Michigan Coalition for Human Rights

STATEMENT ON BUSH'S NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY

"MCHR Rejects Bush's National Security Strategy"
October 15,2002

Why does George W. Bush want war with Iraq? Almost single-handledly, he has created a crisis, and brought our country to edge of war. Despite consensus among experts that Iraq does not pose a significant threat to the United States, and has less capacity than several of Iraq's neighbors, Mr. Bush and some members of Congress continue to insist on 'regime change.' His "National Security Strategy" (NSS), published 9/20/02, provides the most likely explanation for this policy.

That document calls for the United States to act as the head of a world-wide empire, and to take sole responsibility for maintaining control and crushing challenges to its domination.

The NSS describes an aggressive military and foreign policy, ignoring international opinion that has guided the Bush Administration from the beginning. It has abandoned the Kyoto Global Warming Accord, rejected the International Criminal Court, withdrawn from the ABM treaty, rejected a verification protocol of the Biological Weapons Convention, discarded the Convention on the Prohibition of Land Mines, boycotted the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Review, dismissed the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, and plans to place weapons in space.

Bush's policy proposes a pre-emptive attack against perceived enemies, a doctrine totally at odds with international law. The NSS lays out a plan for permanent U.S. military and economic domination of every region of the earth, with no concern for international agreements. It calls for a dramatic expansion of the U.S. global deployment of U.S. military, already stationed in 130 nations.

A background paper to the NSS published in 2000 recommended a huge increase in the military budget, from $280 billion in 2000 to $380 billion-Bush's actual proposal for 2003! It envisions new permanent military bases in the Middle East, Southeast Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. Mr. Bush has placed U.S. troops in the Republic of Georgia, in the Philippines; now he proposes a dramatic increase in the U.S. role in Colombia.

The debate over invasion of Iraq is really a debate over America's future. Will the United States be the leader of an international consensus, or unilateral policeman of an American World Order that serves as the shield for corporate world domination?

MCHR emphatically rejects the proposed war on Iraq, as we do the proposed expansion of the American role in Colombia. More fundamentally, we reject the unilateral American World Order envisioned by Mr. Bush. We call upon all those who value human rights to recognize the extreme danger of this moment in our history. Together let us work unceasingly to clarify the real issues. Let us defend the human rights of all peoples against unilateral domination.

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STATEMENT ON WAR AGAINST IRAQ "WE WILL NOT STAND IDLY BY" January 16, 2003 We are representatives of Detroit's religious, peace, educational, and labor communities. We share a belief in the sacred value of human life and human rights. We deeply deplore the cruelty of the Saddam Hussein regime and would rejoice in a peaceful transfer of authority in Iraq leading to a democratic government. We advocate the full and exhaustive use of peaceful and diplomatic initiatives to avoid an immoral, unwise and counter-productive military attack on Iraq. We believe that such an attack would be catastrophic for Iraq's long-suffering people. It would destabilize already fragile world political conditions. It would result in widespread death and injury to innocent civilians and young soldiers on both sides. We ask our fellow Americans to join us in calling on our government to forswear the overt violence of war, and instead to work patiently through inspections and rigorous diplomacy to bring the nation of Iraq into a peaceful relationship with the United States and the world. We pledge our support and our effort to achieve that end. -------------------------------------------------------		STATEMENT ON BUSH'S NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY "MCHR Rejects Bush's National Security Strategy" October 15,2002 Why does George W. Bush want war with Iraq? Almost single-handledly, he has created a crisis, and brought our country to edge of war. Despite consensus among experts that Iraq does not pose a significant threat to the United States, and has less capacity than several of Iraq's neighbors, Mr. Bush and some members of Congress continue to insist on 'regime change.' His "National Security Strategy" (NSS), published 9/20/02, provides the most likely explanation for this policy. That document calls for the United States to act as the head of a world-wide empire, and to take sole responsibility for maintaining control and crushing challenges to its domination. The NSS describes an aggressive military and foreign policy, ignoring international opinion that has guided the Bush Administration from the beginning. It has abandoned the Kyoto Global Warming Accord, rejected the International Criminal Court, withdrawn from the ABM treaty, rejected a verification protocol of the Biological Weapons Convention, discarded the Convention on the Prohibition of Land Mines, boycotted the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Review, dismissed the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, and plans to place weapons in space. Bush's policy proposes a pre-emptive attack against perceived enemies, a doctrine totally at odds with international law. The NSS lays out a plan for permanent U.S. military and economic domination of every region of the earth, with no concern for international agreements. It calls for a dramatic expansion of the U.S. global deployment of U.S. military, already stationed in 130 nations. A background paper to the NSS published in 2000 recommended a huge increase in the military budget, from $280 billion in 2000 to $380 billion-Bush's actual proposal for 2003! It envisions new permanent military bases in the Middle East, Southeast Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. Mr. Bush has placed U.S. troops in the Republic of Georgia, in the Philippines; now he proposes a dramatic increase in the U.S. role in Colombia. The debate over invasion of Iraq is really a debate over America's future. Will the United States be the leader of an international consensus, or unilateral policeman of an American World Order that serves as the shield for corporate world domination? MCHR emphatically rejects the proposed war on Iraq, as we do the proposed expansion of the American role in Colombia. More fundamentally, we reject the unilateral American World Order envisioned by Mr. Bush. We call upon all those who value human rights to recognize the extreme danger of this moment in our history. Together let us work unceasingly to clarify the real issues. Let us defend the human rights of all peoples against unilateral domination. -------------------------------------------------------
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