New York Times, full page add (approx. December 8)

We Can Win Without War

Major civic groups and thousands of

individual Americans urge President Bush to:

Let the Inspections Work

 Dear Mr. President,

On October 11th, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution on Iraq that authorizes you to use war as a last resort—if and only if diplomacy fails to accomplish the U. S.'s national goals. We are concerned that you have already found Iraq’s response “not encouraging” when the inspectors have only been at work for a matter of days and have not encountered any Iraqi obstruction. In this context, we are also concerned by your administration’s repeated attempts to frame Iraqi anti-aircraft fire within the no-fly zone as a material breach of the re s o l u t i o n . As U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and other U.N. diplomats have pointed out, the resolution clearly excludes such events from its jurisdiction. The United States has made a commitment to approaching the danger that Saddam Hussein poses through the international community. The resumption of the inspections regime is a triumph for the United States, and for international law and multilateralism. But the United States will lose all credibility with its allies if it appears that it will go to war regardless of the inspections’ success. And by alienating and infuriating allies through unilateral action, the U.S. could throw the success of the campaign against terrorism into jeopardy. M r. President, it appears that your administration is looking for an excuse to go to war, when a peaceful and just solution may be at hand. We ask that you live up to your word and give diplomacy a chance. We can win without war.

Signed ,

More than 175,000 members of Move On. org

Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities

Earth Action

Fourth Freedom Forum

NAACP

National Council of Churches

National Organization for Women

NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby

Physicians for Social Responsibility

Sojourners

TrueMajority

Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

Veterans for Common Sense

Women’s Action for New Direction s

Working Assets

For a list of individual signers and their comments, and to sign on to the letter, go to: www.moveon.org/inspections/

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