Sample Flyer

As pointed out on the Take Action page, the most important thing people not well connected with Congress can do is to spread the word by means of letters to the editor, and email to friends and colleagues, and by passing out flyers. Text for a sample flyer is shown below.

We can't afford another 100 years of the Bush/Cheney/McCain occupation and war policy. We need to end it quickly, before Bush can set his proposed long-term occupation agreement in concrete. This End the War First strategy enables Congress to bypass the 2007 Bush/ Republican obstructions by reframing and refocusing the debate from the war's MILITARY aspects to its POLITICAL aspects -- Bush's true original (and continuing) occupation/war aims of control of Iraqi oil and geo-strategic location -- and then book-ending the original war-authorization resolution with another resolution explicitly repudiating those aims. A formal repudiation of those aims -- which, if clear at the time, would have been unacceptable to Congress and the public as reasons for war -- will effectively deny Bush authority to continue it.

1. The key "Embassy De-fund" bill -- To avoid "troop support and withdrawal" issues, a bill is introduced in Congress to instead de-fund further development and occupancy work on the "embassy" being constructed in Baghdad, whose imperial immensity, expense, and military-command infrastructure blatantly symbolize to the world the true aims of the war.

ACTION:  It takes only one person in Congress to initiate the following process by introducing the above Embassy Defund bill. Contact your Congressperson or Senator and demand that they introduce or cosponsor such a bill. Write a letter to the editor describing this strategy, and spread the idea to your friends.

2. Hold hearings -- The appropriate Congressional committee(s) holds extensive subpoena-supported hearings and debates on this bill to expose the main true purpose and origins of Bush's war, and determine the basic 21st century direction of American foreign policy:

   Do Americans want to continue the unilateral Bush/neocon-attempted imperial hegemony, or would they rather have America become a leader in a world-wide cooperative effort to peacefully and responsibly solve the many world-wide problems that face humanity?

3. End the (political) war -- Since imperial motives were not the reasons given to and by Congress for the original authorizing resolution, the exposure of these enables Congress to end the war POLITICALLY -- quickly, responsibly, and honorably -- by book-ending that resolution with another one repudiating those reasons. This leaves the MILITARY aspects of troop withdrawal to be negotiated in a very different postwar environment.
4. Impeach, if necessary -- If Bush and war-supporting members of Congress attempt to interfere with the war-ending resolution, Congress immediately starts impeachment proceedings against the two chief architects of this war for their fraudulent promotion of it, as well as for other "high crimes and misdemeanors". (In 1974, only 4 months elapsed between the start of impeachment hearings and Nixon's resignation in the face of the inevitable.)
5. Launch a post-war "Marshall Plan" -- A responsible and honorable ending of the war must include a massive post-war "Marshall Plan"-type Iraq rehabilitation effort, managed by a coalition of the UN and Middle East neighbors, and funded largely by the "peace dividend" of the American troop withdrawals. This rehabilitation effort is crucial to resolving the conflict, because Iraq unemployment is reported to be above 50%. As the main inducement to participation in paid military/paramilitary activity, it is a primary cause of the violence, corruption and sectarian conflict in the country.

Contact:   info (at) endthewarfirst.org
Invitation to join this effort