Foreign Policy In Focus Sign On Letter

Response Deadline: October 29, 2001, noon EST

Dear Colleague,

"Today we focus on Afghanistan," President Bush told the nation in announcing the first U.S. strikes on October 7, "But the battle is broader." We should expect, the president told Congress, "a lengthy campaign, unlike any we have ever seen."

But will these and future bombings, covert ops, and other military operations really protect us? Are they the right, just, and smart response to the new threat of international terrorism? Many have grave doubts. While most Americans, as well as the international coalition, support a relatively short war, there is growing concern that a more elaborate conflict risks turning into a global war that will lead the U.S. into new political and military quagmires, while only fanning the flames of terrorism and doing little to increase our national security.

America needs a new agenda for combating terrorism--one that secures us against terrorist attacks and that integrates the use of force within an international legal and policy framework. This agenda must bring international terrorists to justice, debilitate their capacity to wage terrorism, and undermine the political credibility of terrorist networks by addressing related political grievances and injustices.

Foreign Policy In Focus, an international network of foreign policy experts, is presenting such an agenda to the policy community and to the public as a new framework for combating terrorism and protecting our security. We urge you to indicate your support for this reform agenda either as an organization or individual. We will present this New Agenda to Combat Terrorism to the media and policymakers, along with the individual and institutional expressions of support.

Below, we outline a four-part framework for a new national security policy that counters terrorism and propagates justice by:

Preventing and mitigating the effects of terrorist violence.

Strengthening the national and international legal system to insure that those responsible for planning, financing, directly supporting, and engaging in terrorist violence are held accountable. When necessary, the use of military force may need to be used to advance the rule of law within a multilateral and international legal framework.

Defending and promoting basic civil liberties and rights at home while working to insure that individuals and groups are neither made into scapegoats nor become the victims of hate crimes. Abroad, the policy must insure that U.S. efforts at combating terrorism do not increase violations of internationally recognized human rights and that, in all cases, innocent civilians are not harmed in the pursuit of terrorists.

Attacking the root causes of terrorism by addressing the socioeconomic and political conditions that enable terrorism (in whatever form and for whatever ends) to appear to be a viable strategy for pursuing political objectives.

Sincerely

Tom Barry and Martha Honey
Directors, Foreign Policy In Focus

If you support this reform agenda, please fill in information below, and click send.

I. Personal Information

Name
Organization
Affiliation (if any) with FPIF
Email address
User category(ies)	Student Academic NGO Staff Concerned Individual Government Official Church Leader Other. Specify:
Where are you? (city, state, country)

FPIF Home | Site Index | Search | Subscribe | Feedback | Donate