Compiled and written by Guy Dauncey, Victoria, BC, Canada
www.earthfuture.com

Ten Ways for the Whole World to Stop the War

91. Join the next big protest. Check these organizations for details:

Britain’s Stop the War Coalition: www.stopwar.org.uk

Canadian Peace Alliance: www.acp-cpa.ca/CPAmainEnglish.htm

End the War: www.endthewar.org

MoveOn.org: www.moveon.org

Not in Our Name: www.notinourname.net

Peace.Protest.Net: www.pax.protest.net

Traprock Peace Center: www.traprockpeace.org

United for Peace: www.unitedforpeace.org

92. Pull back the troops, and sign on to the joint French/German plan, involving three times as many inspectors, putting UN forces in Iraq to back the inspectors, and numerous other initiatives.

93. Pull back the troops, set up a full Middle-East Iraqi Summit, including the Kurdish people and Turkey, and start talking.

Adopt the Sojourners Six-Part Plan for Peace: www.sojo.net/action

A. Remove Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party from power. The UN Security Council should establish an international tribunal to indict Saddam and his top officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Indicting Saddam would send a clear signal to the world that he has no future.
B. Enforce coercive disarmament, with greatly intensified inspections to fully enforce all UN Security Council resolutions. The existing US military deployment should be restructured as a multinational force with a UN mandate to support and enforce inspections.
C. Strengthen the arms embargo. The current system for preventing Iraq from acquiring prohibited weapons must be strengthened by a more effective monitoring system and the installation of advanced detection technology on Iraq's borders.
D. Foster a democratic Iraq. The United Nations should begin immediately to plan for a post-Saddam Iraq, administered temporarily by the UN and backed by an international armed force, rather than a US military occupation.
E. Organize a massive humanitarian effort now for the people of Iraq. Humanitarian aid deliveries must be protected, if necessary, by a UN force under Security Council mandate.
F. Recommit to a "Roadmap to Peace" in the Middle East. Reinvigorate and sustain the "war against terrorism." A war against Iraq will fuel anti-American animosity in the Arab world, where cooperation in the war on terror is most needed.

94. Pull back the troops, make a numbered list of the weapons of mass destruction that are still wanted, and propose a staged lifting of the sanctions as each item on the list is checked off, giving Iraq the incentive it wants.

95. Pull back the troops, and launch a wave of citizen diplomacy initiatives to Iran and Iraq – soccer teams, hockey teams, volleyball, table-tennis, weightlifting and wrestling teams, artistic meetings, women’s health teams, renewable energy teams, musicians, film-makers, etc. Invite teams from Iraq and Iran to tour the USA. The organization Search for Common Ground has been doing this in Iran. See www.sfcg.org/locations.cfm?locus=Iran. Match the diplomacy with a wave of publicity about the allegations that Uday Saddam, Saddam’s eldest son, head of Iraq’s Olympic Committee, has been using torture against Iraqi athletes who lose matches or fail to win medals. Shame him into resignation, and exile. See www.jsonline.com/sports/oly02/dec02/ap-oly-saddam's-so120602.asp

96.  Organize an Iran/Iraq Truth and Reconciliation Commission, based on the South African model, to address the pain and anger that underlies the fear and hostility that exists between the two countries. See www.doj.gov.za/trc. Organize another Truth and Reconciliation Commission to share the truth about the history of American, British, Irani and Iraqi relationships in the Middle East. OK, now we’re really dreaming - but one day, the truth has to come out. What our Students are NOT Learning about Iraq: See www.tikkun.org/index.cfm/action/current/article/154.html

97.  Set up and fund a high-powered UN-supported Middle-East Peace and Sustainable Development Initiative, involving people with the stature of Desmond Tutu, Bill Clinton, and Mary Robinson, designed to get the people and the nations of the Middle East region (including Palestine) thinking about their future, and creating joint sustainable development initiatives. The one thing that stands as the greatest barrier to a lasting peace in the region is the absence of any hope among young people that they can achieve ecologically sustainable economic prosperity.

98.  Organize a massive youth educational twinning initiative, with intensive Arabic language immersion schooling, building home-stay relationships between tens of thousands of Middle Eastern and European/North American families, to win the hearts of young people, and open a culture-sharing dialogue.

99.  Focus the world’s efforts to work for Pre-Emptive Democracy in Iraq, for truly independent and free democratic government in Iraq, chosen by the Iraqi people themselves, that will hold free and fair elections, and be committed to civic and human rights. See www.tikkun.org/index.cfm/action/current/article/148.html

100.   Form a coalition of nations whose leaders and people agree to change the way in which they operate their foreign and overseas trade policies, to make mutually agreed sustainable development the binding purpose of these policies. As a planet, we simply must move from domination to cooperation. The first will lead us to mutually assured destruction; the second will lead to lasting peace and ecologically-based prosperity.