Note: As this article was being prepared, George W. Bush sent to Congress his draft resolution calling for unlimited war powers applicable not just to Iraq, but to the entire Middle East. The need for immediate action to prevent an illegal, unwarranted, and unprovoked war is extremely urgent. The co-chairs of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism ask its members, supporters, and all opposed to war to deluge Congress now with phone calls and messages urging rejection of this perilous resolution. The phone numbers and addresses of members of Congress can be quickly obtained at www.congress.org.

"Stop the Race to War"

Never in recent history has the threat of war by the United States upon another country been so unjust and so heavily constructed upon layers of falsehood.While the White House prattles about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, that country has been debilitated by a decade of sanctions which have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, its weapons stocks heavily depleted by UN inspections, its defenses pulverized by illegal US-British bombings, its internal landscape fractured by division so great that Saddam Hussein cannot control much of his own country, much less credibly threaten the largest and most lethal military power in history. Even if Iraq sought nuclear weapons or a biochemical stockpile (which are possessed by other countries, including the US), the slightest hint of use would bring retribution too horrible to contemplate.The underlying motives for "regime change" in Iraq are ill-concealed and have been widely reported in media all over the world. Influential right wing ideologists in key positions have been working overtime to assure that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein is only the first step in transforming the entire region into a reservoir of US and Israeli interests. The Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot, the Boston Globe and many other sources report that a RAND study, the Pentagon Senior Advisory Group, JINSA (the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs), Douglas Feist, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, John Bolton and others under Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney perceive Iraq as a "tactical pivot," Saudi Arabia as a "strategic pivot," and Egypt at the "big prize." They seek to reconfigure the entire Middle East starting with the overthrow of Saddam, then transforming Saudi Arabia into a "western style free market democracy," spreading US-style parliamentary rule to Egypt, forcing Syria out of Lebanon, and creating a Jordanian-Iraqi Hashemite state which could possibly absorb Palestinians transferred from Israel, thus accommodating the Sharon vision that "Palestine is Israel."In addition, press reports pile up (see the Washington Post, Sept. 15, 2002) that the US is looking to a post-Saddam "bonanza" by taking control of Iraq's 112 billion barrels of oil and canceling existing oil deals between Iraq and French and Russian interests. The contemptuous opening response to the Iraqi offer of unconditional inspections underscores the nearly unimaginable depth of the Bush administration's determination to unleash its military might for war to overthrow a government by force and violence and impose its will upon the global system through unbridled use of first strikes and preemptive war.As far-fetched as these scenarios may be, their right wing proponents keep pushing the particular elements and fanciful visions of those scenarios. They also fuse them with a conviction that unchallenged post-Cold War US military power can make their dreams come true ~ fueling the Bush administration's determination to allow nothing in the realms of logic or diplomacy to dissuade it from going to war. Thus, Bush and company arrogantly dismiss proffers of unconditional inspections, bully the UN, and turn their backs on the near-unanimous opposition by their own allies to an unprovoked US attack.Add to all that the pointed remarks today (September 20) on the Senate floor of Robert Byrd (D-W.Va) who asked how and why this drumbeat for war on Iraq "came out of the blue." The White House had not produced a scintilla of evidence that linked Iraq to al Qaeda or to the terror of 9/11. Did the war fever have anything to do with Bush's falling poll numbers prior to discovering a mortal peril from Iraq? Many are also asking how much the war frenzy has to do with diverting the public's and media's attention from a gathering economic storm, a plunging stock market, disappearing pensions, a health insurance crisis, and unprecedented corporate corruption Lest we conclude that the locomotive racing to war cannot be stopped, we should recall that global and national pressure has already forced the White House into going to the UN and Congress, complicating (but certainly not ending) their designs. That locomotive can be slowed and perhaps stopped in the coming critical week and the weeks ahead. A unified and inclusive peace movement is a vital ingredient for stopping the rush to war. Given the transparency of the administration's motives, peace activists need not be distracted by a few shrill voices claiming to be "left" which support an illegal act of aggression in the name of getting rid of a despot. Rather, the peace movement can merge its concerns with a broad public, including some conservative members of the Establishment, which has expressed disquiet over the consequences of overthrowing Saddam Hussein. Among those perceived consequences:· a destabilizing breakup of Iraq along ethnic and sectarian religious lines· new wars over shattered boundaries and control of oil reserves· inflamed anti-Americanism and resurgent terrorism· a new oil crisis with skyrocketing prices and intensified global competition for energy· a projected 80 to 100 billion dollar expenditure for war and its potentially devastating impact upon a fragile economy and an already seriously weakened social safety net· an open-ended US military presence in the entire region· undermining of the Constitution and an intensifying threat to the fundamental civil liberties of all residents of our country· diversion of legal intelligence resources away from those who attacked the United States· setting a dangerous precedent for other countries by launching a preventive war of aggressionToday, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) said: "No Congress should pass a blank check and let any administration fill in the amount later. The resolution proposed by the Administration is overly broad, makes no mention of the efforts to build an international coalition at the United Nations, and is premature."A unified and broadly based outcry for peace can reinforce that sentiment by insisting that Congress and the country not allow itself to be stampeded by White House demands for lockstep acquiescence to its plans. It can insist that Congress and the country pause for investigation and debate before being blustered into conflict with untold and irrevocable consequences. It can ask members of the Senate, in particular, to craft substitutes and amendments reflecting Leahy's concerns.The most immediate need is for a cascade of messages to Congress to pause before handing a blank check to the White House and the Pentagon. To get that pause, there is a need to call the talk shows, write letters to the editor in the local and national press, organize local vigils and demonstrations, and bring back campus and community teach-ins. Peace, labor, civil rights, women's, student, and other organizations should ask for unhurried congressional hearings on Bush's resolution and seek to testify before them And if all who wish to speak at these hearings cannot or will not be accommodated, "people's hearings" should be organized across the country.Such action can slow the locomotive to catastrophe and at last move the country towards a sober period of reflection and discussion over the direction of the nation's foreign and military policies, its domestic priorities, and its place in the world. That would be one of the wisest and best things we have all ever done.

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