March 17, 2003, Traverse City, Michigan
As citizens concerned for the health and safety of our soldiers we are symbolically blocking their deployment and informing them of the illegality of participating in a war with Iraq. We are hoping that given this information that they will reconsider their actions.If the United States goes to war with Iraq without UN support they will be in violation of the UN charter.
If the United States goes to war with Iraq with or without UN support, they will be in violation of the Nuremberg Charter, which prohibits the waging of a pre-emptive war or to conspire to wage a pre-emptive war.
Also article 54 of the Geneva Convention prohibits the destruction of civilian infrastructure necessary for survival. The U.S. has been in violation of this for the past12 years.
Over 9000 Veterans of the first Gulf war have died since their return to the U.S. due, in no small part, to exposure to toxic conditions in Iraq. The U.S. and Great Britain left three hundred tons of depleted uranium on Iraqi soil, which has caused untold suffering to our soldiers and Iraqi citizens. This is also a violation of the Geneva Convention.
For over 6 months we in the Traverse City area have been voicing our opposition to this possible war. We have been in the streets, we have written to our representatives and to the Record Eagle. The City Council has passed a resolution opposing a pre-emptive war against Iraq without UN support. But our President continues to ignore the whole world as well as us. Now we are speaking with our bodies to further make our concerns known.
WE ARE PATRIOTIC
WE LOVE OUR SOLDIERS
WE DON’T WANT THEM SACRIFICED IN AN ILLEGAL AND UNETHICAL WAR.Prepared by Traverse Area Citizens Concerned For the Safety and Well Being of Our Soldiers