HANDS OFF SYRIA ACTIONS MOMENTUM GROWS

Roger’s note: This is a concise and precise statement of the folly of the government/media plan to attack Syria.  From the current Senate hearing it is becoming more obvious that this is all about regime change and has nothing to do with chemical warfare.  The burning question is: how to stop the continual blatant violations of international law with impunity for purely imperial objectives, putting in governments in the Middle East that will support U.S. objectives of monopolizing oil reserves.

For more information on actions:

http://www.iacenter.org/actions/hands_off_syria_actions_momentum_grows_090413/

Call for Hands Off Syria! Actions

List of Actions (updated frequently)

President Obama has called for a vote in Congress to authorize an attack on Syria. Congress is scheduled to return on Monday, Sept 9. President Obama is using the same tactics as President Bush did before the Iraq War. When the UN Security Council would not support the U.S. war, Bush turned to the U.S. Congress for a war vote giving him “all necessary means”. Ten years later Iraq lay in ruins. A million Iraqis died, millions became refugees. More than 1.5 million US soldiers were deployed to Iraq. Today thousands of U.S. and NATO soldiers are disabled, traumatized and 1/3 will suffer from PTSD. Just as in Iraq, Afghanistan and earlier in Vietnam this is again a U.S. war based on lies. Bombing Syria is NOT a ‘humanitarian intervention’. It is another war for Wall Street Profit! This time there is a risk of global confrontation or even world war. This war will only serve the billionaires and militarists who profit from war and conquest. The workers and poor will pay, in Syria and here in the U.S.

 

STATEMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL ACTION CENTER

The people have made it crystal clear: We don’t want another war!

Last week there were demonstrations and rallies against bombing Syria in at least 48 U.S. cities. This Saturday, the 1:00 PM Times Square demonstration will be one of dozens across the country. On Monday, September 9, as Congress goes back into session, the Syrian American Forum and others will protest in front of the White House, then march to the U.S. Congress.

The cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan exceeds $4 trillion dollars.

The cruise missiles the US is planning to fire at Syria cost $1.5 million apiece. The profits of the missile’s maker, Raytheon, is soaring — but our cities are crumbling. People are hurting from joblessness, foreclosures, sequester cuts and furloughs. Hospitals and schools are closing.

We need funds for job programs, healthcare and education, NOT billions wasted on war and destruction.

War propaganda always accompanies war. In 2003 before the massive attack on Iraq, it was the lie of “weapons of mass destruction.”

 

In 1991 in the first US war on Iraq it was wild claim that Iraqi soldiers were killing “incubator babies.”

 

In the Vietnam War it was the testimony that U.S. ships were being fired on in the Gulf of Tonkin.

It is ludicrous to think that the Assad regime used chemical weapons on the same day that UN weapons inspectors arrived in Syria. The inspectors were less than ten miles away from the attack and had been invited by the Syrian government.

The U.S. is the last country on earth that should start a war on the basis of combating war crimes.

The Pentagon’s 2004 assault on the city of Fallujah, Iraq alone left the residents there with staggering rates of cancer, birth defects and infant mortality due to the U.S. military’s use of depleted uranium and white phosphorus.

Just last month the recipient of $1.5 billion in annual military aid, the Egyptian government, brutally cleared the streets, killing many hundreds at protest encampments that included men, women and children.

By far, the world’s largest stockpile of chemical, nuclear and every other kind of weapon belongs to the United States — the only country to have used nuclear weapons on civilians.

No, President Barack Obama and Sec. of State John Kerry don’t care about the people of Syria one bit. What they care about is removing a government that gives aid to the Palestinian resistance, Hezbollah and other victims of the Israeli brutality. The repressive regimes in Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf kingdoms beat down the people of the region so that U.S. oil companies can have unfettered access to oil profits.

We don’t want another war for the 1%. The rich will win and the people in the U.S., Syria and the entire Middle East region will lose.

Hands off Syria!

Some of the organizations, coalitions and community groups endorsing Sat. Sept 7 demonstrations: (Full list in formation.)

Syrian American Forum

United National Antiwar Coalition-UNAC

ANSWER Coalition

Code Pink

May 1st Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights

International Action Center

Islamic Leadership Council/Majlis Ash-Shura of Metro NY

Harlem Tenants Council

 

La Peña del Bronx

U.S. Peace Council

Veterans For Peace / Chapter 021, NJ

People’s Power Movement

World Can’t Wait

International League for People’s Struggles/US

People’s Organization for Progress

BAYAN USA

Jersey City Peace Movement

Occupy Harlem

Red Youth

Fight Imperialism Stand Together – FIST

Pakistan USA Freedom Forum

Honduras USA Resistencia

Frente Libre-Honduras

Antiwar Committee

Al Quds Committee

Islamic Leadership Council/Majlis Ash-Shura of Metro NY

Grannies for Peace

Black Waxx, NY

Interoccupy.net, NYC

Guyanese American Workers United, New York, NY

Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement

Advocates For Peace And Social Justice, West New York, NJ

SI Solidarity Iran

People’s Video Network

Click HERE to view more endorsers. Click HERE to endorse, support or list a local action. Click HERE to find an action near you. Or see unacpeace.org

International Action Center
c/o Solidarity Center
147 W. 24th St., FL 2 • New York, NY 10011
212-633-6646
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