26
July 2006
To Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice:
We,
US Citizens for Peace & Justice, have written Ambassador Spogli
voicing our concerns over American foreign policy. We feel that to
achieve peace and to improve the reputation of the US worldwide, the
United States must cease being seen as an aggressor in illegal wars.
Our letters have been ignored and remain unanswered.
Ignored
we're used to. Without the lie that Saddam Hussein was linked with Al
Qaeda how many Americans would have wanted an unjust war with Iraq?
Not many, as polls show today. But the administration you serve –
and that you counsel – ignored public sentiment and took us
into war anyway. Your administration has consistently manipulated
intelligence and lied to the United Nations, lied to the citizens of
the world, lied to the American people that Iraq had weapons of mass
destruction and that Saddam Hussein could launch nuclear attacks on
the United States. By terrorizing with words, you multiplied the fear
Americans have felt since the attacks of September 11th and you set
in place the war the Bush Administration wanted. Over two hundred
thousand Iraqi civilians have been killed to the great shame of our
country. Almost as many U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq as
civilians killed on 9-11. You justify this
killing with the convoluted logic that attacking and occupying Iraq
is getting back at Al Qaeda.
No wonder, then, that you
see Israel's attack on Lebanon as defending herself. You see taking
the lives of innocent civilians as fair game. It is not. It is a war
crime.
The Bush Administration, and your
untiring efforts in aiding its doctrine, have brought the world into
this new, dark age of injustice; you have given us a world in which
nation states may break international law, disregard calls for peace
in the UN; you have given us a world in which highly militarized
nation states feel impotent against terrorists, are intolerant of
political resistance, utilize international organizations only to
promote their own agendas, not to seek compromise: you have played a
crucial role in giving us a world in which military powers are the
bullies of the world.
No wonder you tell us ceasefire is something we should wait for; you don't want something that is “only temporary”; you share a vision with George Bush of a war that will be decades long; yet you tell the world you want to build a lasting peace. Do you expect to be believed?
Waging
war on civilians, devastating infrastructure and national economies,
using illegal weapons, committing war crimes do not build lasting
peace.
Lying to the UN, sharing faulty and manipulated
intelligence with other governments and occupying other countries
does not build lasting peace.
Imprisoning people without
charge, attempting to by-pass international law and determining
Geneva Conventions to be “irrelevant” does not build
lasting peace.
Never finding fault with Israel's actions,
faithfully vetoing resolutions that call for Israel to abide by
international law, being the largest weapons supplier to Israel –
all the while playing “neutral peace-broker” – does
not build lasting peace.
When the world learned there were
no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq, you and the Bush
Administration changed your battle cry to “Democracy in the
Middle East.” How is aiding and abetting Israel's attacks on
its democratic neighbor, Lebanon, and perpetuating the lie in
our media that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle
East, supposed to “spread democracy”? How does saying no
to Lebanon's call for an immediate ceasefire reflect US support of a
fellow democracy?
Secretary Rice, nation states do not
have the right to attack the citizens and infrastructure of other
countries in retaliation for terrorist or resistance groups working
within such borders.
We, U.S. Citizens for Peace and
Justice, will not stand for the killing of innocents and therefore
call for a cease-fire to save innocent lives. Your insistence on
permitting Israel time to complete its mission and attaching
conditions for ceasefire that the Hezbullah cannot possibly accept
suggests a (not so well hidden) “˜hidden agenda”.
The US collusion with Israel is in fact being speculated upon in the
press and in living rooms across the world as the attempt to create a
pretext to invade Syria and Iran. It's no secret the Bush
Adminstration will lie, erode the Constitution, break international
law and sacrifice innocent lives to serve its ideology.
If
you truly want lasting peace and credibility, you will join us in
calling for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire
in Lebanon.
U.S. Citizens for Peace and Justice