Tell Congress: Use War Powers Act to Stop
Bombing Libya! End NATO Massacres of Imams and
Other Civilians!
SIGN online petition at iacenter.org/africa/libyawarpowersact to send
messages to House and Senate Foreign Relations Committees, congressional
leaders, the Obama administration, the U.N. Secretary-General, Security
Council, General Assembly President and member states, and the national
and international media
On May 19 the war against Libya will reach its 60-day mark. On that date this
criminal war will be in explicit violation of the War Powers Act.
The War Powers Act is a U.S. law that grew out of the struggle against the
war in Vietnam. It requires a president involved in a military conflict lasting
longer than 60 days to come before Congress for authorization to continue
the war.
Knowing that this war is immoral, illegal and based on lies, the Obama
administration has refused to address the reasons behind initiating yet
another war after years of death and destruction in Afghanistan, Pakistan
and Iraq.
In the past 57 days of a war that was promoted as a "humanitarian
intervention" to enforce a "no-fly zone," the U.S. and NATO have conducted
more than 2,500 bombing missions.
A May 13 NATO bombing killed 11 Islamic religious leaders and injured 47
other members of a highly publicized, unarmed religious peace delegation of
150 Imams and other Islamic leaders. The NATO command has
acknowledged the attack occurred.
This was a deliberate, targeted massacre by U.S./NATO aircraft. The
religious leaders were gathered to attempt a meeting of peace and
reconciliation with the NATO-supported opposition. The attack occurred in
the city of Brega, which is 500 miles east of Tripoli and close to the area
under opposition control.
Since time immemorial, in every country and culture, peace delegations,
religious delegations and unarmed envoys traveling under white flags have
been accorded respect and safe passage, especially in war zones.
U.S./NATO Command, with reconnaissance predator drones that are able to
read a license on a car, knew exactly what this large, highly respected
Islamic peace delegation was, where the delegates were staying and what
their announced purpose was.
This latest NATO airstrike is a most grievous war crime. It is an
unprecedented new level of international lawlessness and it reveals a
dangerous escalation of the war on Muslim people. It comes on top of the
ongoing criminal assassination attempts on Col. Gadhafi that have already
killed his son and three of his grandchildren.
NATO bombs have hit numerous civilian targets including the Libyan Down's
Syndrome Society, a school that provided speech therapy, handicrafts and
sports sessions for disabled children. NATO Planning Staff claim that "All
NATO targets are military targets,"
And the New York Times reports that Gen. Sir David Richards, Britain's top
military commander, is propsing that NATO target Libyan "infrastructure,"
including electrical power grids and fuel dumps, in government held areas.
Such targeting would be an attack on the civilian population that would
constitute a war crime according to the Geneva Conventions.
We believe the people of Libya, North Africa, the Middle East, the U.S. and
the world deserve a debate on the need to immediately end this war.
With the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression having a
continued impact on the peoples of the U.S. and the world, we must stand
up and demand the end to the bombings and other destabilization efforts
against Libya, and all other forms of hostility against this African country.
We need money for jobs, housing, food, health care, and quality education --
not for war and destruction.
Tell Congress, the White House and the corporate media that the illegal and
criminal war on Libya must end now.
Stop the bombs! End the war!
SIGN online petition at iacenter.org/africa/libyawarpowersact
Sample petition text (you will be able to modify it if you like):
To: Sen Foreign Relations Committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee,
Congressional leaders
cc: President President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
Vice President Joe Biden, U.N. Secretary General Ban, U.N. Security Council
President G. Araud, U.N. General Assembly President Joseph Deiss,
members of the U.N. Security Council, U.N. member states, and major
national and international media representatives
USE WAR POWERS ACT TO STOP THE WAR ON LIBYA AND THE NATO
MASSACRES OF ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND CIVILIANS NOW!
On May 19 the war against Libya will reach its 60-day mark. On that date this
criminal war will be in explicit violation of the War Powers Act.
In the past 57 days of a war that was promoted as a "humanitarian
intervention" to enforce a "no-fly zone," the U.S. and NATO have conducted
more than 2,500 bombing missions.
A May 13 NATO bombing killed 11 Islamic religious leaders and injured 47
other members of a highly publicized, unarmed religious peace delegation of
150 Imams and other Islamic leaders. The NATO command has
acknowledged the attack occurred.
This was a deliberate, targeted massacre by U.S./NATO aircraft. The
religious leaders were gathered to attempt a meeting of peace and
reconciliation with the NATO-supported opposition. The attack occurred in
the city of Brega, which is 500 miles east of Tripoli and close to the area
under opposition control.
Since time immemorial, in every country and culture, peace delegations,
religious delegations and unarmed envoys traveling under white flags have
been accorded respect and safe passage, especially in war zones.
This latest NATO airstrike is a most grievous war crime. It is an
unprecedented new level of international lawlessness and it reveals a
dangerous escalation of the war on Muslim people. It comes on top of the
ongoing criminal assassination attempts on Col. Gadhafi that have already
killed his son and three of his grandchildren.
NATO bombs have hit numerous civilian targets including the Libyan Down's
Syndrome Society, a school that provided speech therapy, handicrafts and
sports sessions for disabled children. NATO Planning Staff claim that "All
NATO targets are military targets,"
And the New York Times reports that Gen. Sir David Richards, Britain's top
military commander, is propsing that NATO target Libyan "infrastructure,"
including electrical power grids and fuel dumps, in government held areas.
Such targeting would be an attack on the civilian population that would
constitute a war crime according to the Geneva Conventions.
The people of Libya, North Africa, the Middle East, the U.S. and the world
deserve a debate on the need to immediately end this war.
We need money for jobs, housing, food, health care, and quality education -
Not war and destruction.
The illegal and criminal war on Libya must end now.
Stop the bombs! End the war!
Sincerely,
(your signature here)
SIGN online petition at iacenter.org/africa/libyawarpowersact
