The Declaration of Peace

Monday, September 18, 2006 - Bangor Daily News

By Nancy Galland and Richard Stander

Two hundred and thirty-three years ago in 1773, after repeatedly petitioning the governor of Massachusetts for relief of disastrous taxes on tea, a large band of Bostonians seized three English ships full of tea and tossed it overboard. The Boston Tea Party was the first American Act of Civil Disobedience, and the spark that changed history for all of us.

Three years later, the American Revolution swept the British out of power. Since then, the American legacy of nonviolent civil disobedience has continued to change the history of this country in ways that have benefitted every one of us alive today: think Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Philip Berrigan and countless others whose courage to disobey the “law” brought peace, justice and equality to fruition when no other means proved effective.

Fast-forward to 2006: Sept. 21 is the deadline for Congress to respond to The Declaration of Peace, a nationally circulated pledge calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. If Congress does not act on a concrete, comprehensive and rapid withdrawal plan before they recess for fall elections, Declaration supporters will take to the streets in marches and rallies all over the country. Some, in the spirit of those who came before, will be led by conscience to engage in civil disobedience and risk arrest to signify their principled commitment to oppose this war of aggression.

These actions will continue throughout the week of Sept. 21-30. There is little hope that the members of Congress will meet the deadline.

In cities and towns all over Maine, including Bangor, large bands of people will gather to protest congressional failure to respond to the majority of Americans who do not support the war. On Sept. 30, a march and rally will be held from 1 p.m to 3 p.m. at the Waterfront Park in Bangor.

During the week, many who oppose Bush’s continued escalation of violence in Iraq, after three years of being ignored and denied an audience with Sen. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, will commit acts of conscience. Once again, people will be asking : Why do people commit civil disobedience?

Why do people choose to risk arrest, risk a criminal record, risk time from their lives and risk the consequences of conviction?

We put this question recently to a group of people who chose to commit acts of conscience on two recent occasions: first at the onset of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, and again in December of last year. Some in this group are old enough to have been arrested during protests against the war in Vietnam, an opposition which ultimately brought about the end of the war, but not before more than 52,000 American and a million Vietnamese deaths, leaving a legacy of grief and regret.

Others are new to political activism. All are mature, reasonable people who hold positions of value in their communities: teachers, administrators, carpenters and builders, farmers, artists, parents and grandparents. Here are some of their thoughts about why they felt compelled, during these times, to commit civil disobedience:

— “The mass media aren’t covering the real costs of the war, nor the wide-spread opposition to it. We have to get the word out. The stakes keep rising and my anger with it. My fear is that where we go from here is even more frightening.”

— “I do it [civil disobedience] for my children and all children. To remain silent is to be complicit. We’ve tried every other means to reach our senators, without any meaningful response. It’s the last resort.”

— “Government is powerless against civil disobedience. It’s the best way I can think to show moral commitment, moral courage.”

— “I agree with the historian, Howard Zinn, that the problem is not ‘civil disobedience,’ but rather too much ‘civil obedience.’ Until a critical mass of people turn out in the streets and interrupt business as usual, no one will pay attention and things will just get worse.”

The week of Sept. 21-30 will offer an opportunity for everyone who believes in their heart that this war is wrong, that something must be done to stop it, to come out and let their feelings be known.

It is time to take a hard look at how ordinary people can influence history — or not.

Nancy Galland and Richard Stander live in Stockton Springs. E-mail messages may be sent to: rstander@fairpoint.net.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - Bangor Daily News

Declaration of Peace

Maine’s senators are seen by many as moderate, independent and as advocates for the needs of the people of this state. However, as long as they continue to support this administration’s war on Iraq, they are not truly representing the will of the 70 percent who now oppose this war. Nor can the needs of the people of Maine be met as the war drains the dollars needed for programs in our state.

We have called on Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to demonstrate independence and concern for the well-being of the people of Maine by signing the Congressional Declaration of Peace which calls for a comprehensive plan to end the war in Iraq. With letters, visits and phone calls we have urged Sens. Snowe and Collins to co-sponsor Senate Resolution 93 introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin.

The Declaration of Peace is a nationwide campaign to establish by Sept. 21 a concrete and rapid plan for peace in Iraq, including: a prompt timetable for withdrawal of troops and closure of bases, a peace process for security, reconstruction and reconciliation and the shift of funding for war to meeting human needs.

People across the United States are signing The Declaration of Peace pledge, a commitment to take action if this plan for peace is not created and activated by Congress by Sept. 21, the International Day of Peace.

From Sept. 21-28, just days before Congress adjourns for the fall elections, Declaration signers will withdraw their consent from this war and support a comprehensive peace process by taking part in nonviolent action, marches, rallies, demonstrations, interfaith services, candlelight vigils and other creative ways to declare peace at the U.S. Capitol and in cities and towns across the country.

In Bangor, at 3 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21, there will be a vigil in support of the Declaration of Peace to be held in front of the Federal Building on Harlow Street in Bangor to be followed by visits to congressional offices. Please join us.

Ilze Petersons
The Peace & Justice Center
of Eastern Maine
Bangor

A Devil’s Bargain

by Carolyn Eisenberg

Published on Thursday, July 3, 2008 by CommonDreams.org

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/03/10075/

With the President’s signature now affixed to the bill, the clever deal is done. In exchange for another “blank check” for a year of war, the Democrats have wrested from their Republican colleagues and the White House a host of domestic benefits — tens of billions of dollars in educational funding for returning GIs, a thirteen-week extension of unemployment insurance, millions for Midwest flood relief and other laudable projects. “This shows …that even in an election year, Republican and Democrats can come together,” George W. Bush boasted.

Depending on their source of news, few Americans may be aware that Congress has now allocated another $162 billion to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan until next summer. In many media outlets, the only coverage pertained to the new educational benefits for soldiers. But even when the war funding received nominal attention, one would be hard pressed to find in the mainstream media or for that matter in the halls of Congress any critical discussion of this political deal.

With more than 60% of the country opposed to the Iraq war and significant majorities saying they want the troops out within a year, this Congress has handed over to President Bush and to his successor, the right to persist in this failed enterprise. Or to put the matter bluntly, Congress has just agreed to keep our soldiers in harm’s way for another twelve months, killing and dying for no achievable end. Is this worthy of some attention? Perhaps even distress? Should it be a bland assumption rather than a horrifying fact that to get the government to provide adequate veteran’s benefits, extended unemployment insurance and relief from summer floods, that another year of senseless war is approved?

The reality of this dirty Washington trade is far removed from the inspirational rhetoric on the campaign trail. Whether on the stump or in formal debates, the Democrats reliably bring down the house, when they denounce the Iraq War and promise to bring the troops home. Yet such things were also said in 2006 and two years later a Democratic-controlled Congress cannot even agree to a non-binding “goal” for troop withdrawal, let alone a binding deadline. Meanwhile Barack Obama, the new Democratic torch-bearer, who has been electrifying young people with his message of courage and change, skipped the vote on the war-funding bill despite his presence in the Capitol.

If challenged, members of Congress may point to the domestic benefits (”a lot of veterans are going to be happy with the United States Senate,” claims Sen. Jim Webb) and the need to provide support for U.S. soldiers in the field. None of this justifies or explains the failure of Congress to insist upon a plan for taking the troops out of Iraq.

While the mass media has anesthetized the broader public to this moral collapse, there is a parallel numbness among committed antiwar people. The two are related. For years there has been a virtual blackout of the grassroots organizing all across this country to get Congress to stop the war. Apart from the occasional story about mobilizations on the internet, one would never know about the thousands of local initiatives that have occurred — the vigils on street corners, the sit-ins at Congressional offices, the petitioners in the mall, the lobby visits, phone calls, public forums and confrontations at legislative hearings. Even the progressive media has tended to downplay these developments. Without sufficient news about a vibrant national effort, many individuals who might be inclined to participate feel discouraged and remain at home, while those who have been organizing feel less sense of accomplishment.

Also muffled are the positive results. Paradoxically this month’s vote on war funding holds significance because there were real choices. In actuality, it was not “the Democrats” who produced the recent debacle, but the Congressional leadership and some individuals from both parties. Twenty-six Senators voted against war funding, as did one hundred and fifty-five members of the House. That reflected the largely unreported efforts of activists, who relentlessly pressured these legislators to take a firm stand.

As disheartening as the final result might be, it underscores the need for greater grassroots efforts, not less. All government officials, including a future President, will be affected by the unintended consequences of this Administration’s mistakes. An American withdrawal from Iraq is likely to mean a reduction of influence in a region of vital economic and strategic importance to the United States. Such a choice runs against the historic temptation to rely on military solutions, even when military activity has been demonstrably futile.

The only hope for a wiser policy is an aroused public, determined to cut American losses and to hold elected officials accountable for what they do. In an electoral season, we have our work cut out for us. Support for a GI bill or flood relief is no substitute for ending the war — that devil’s bargain, which has so far escaped scrutiny. Herein lies the educational task, which can be accomplished. Congressional incumbents have made their record and many count on public ignorance to keep them afloat. To quote a Presidential candidate, “not this year, not this time.” A crucial task for the peace movement is to shatter the silence.

Carolyn Eisenberg is a professor of U.S. foreign policy at Hofstra University and Co-Chair United for Peace and Justice Legislative Working Group.

Click below to view photos from the Washington, D.C. anti-war demonstration and nonviolent “Die-In” action that took place on the west-side steps of the U.S. Capitol starting at 12 noon on September 20, 2007.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13953762@N04/sets/72157602177056262/

This action was organized by CodePINK, Iraq Veterans Against The War, Montgomery County Peace Action, and the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance as part of The Declaration of Peace DAYS of DECISION campaign.

One woman was arrested trying to go over the police fence.

Oil, troops, and the ‘noble cause’ By MARYELLEN KURKULOS

Published June 07, 2007 in New Bedford Standard Times

Amid all the wrangling these last months over the various incarnations of war funding bills, Congress and President Bush have remained in lock step on the inclusion of benchmarks to be met by the Iraqi government. Indeed, who among us could take exception to such progressive-sounding conditions as laws that would guarantee “fair distribution of oil revenues” among Iraqi ethnic groups?

For those who are closely scrutinizing these benchmarks, however, the house of mirrors is shattering: It is patently clear that Congress and the president have made appropriations funding for the war contingent on the privatization of the vast majority of Iraq’s oil reserves. Word is getting out; recently, retired U.S. Army Reserve Col. Ann Wright examined the details online. This past Monday, a Boston Globe editorial criticized the duplicitous bipartisan support they received in Congress.

The response from Iraqi oil workers, understandably incensed, has been to launch a remarkable retaliatory effort. Leaders representing 26,000 union members are now in the United States on a “Voices of Iraqi Workers Solidarity Tour” of 14 cities. They explain how “fair distribution” of revenues in the Iraqi Hydrocarbon Act represents the great giveaway of most of Iraq’s known oil fields and all of its yet-undiscovered fields to foreign companies. Half a world away in Basra, their brethren are on strike, punctuating their frustration with the complicity of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki by shutting down the crude pipeline to Baghdad.

The tour’s first stop was Tuesday at the Alexandria, Virginia-based firm BearingPoint, a high-tech consulting firm contracted to oversee economic development in Iraq. Having contributed considerably to Bush campaign coffers, BearingPoint “helped” the Iraqi government draft its oil law — but only after the law was reviewed by major oil corporations and the International Monetary Fund.

With few exceptions, most notably presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, virtually all Democrats and Republicans were silent about these circumstances. They gave President Bush his war money last month and so promoted the interests of foreign oil corporations at the expense of the lives of American soldiers, Iraqi civilians and Iraqi sovereignty.

The visiting union leaders are asking that the U.S. citizenry escalate our efforts to hold our legislators accountable for funding the war. They reject attempts to link war funding to unfettered privatization schemes and insist on the right to be involved in the drafting of any such Hydrocarbon Act.

But beyond this, I suggest it is time to come to terms with the grim realities of President Bush’s “noble cause,” what he now describes as “progress in return for Americans’ continued support and sacrifice.” It is time to discard the logical fallacy of funding the war to “support the troops.” We need to revolt against these craven politicians, insist that Congress heed our will and stop working for the war profiteers.

In short, Congress must stop funding the war and bring our troops home now.

by Medea Benjamin
TheNation.com
May 22, 2007

Some people get up early to have a leisurely breakfast and read the newspaper before going off to work, while others fly out the door with their coffee cup in hand. Whatever your morning routine, let me suggest a thirty-second addition that could help stop the war in Iraq: Call your two senators and tell them to bring the troops home in 2007.

Earlier this year, I virtually moved from my home in San Francisco to Washington, DC, to pressure Congress to end the war. I’ve learned a few things in these last few months:

• Both branches of Congress are conservative, but the Senate is downright Jurassic. While the House of Representatives is sprinkled with women and blacks and Latinos, the Senate is stocked with one dark-gray suit after another. Rich white men still compose about 80 percent of the Senate, their average age is 60 and even those who call themselves Democrats often think and act like Republicans.
• Active constituents around the country tend to know their House Rep but have little contact with their senators. House members are up for election every two years and feel obliged to mix with the masses from time to time (town hall meetings, community events). Senators are much more isolated and elitist.
• While neither branch of Congress has fulfilled the will of the American people to stop the war in Iraq, senators have been the worst. In the House, there is the Out of Iraq Caucus, the Progressive Caucus, a plethora of bills to stop the war; in the Senate, it has fallen virtually to Russ Feingold to lead the charge to get out of Iraq.
• When House and Senate bills go to joint conference to hash out the final bills, the House bills get watered down by the more conservative Senate. With the first version of the 2007 supplemental war spending bill, the House had a fixed timetable for withdrawal, the Senate version sent to Bush dropped the fixed timetable. The same will be true of the second supplemental bill that will be presented to Bush: The Senate version will take out any remaining House restrictions and allow this war to drag on and on.
• The series of call-ins, sit-ins and other pressure campaigns aimed at Congressional Reps have had an impact in the House: 171 Representatives (169 Democrats, 2 Republicans) voted for Congressman Jim McGovern’s bill for withdrawal to begin within ninety days of enactment and be completed in 180 days. It didn’t pass, but the vote represented a significant 73 percent of Democrats. By contrast, a similar bill introduced by Senator Feingold to bring the troops home by April 1, 2008, got only twenty-nine votes in the Senate, representing merely 57 percent of Democrats and no Republicans.
• Several Republican senators have expressed misgivings about the war and even protested the surge—Chuck Hagel, John Warner, Susan Collins, Norm Coleman—but they all voted for continued war. Twenty-one Republican senators are up for re-election in 2008 and many of their seats— such as Gordon Smith of Oregon and Susan Collins of Maine and the retiring Wayne Allard of Colorado, are extremely vulnerable. The time is right to go after Republican senators up for re-election.

While most of the Senate is deaf to the cries of the majority of Americans to bring our troops home quickly, some senators are listening—those running for President. All the Democratic senators running for President supported Feingold’s bill to bring the troops home by April 1, 2008: Christopher Dodd (a co-sponsor), Joe Biden, Barak Obama and even onetime hawk Hillary Clinton. Their votes don’t represent their great antiwar convictions but rather the tremendous pressure they are getting on the campaign trail.

In fact, whether in the Senate or not, all the Democratic presidential candidates are falling over themselves to be more antiwar than the next. John Edwards has apologized for his 2002 vote authorizing Bush to invade Iraq and has been taking out full-page ads in major newspapers saying “Support the Troops, End the War.” He supported the Feingold bill but said it should go further by beginning withdrawal immediately and pulling all troops out in a year. Bill Richardson calls for troops out in 2007. Congressman Dennis Kucinich, the only one who doesn’t have to beef up his antiwar credentials, has now one-upped the others by adding the impeachment of Dick Cheney to his platform.

It’s obvious that these Democratic candidates, who are out among the public day after day, feel the pulse of the nation and are taking antiwar positions to win votes. Unfortunately, other senators aren’t feeling that same kind of pressure.

If we want to end the war, this must change. Our senators—especially the seventy-one who failed to support Feingold’s bill—need to hear from us on a regular basis. So why not add to your morning routine a call to your senator with a simple reminder to bring our troops home in 2007? If enough of us make those calls, perhaps the senators will actually wake up and smell the coffee.

Editorial — Erie Times News
Published: March 21. 2007 6:00AM

You could call what happened in the lobby of the U.S. District Courthouse political theater. You could call it an anti-war protest. Or a peace protest. Or even a simple nuisance.

But what best describes what occurred Monday is pure democracy in action.

Nine members of the Erie Peace Initiative blocked the doors at the courthouse in a symbolic effort to close the building and protest the Iraq war.

It was a small protest against bigger forces and bigger events. It was, if you wish, a quiet exercise.

The protesters let lawyers walk past them into the courthouse. There was no shouting or screaming as supporters outside the courthouse sang and carried signs to protest America’s conflict in Iraq. Then it ended as security officials and the FBI arrived.

These Americans’ patriotism or motives should not be questioned. They engaged in a tidy piece of civil disobedience, which fit the spirit of America’s democratic traditions.

It was quiet but not insignificant.

Everyone involved — law enforcement officials, lawyers, people doing business at the courthouse — carried on without much fuss and simply allowed events to take their proper course. People did their jobs and went about their business. What glorious routine.

Whether the men and women from the Erie Peace Initiative changed any minds is perhaps less important than their open lesson of taking a stand and the reactions that it drew. That they were allowed to protest in dignity and face the legal consequences without incident said good things about all of us.

Democracy is often messy, defined by dissent. No matter the size or volume.

Liars Started War; Why Trust Them To End It?
The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: A11
Thursday, September 28, 2006

Thursday, Sept. 21, marked the International Day of Peace established by the United Nations in 1981. This year it also marked the culmination of the Declaration of Peace campaign with 360 communities in all 50 states taking action to end the war in Iraq. (See www.declarationofpeace.org.)

Here in Madison a dozen people committed themselves to 27 hours of action. Some of us risked arrest by sitting in at Sen. Herb Kohl’s office, others of us handed out leaflets in front of his office on the Square, many of us fasted, and all of us spent hours solemnly reading the names of the thousands of U.S. military and Iraqi civilian deaths. In the evening we were joined by scores of people who came for a rainy candlelight vigil.

All day Friday people came up to Sen. Kohl’s office and wrote letters to tell him to “end the war.” Specifically we asked him to sign on to Sen. Tom Harkin’s bill that calls for a withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of 2006 and to the eight-point program set forth in the Declaration of Peace. Kohl still refuses to endorse a timetable for withdrawing our troops from Iraq. He insists it is the responsibility of the Bush administration — the same people who led us into this disastrous war — to determine when our troops should come home.

Why would a dozen ordinary people like us take time out of our busy lives to collectively put 324 hours into an effort to “declare peace”? Because we are tired of the lies that got us into the war and the fear that allows a small group of neo-cons, who now control the government, to make us give up our deepest values. And because we know that peace does not come by killing innocent people.

Democracy is not built at the point of a rifle. Security is not achieved by dropping bombs. Human rights are not honored by torture.

We have brought unimaginable death and destruction to Iraq, but this shameful war is also inflicting the same horror on us. Ironically, this past Friday, the 2,974th American soldier died in Iraq, thus surpassing the total deaths from the attacks of 9/11. Another 20,000 have been wounded, tens of thousands are returning from Iraq emotionally and spiritually scarred, and America’s moral authority is tattered.

Our children and grandchildren will be saddled with paying the economic cost of this war. The National Priorities Project says Congress has already appropriated over $316 billion for the war with no end in sight. Much-needed social and environmental programs will go unfunded because war profiteering and tax cuts for the super-rich are not the basis for a sound economy.

We declared peace and stood up for the America we believe in — an America that:

Lives out its ideals by being an equal partner in the community of nations — not by being a military superpower.

Deals with heinous crimes like 9/11 with the rule of law — not by waging pre-emptive war or engaging in torture.

Protects our national security by honoring civil and human rights for all — not by using illegal wiretaps and detentions, secret tribunals, and other unconstitutional procedures.

We acted because we believe in an America where “dissent is the highest form of patriotism” and we hope for the day when all citizens exercise their rights and responsibilities.

This column was submitted by area residents Joy First, Mary Beth Schalgheck, Steve Burns, Janet Parker, Daryl Sherman, Char Brandl, Susan Spahn, Todd Kummer, Jim Murphy, Jackson Tiffany, Jo Vukelich and Bonnie Block.

The Capital Times
Madison, WI
Guest column

Thursday, Sept. 21, marked the International Day of Peace established by the United Nations in 1981. This year it also marked the culmination of the Declaration of Peace campaign with 360 communities in all 50 states taking action to end the war in Iraq.

Here in Madison, a dozen people committed themselves to 27 hours of action. Some of us risked arrest by sitting in at Sen. Herb Kohl’s office, others of us handed out leaflets in front of his office on the Square, many of us fasted, and all of us spent hours solemnly reading the names of the thousands of U.S. military and Iraqi civilian deaths. In the evening, we were joined by scores of people who came for a rainy candlelight vigil.

All day Friday, people came up to Sen. Kohl’s office and wrote letters to tell him to “end the war.” Specifically, we asked him to sign on to Sen. Tom Harkin’s bill that calls for a withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of 2006 and to the eight-point program set forth in the Declaration of Peace. Kohl still refuses to endorse a timetable for withdrawing our troops from Iraq. He insists it is the responsibility of the Bush administration - the same people who led us into this disastrous war - to determine when our troops should come home.

Why would a dozen ordinary people like us take time out of our busy lives to collectively put 324 hours into an effort to “declare peace”? Because we are tired of the lies that got us into the war and the fear that allows a small group of neo-cons, who now control the government, to make us give up our deepest values. And because we know that peace does not come by killing innocent people.

Democracy is not built at the point of a rifle. Security is not achieved by dropping bombs. Human rights are not honored by torture.

We have brought unimaginable death and destruction to Iraq, but this shameful war is also inflicting the same horror on us. Ironically, this past Friday, the 2,974th American soldier died in Iraq, thus surpassing the total deaths from the attacks of 9/11. Another 20,000 have been wounded, tens of thousands are returning from Iraq emotionally and spiritually scarred and America’s moral authority is tattered.

Our children and grandchildren will be saddled with paying the economic cost of this war. The National Priorities Project says Congress has already appropriated over $316 billion for the war with no end in sight. Much-needed social and environmental programs will go unfunded because war profiteering and tax cuts for the super-rich are not the basis for a sound economy.

We declared peace and stood up for the America we believe in - an America that:

• Lives out its ideals by being an equal partner in the community of nations - not by being a military superpower.

• Deals with heinous crimes like 9/11 with the rule of law - not by waging pre-emptive war or engaging in torture.

• Protects our national security by honoring civil and human rights for all - not by using illegal wiretaps and detentions, secret tribunals and other unconstitutional procedures. We acted because we believe in an America where “dissent is the highest form of patriotism” and we hope for the day when all citizens exercise their rights and responsibilities.

Joy First, Mary Beth Schalgheck, Steve Burns, Janet Parker, Daryl Sherman, Char Brandl, Susan Spahn, Todd Kummer, Jim Murphy, Jackson Tiffany, Jo Vukelich, Bonnie Block

Published: September 28, 2006

Wisconsin Foreign Policy
The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: A8
September 22, 2006

Arguably, the biggest lie in politics is the claim that foreign policy issues ought not be the concern of state officials.

When the United States engages in adventures abroad, the blowback always hits states. The $200 million-a-day cost of the Iraq war is paid out of a federal budget that is then “balanced” by cheating the states out of needed funding for education, health care and housing.

Legislators from the Madison area recognize that fact, and seven of them have added their names to the national Declaration of Peace campaign, which calls on Congress to get U.S. troops out of the quagmire in Iraq.

State Sens. Fred Risser and Mark Miller have joined Reps. Spencer Black, Terese Berceau, Joe Parisi, Mark Pocan and Sondy Pope-Roberts in signing the pledge. Black, an organizer of the legislative endorsement of the campaign, explained: “We believe the effort to achieve peace is essential to the well-being of our state and we want to show our support for bringing a quick end to the war in Iraq.”

What are the legislators and hundreds of other area residents signing onto?

The Declaration of Peace calls for:

• The withdrawal of U.S. troops and all coalition forces.
• No permanent U.S. military bases and installations in Iraq.
• Support for an Iraqi-led peace process, including a peace conference to shape a post-occupation transition and an international peacekeeping presence if mandated by this peace process.
• The restoration of Iraqi control over its oil resources and the political and economic life of the nation.
• Reparations and reconstruction funding to address the destruction caused by the U.S. war and 13 years of sanctions.
• Increased support for U.S. veterans of the Iraq war.
• No so-called “preventive” war against Iran or any other nation.
• The establishment of a “peace dividend” for job creation, health care, education, housing, and other vital social needs.

In considering which legislators merit re-election this fall, we’ll certainly consider the fact that these senators and representatives had the wisdom to recognize that the war is a state issue, and that opposition to the continued U.S. occupation of Iraq is the right position for Wisconsin and the nation. We hope that voters will be similarly inclined, just as we hope they will ask legislators who have not signed the Declaration of Peace to do so.