Compiled and written by Guy Dauncey, Victoria, BC, Canada
www.earthfuture.com
Ten Ways to Stop the War with Your Mind
41. Educate yourself. Your arguments will be more powerful if you study what’s happening.
* What is the Project for a New American Century? This is the scary reality behind the war. See http://truthout.org/docs_03/022803A.shtml and www.newamericancentury.org, and click on "A Statement of Principles" at the top of the page. Read Michael Renner’s superb article The New Oil Order - Washington's War on Iraq is the Lynchpin to Controlling Persian Gulf Oil from Foreign Policy in Focus: www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=5529. Watch the slide show www.usgreens.org again, and note the data at the end. How can we be so sure Saddam has weapons of mass destruction? The US companies that sold them to him kept the receipts. See www.cbc.ca/insite/COMMENTARY/2003/2/20.html
What is the Project for a New American Century? See http://truthout.org/docs_03/022803A.shtml
42. Develop Clear Arguments. They will help you enormously in any kind of debate.
Top Ten Reasons Why the US and Britain Should Stop their War on Iraq:
www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/iraq/invadeIraq082702.html
Fifteen Arguments Against the War on Iraq: www.eclipse.co.uk/exeter/stopwar/15args.shtml
Seven Arguments Against Bombing Iraq: www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=13898
The War on Iraq – the Debate Summarized: www.greenhealth.org.uk/IraqDebate.htm
Read Scott McLarty's "64 Reasons to Oppose George W. Bush's Planned Invasion of Iraq".
Read the moving speech of Charlotte Aldebran, a12-year old from Maine: www.commondreams.org/views03/0218-05.htm
43. Learn by reading. Here are some books you can order from your library or bookshop:
Target Iraq, by Norman Solomon and Reese Erlich. Context Books, 2003. www.contextbooks.com/newF.html
The Fire This Time by Ramsey Clark. Left Books, Updated 2003. Tells the truth about U.S. war crimes against the Iraqi people in the 1991 war. www.iacenter.org
War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn’t Want You to Know, by William Rivers Pitt with Scott Ritter. Context Books, September 2002. www.war-on-iraq.com
Before And After: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Sept. 11 Crisis by Phyllis Bennis & Noam Chomsky. Olive Branch Press, September 2002.
Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism by Stephen Zunes, Common Courage Press, September 2002.
War Plan Iraq: Ten Reasons Against War with Iraq by Milan Rai, Noam Chomsky (Introduction), Verso Books, (November 2002).
Challenge to Genocide: Let Iraq Live by Ramsey Clark and others, International Action Center, 1998.
Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War eds. Anthony Arnove, and Ali Abunimah, South End Press, December 2002.
44. Explore the Internet. Here are some useful reading places:
TruthOut: www.truthout.org
Common Dreams: www.commondreams.org
ZedMagazine: www.zmag.org
The Nation: www.thenation.com
Alternet: www.alternet.org
Pacific News: www.pacificnews.org
End the War: www.endthewar.org
War on Iraq: www.contextbooks.com/waroniraq
Lawyers Against the War: www.lawyersagainstthewar.org
Forum and live chat site against this unjust war: www.real-humanity.com
45. Learn about depleted uranium. Why is it so relevant? Look at the photos of horribly deformed babies born in southern Iraq, and ask yourself, “Is this right?” You’ll find the location for the photos in the EcoNews article.
EcoNews: www.earthfuture.com/econews/du
Helen Caldicott on Depleted Uranium: http://traprockpeace.org/caldicottondu.html
46. Read some good speeches. Start with “This reckless administration may reap disastrous consequences” by Senator Robert Byrd” www.wagingpeace.org/articles/03.02/0213byrd_speech.htm
47. Call your local radio station whenever they have a phone-in or open phone-lines, and speak your mind.
48. Exchange your US dollars for Euros. This fits here, because it takes some clear thinking to get your mind around it. The core of the argument is that the US has enjoyed economic primacy through the US dollar for the past 50 years. This has allowed the US to run enormous deficits and accumulate an enormous debt, based on the belief around the world that the US dollar is the world’s most secure currency. The current US national debt is $6,416 billion, growing by $1.29 billion a day (see http://brillig.com/debt_clock). In November 2000, Saddam started selling Iraqi oil for Euros, instead of dollars, and the rumor is that the US government is alarmed that if other countries followed, the flow of dollars needed to sustain the debt would dry up, causing a collapse in the value of the dollar. For more on this, see www.whatmatters.nu/wmeletters/wmeletters26.html.
49. Set up a local debate, and invite representatives from politicians who support going to war to pitch their case, in dialogue with those who oppose war. Tell the media.
50. Prepare a public talk based on the "Ten Reasons Why We Should Stop the War in Iraq", and offer to present it to local schools, colleges and clubs.
