterans, thank us for doing what we’re doing.

Here in DC, hundreds of women and men have been coming to participate, to collect signatures on our petition to George and Laura Bush, and to talk to the constant stream of press and visitors coming to the White House. Some of the vigilers are local folks; others come from out of town to stay for a week or two, or a month or two (we can provide housing).

We are also part of actions all over the city: peace caroling at the home of the Secretary of Defense, protests at the headquarters of Exxon-Mobil over going to war for oil, press conferences to denounce the administration’s attempts to scuttle the inspections, and rallies to stop the gutting of social services for the needy while increasing the funds available to invade Iraq. Dressed in our signature Pink (“Code Pink” is a women’s call for compassion and nurturing life as opposed to Bush’s “Code Red” military response), we are becoming known all over town as the “pink ladies.” (Recently, we talked to Bush’s senior advisor Karl Rove, who said, “Oh yes, I know you ladies in pink. You’re everywhere!”) Code Pink solidarity fasts and vigils are springing up around the country, from the big cities like Los Angeles and New York to towns like Sarasota, and McLean, Virginia.

Now it’s your turn to be part of this amazing vigil. Come for an hour, a day, a week or a month. Help us organize the week of actions that will mark the end of the vigil on March 8, International Women’s Day. Hang out with a supportive community of organizers and activists. Use your energy and creativity to build the peace movement. COME MAKE HISTORY BY STOPPING A WAR BEFORE IT STARTS!!!

ACTION: Contact the Women’s Peace Vigil at women@unitedforpeace.org. Call 202-303-5016. Visit www.codepink4peace.org and www.unitedforpeace.org.

Source: Church Women United Legislative Office, 100 Maryland Ave, NE Wash DC 20002; 202 544 8747, cwu-dc@churchwomen.org.