another note to senator cantwell before the invasion

September 16, 2002

Senator Maria Cantwell
717 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Fax: (206) 2206-404

Dear Senator Cantwell:

Re: War on Iraq

I am writing to urge you to resist the 'proposed' war on Iraq. I find it laughable that Mr. Bush has asked for UN support for a war against Iraq. Does he think that the world has not noticed that the US has been continually at war with Iraq since the end of the 'Gulf War'? 12 years of US led economic sanctions has lead to the death of well over a half million Iraqi children and the devastation of a once prosperous society. We bomb their military installations on an almost daily basis (it is so normal that the press only bothers to mention it if some hapless Iraqi takes a pot shot at one of the US planes (and is usually blown to smithereens). Resorting to military intervention (what a lovely misnomer for mass murder) when the US has made no attempt at diplomacy is wrong. This type of unilateral global bullying is the exact reason why "they hate us". Mr. Bush is describing this as a necessary step in the "War on Terrorism". Well if one pays any attention to cause and effect, this should create a whole new legion of terrorists. Yes Saddam Hussein is a bad guy (a fact that apparently escaped the Reagan/ Bush people when we supported his killing of 1 million Iranians and the gassing of his Kurdish population in the 1980s). However, this does not justify heaping even more misery on the Iraqi people by bombing what little infrastructure they have in place now. In Afghanistan we were targeting Osama bin Laden who is/was living in the most remote and rural area and we still managed to kill over 4,000 civilians [1] (more than died in New York and DC on 9/11/01) and apparently still did not "get our man". How many citizens in Baghdad will become collateral damage before we bag Saddam? How many would you consider reasonable (10 or 15 thousand? It's a big city 30,000 would still be less than 1% of the population. Smart bombs that are right 99% of the time sounds like a good sound bite). Realistically Iraq does not pose a global threat at this point. If they did wouldn't Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria all support Mr. Bush's plan? I have not heard a word of support from any of them, even Kuwait.

As an elected representative you are supposed to represent your constituents. I would like you to hear very clearly from me, one of your constituents (I have never missed primary or general election or caucus since gaining citizenship in 1988):
stop waging war. In plain and simple terms, I am vehemently opposed to mass murder as a supposed means of conflict resolution. Every time one of our guided missiles or smart bombs kills people I am complicit in their murder. I pay taxes for the betterment of society, not to support the slaughter of foreign citizens. If we want to contain the "threat of Iraq": send in weapons inspectors, send in food and medicine. Give the Iraqi people the fortitude to get rid of Hussein. The US engaging in a "preemptive" invasion Iraq will look pretty much like any other hostile military action in the history books.

Please, speak out for what is right. The US clearly has an overwhelming military advantage against any other country (amazing what trillions of dollars will do, just imagine the world we could live in if we diverted 1/3 or even 1/10 of that on promoting democracy, human rights and health care in the third world?). This does not justify obliterating countries and societies on a regular basis. We need elected officials to speak out clearly, loudly, often and continue on even when pollsters say that 80% (or whatever the number is) of the US people want war. High polling numbers do not make immoral actions right.

Sincerely,

Nic