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fyi - thanks to Portside Moderator for this, f. From: Carl Davidson Date: Tue Nov 26, 2002 5:19am Subject: Text of Antiwar Resolution for Chicago City Council Hi folks I think this is a very good model....pass it on ************* City of Chicago, Illinois Resolution No.____ Introduced by: REQUESTING THE GOVERNING BODY TO PROTEST THE CONTEMPLATED WAR ON IRAQ WHEREAS, the citizens of the Chicago and their local elected officials have the constitutional right to petition the national government on this matter of grave concern to our city, the nation, and the world community, and WHEREAS, the residents of the City of Chicago hold high the sanctity of human life; and WHEREAS, the residents of the City of Chicago believe that a democratic nation should neither be an aggressor nation nor pursue an unjust war; and WHEREAS the people of the City of Chicago do not believe it is the right of one nation to dictate the choices of another nation, however heinous the leaders it chooses; and WHEREAS, former United Nations weapons inspectors, other experts, and world leaders have testified that Iraq - unlike North Korea, India, Pakistan, or Israel - neither possesses nuclear weapons nor the capacity to produce them, and does not pose an imminent threat to the United States; and WHEREAS, the actions of the Gulf War, the UN sanctions, and continued bombing of regions of Iraq have already resulted in the deaths of over 500,000 people, predominantly Iraqi women, children, and the elderly, yet have proven ineffective in accomplishing the removal of Saddam Hussein; and WHEREAS, a new attack on Iraq will cause tens or hundreds of thousands more civilian casualties, as well as military casualties on both sides of the conflict; and WHEREAS, The City of Chicago's 18-25 year old population is likely to be a primary source of conscription and recruitment for military personnel to fight a war from which there is no just cause or result; and WHEREAS, the cost to the nation, including the City of Chicago, is estimated to be more than 200 billion dollars, thus depleting the reserves, harming the economy, and resulting in further neglect of education, health care, housing, and the infrastructure, as well as other services desperately in need of repair or reform; and WHEREAS no one to date has been able to articulate why war on Iraq is in the interest of American citizens; and WHEREAS, a war with Iraq has been declared by nearly all U.S. religious leaders as unjust; and WHEREAS, many national security experts, including the Director of the CIA, state that an attack on Iraq is more likely to result in the use of weapons of mass destruction than will a policy of containment; and WHEREAS, the leaders of most Middle Eastern and Muslim nations warn that an attack on Iraq is likely to spur even more animosity toward the U.S. from Muslims around the world and fuel even more Islamic radicalism directed against us; and WHEREAS Osama Bin Laden and the al-Qaeda terrorist network remain a serious threat to our nation that demands security attention; and WHEREAS, United Nations' led inspections have been far more effective in eliminating weapons of mass destruction than have been all the bombing during the Gulf War; and WHEREAS, a war with Iraq is unneeded, unjust, and poses a real threat to our nation and our democratic traditions and rights; NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO hereby voices our opposition to any preemptive strike or act of war contemplated by the President and the Congress of the United States, and resolves that no war against Iraq be undertaken at any time by the United States unless as a response to a direct military attack by Iraq. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the governing body reaffirms The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the principles of international law, and calls on the Bush administration and our representatives in Congress to provide leadership in encouraging peace, democracy, and respect for human rights in Iraq and throughout the Middle East. PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED THIS __day of ______, 2002 Draft-November 26, 2002 _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk