Citizen-Based Global Affairs Agendas

No Unilateral Military Strike Against Iraq

Preemptive, unilateral U.S. covert or military action to topple Saddam Hussein's regime is unwarranted and ill-advised for a number of reasons.

The Bush administration has yet to present the American people or the UN with clear evidence that Iraq has attacked or is preparing to attack the U.S., either through support of terrorist groups or with weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
The administration has not presented evidence that Iraq has restored its capacity to produce weapons of mass destruction, a capacity which was largely destroyed by UN weapons inspections teams prior to their withdrawal in 1998.
It is a provocative action against Iraq, which could push Iraq's regime to attack the U.S. in self-defense, using any available means.
The U.S. cannot deliver peace, security, human rights, democracy, and the rule of law to the Iraqis. The role of the U.S. must be to work in solidarity with the people of Iraq and to assure that current U.S. policies do not undermine these goals (such as current U.S. threats of war and the current devastating UN economic sanctions).
There is no support for such action among the peoples and governments in the region except for Israel.
It will undermine cooperative international efforts to bring to justice those who helped carry out the attacks of September 11 and to reduce acts of terrorism around the world.

What should Congress and the U.S. do instead of preemptive, unilateral U.S. covert or military action to topple Saddam Hussein's regime?

Congress should hold fair and balanced hearings on U.S.-Iraq relations and policy options. Hearings should address issues such as the true extent of threat posed by Saddam Hussein to U.S. security, whether the current policy will advance or delay progress toward peace and security in Iraq and the region, humanitarian conditions inside Iraq, the role of the U.S. and the UN in contributing to and alleviating the humanitarian crisis, and how human rights, democracy, and the rule of law might be advanced in Iraq.
The U.S. should support the return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq to objectively assess the status of Iraq's WMD. The inspections must be fair. Inspections should not be used as a pretext or intelligence gathering for U.S. military attacks as they were previously.
The U.S. should work with the UN Security Council to end economic sanctions. Trade and investment in civilian sector goods and services must resume so as to restore the health, well-being, and dignity of Iraq's people, who now depend on meager handouts from the UN "oil-for-food" program and the black market controlled by Saddam's regime.
The U.S. must engage actively with the Israelis and Palestinians to help bring about a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Saddam has exploited and encouraged this violent conflict for his own political advantage against the U.S. throughout the Arab world.
The U.S. should work with the international community to maintain and strengthen the international embargo on weapons sales to Iraq and to expand this embargo to the entire region.

-- Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)

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Related Action:

FCNL encourages citizens to contact their senators' offices. According to FCNL, lobby visits in mid-June by dozens of grassroots lobbyists from across the country revealed that there are few on Capitol Hill who are willing to challenge the Bush administration's plans to take unilateral, preemptive, military action against Saddam Hussein. Go to the FCNL's "Take Action Now" page:

http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=252021&type=CO

Other Resources:

Why Not to Wage War with Iraq
Talking Points (August 2002)

Chicken Hawks As Cheer Leaders
Jim Lobe (September 6, 2002)

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