Stop the Wars! Justice Monday, April 17th at noon

Money for Jobs, Education, Housing and Healthcare – NOT WAR!

Join the Westchester Social Justice Community as CFOW takes the lead on Monday, April 17th at noon at the Fountain in downtown White Plains as we challenge militarism and illegal wars and drone strikes.

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Why We Oppose the US Attack on Syria

 

Concerned Families of Westchester

April 11, 2017

 

Concerned Families of Westchester strongly opposes the Trump administration’s aggression against Syria. Opposition is doubly important now because of the bi-partisan support bombing Syria has received from our nation’s mainstream media and political elite.  We call on organizations and individuals throughout Westchester to join us in rejecting this immoral and unwarranted use of force and not allow such a dangerous development to go unchallenged.

 

Our reasons for opposing the April 6, 2017 bombing of the Syrian airbase are as follows:

 

1. The bombing was an act of aggression under international law and the UN Charter, and an unconstitutional act under US law.

 

1. Under the UN Charter, the use of force or the threat of the use of force in international disputes is legal only if a) the use of force is done in self-defense in response to an attack; or b) the use of force is in accord with a resolution of the UN Security Council. The US bombing met neither of these requirements.

 

1. Since 2001, Presidents Bush and Obama justified military action by using the congressional resolution passed after 9/11, which authorizes the use of “necessary and appropriate force” against those who “planned, authorized, committed, or aided” the al-Qaeda attacks of 9/11.  There is no way that Syria can be connected with 9/11 and al-Qaeda. Without explicit congressional authorization, the attack on Syria was unlawful.

 

1. The US act of aggression preceded and interrupted attempts to determine just what happened in Syria on April 4, 2017, and just who was responsible for the release of poison gas that killed dozens of civilians.The Syrians and their Russian allies claim that the Syrian bomb hit a target in a rebel area that was either a bomb storage facility or a bomb manufacturing facility.  What is the truth?  Following the chemical weapons incident on April 4^th, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons sent a Fact Finding Mission to Syria. The US attack on the airbase negated the possibility that the UN might take informed action on this question.

 

1. US aggression against Syria only prolongs a war that has already killed more than 500,000 Syrians and displaced millions. Moreover, US military action in Syria raises the dangerous possibility of a military conflict with Russian forces there. A ceasefire and negotiations, not military action for “regime change,” should shape US policy in Syria, as should greater efforts to help refugees and those displaced in Syria itself.

 

Discussion and Request for Endorsement

Opposition from progressive organizations to Trump’s attack on Syria is especially important now because leaders of both the Democrat and Republican parties and almost all of the mainstream media have been strongly supportive of the use of force against Syria.  If the “progressive” base of our country does not take a strong public stand against Trump’s aggression against Syria, this will signal the US political elite that aggression – not only against Syria, but possibly against North Korea, Iran, etc. – will be politically rewarded.  The path to ending the conflict in Syria is clear: an end to efforts to overthrow the Assad government, the establishment of a ceasefire, and renewed peace negotiations. War has been tried, but it doesn’t work; give peace a chance!

 

We ask our friends and allies throughout Westchester to endorse this statement and/or to draft their own statement in opposition to the US bombing of Syria.  We think it is incumbent on all progressive organizations to take a stand against war in this moment of peril, whatever the primary focus of the organization happens to be. More generally, we cannot have the goods and services we want and need at home if we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars each year on wars abroad.  Without constraining and eventually ending our nation’s drive for worldwide domination, the need for real “human security” at home will remain unsatisfied.

 

References

 

What Happened on April 4^th?

Phyllis Bennis, “Trump, Syria, and Chemical Weapons: What We Know, What We Don’t, and the Dangers Ahead,” Common Dreams [April 6, 2017] [Link]

 

Vijay Prashad, “Is Trump Going to Commit the Next Great American Catastrophe in Syria?” Alternet

[April 5, 2017] [Link]

 

Kevin Gosztola, “How Do Media Outlets Know Source Of Chemical Attack Was Syrian Government?”

ShadowProof [April 5, 20107] [Link]

 

By Col. W. Patrick Lang, “US Intelligence Already Knows Assad Did Not Drop Chemical Weapons,” Popular Resistance [April 9, 2017] [Link].

 

Scott Ritter, “Wag The Dog — How Al Qaeda Played Donald Trump And The American Media,” Huffington Post [April 9, 2017] [Link].

 

The Attack on Syria was Illegal and an Act of Aggression

Joshua Keating, “Are Donald Trump’s Airstrikes on Syria Legal?” Slate [April 7, 2017] [Link]

 

Alex Emmons, “Legal Experts Question Whether Trump’s Syria Strike Was Constitutional,” The Intercept [

[April 7, 2017] [Link]

 

Some Responses to the Attack

Glenn Greenwald, “The Spoils of War: Trump Lavished With Media and Bipartisan Praise For Bombing Syria,”’ The Intercept [April 7, 2017] [Link].

 

Norman Solomon, “Russia-Baiting Pushed Trump to Attack Syria—and Increases the Risks of Nuclear Annihilation,” Common Dreams [April 10, 2017] [Link]

 

[Statement by Veterans for Peace], “Veterans For Peace Condemns U.S. Actions In Syria” [Link].