Fwd: Emergency Petition to the Security Council

[Lori <lori@web4all.it>]

>Subject: Emergency Petition to the Security Council
>
>Dear MoveOn member,
>
>We've launched an emergency petition from citizens around the
>world to the U.N. Security Council.  We'll be delivering the
>list of signers and your comments to the 15 member states of
>the Security Council on THURSDAY, MARCH 6.
>
>If hundreds of thousands of us sign, it could be an enormously
>important and powerful message -- people from all over the
>world joining in a single call for a peaceful solution.  But
>we really need your help, and soon.  Please sign and ask your
>friends and colleagues to sign TODAY at:
>
>    http://www.moveon.org/emergency/
>
>In the next week, the U.N. Security Council will likely meet
>to decide on authorizing a war against Iraq.  If the Council
>votes to accept a second resolution, it'll be very difficult
>to avert a war.  But if the resolution doesn't get enough
>votes, it'll be a major setback for the Bush Administration's
>plans to invade and occupy Iraq.
>
>In the United States and around the world, millions of us
>oppose a war against Iraq.  We believe that tough inspections
>can disarm Saddam Hussein without the loss of a single life.
>This week may represent our last chance to win without war.
>
>The stakes couldn't really be much higher.   A war with Iraq
>could kill tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians and inflame
>the Middle East.  According to current plans, it would require
>an American occupation of the country for years to come.  And
>it could escalate in ways that are horrifying to imagine.
>
>We can stop this tragedy from unfolding.  But we need to speak
>together, and we need to do so now.  Let's show the Security
>Council what world citizens think.  You can add your voice at:
>
>    http://www.moveon.org/emergency/
>
>Then please ask your friends, family, colleagues,
>acquaintances -- anyone you know who shares this concern -- to
>sign on today.  As the New York Times put it, "there may still
>be two superpowers on the planet: the United States and world
>public opinion."   The Bush Administration's been flexing its
>muscles.  Now let's flex ours.
>
>Sincerely,
>--Eli Pariser
>   International Campaigns Director
>   MoveOn.org
>   March 3rd, 2003
>
>P.S. Here's the letter we'll be delivering to the Security
>Council members along with the petition:
>
>Dear Member of the U.N. Security Council,
>
>We are citizens from countries all over the world.  We are
>speaking together because we will all be affected by a
>decision in which your country has a major part -- the
>decision of how to disarm Iraq.
>
>The first reason for its existence listed in the Preamble to
>the Charter of the United Nations is "to save succeeding
>generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our
>lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind."  If your
>country supports a Security Council resolution that would
>authorize a war on Iraq, you will directly contradict that
>charter.  You will be supporting an unnecessary war -- a
>war which immediately, and in its unknown consequences,
>could bring "untold sorrow to mankind" once again.
>
>The U.N. was created to enable peaceful alternatives to
>conflict.  The weapons inspections under way are a perfect
>example of just such an alternative, and their growing
>success is a testament to the potential power the U.N. holds.
>By supporting tough inspections instead of war, you can show
>the world a real way to resolve conflict without bloodshed.
>But if you back a war, it will undermine the very premise
>upon which the U.N. was built.
>
>President Bush argues that only by endorsing a war on Iraq
>can the United Nations prove its relevance.  We argue the
>opposite.  If the Security Council allows itself to be
>completely swayed by one member nation, in the face of viable
>alternatives, common sense and world public opinion, then it
>will be diminished in its role, effectiveness, and in the
>opinion of humankind.
>
>We do not support this war.  For billions of citizens in
>hundreds of countries, and for the future generations whose
>lives will be shaped by the choice you make, we ask that you
>stand firm against the pressuring of the Bush Administration,
>and support tough inspections for Iraq.  The eyes of the
>world are on you.
>
>Sincerely,
>[Number] citizens of the world.
>
>________________
>
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