Veterans' Voices
on War and Peace

Retired General Dissents, Big Media AWOL
By Jan Barry

Retired Marine General Anthony Zinni favors peace over war in the Middle East, but the large media outlets ignore his message.

Veterans Against Iraq War
Military Veterans, Active Duty, and Family Members

Dear Veteran:

If you are convinced that the U.S. is engaging in and seeking out unnecesary wars, then you are confronted with a choice: ignore the crisis, dismiss it as another political conflict beyond your influence, or do something to stop the war. You can band together with other veterans and give voice to what all of us know is true: this adminsitration is engaging in a permanent war and this is wrong!

While other Americans pontificate and theorize about war, we know about its cruel reality. The present Administration is led by men and women who chose not to serve in the military and today have little understanding of war and no comprehension of its consequences. For all too many of them, war is little more than an abstract exercise in geopolitics.

Whether you fought in a war, performed your duty in a support capacity or served our nation during a time of peace, it's all the same: America needs you, again! Whether you are liberal, conservative, libertarian, centrist, green or whatever -- American needs you. Once, you put your body on the line in the service of our nation. You can now serve our nation with your experience and your wisdom.

Please read the Statement of Purpose below, if you agree with the Statement, fill out the form and submit. There is a separate form for family members. This Statement with the list of signatories was delivered to the White House, where it was rejected. But we will return.

Stewart Nusbaumer
Igor Bobrowsky
Jan Barry

Veterans Against Iraq War is a coalition of American veterans who support our troops but oppose war with Iraq or any other nation that does not pose a clear and present danger to our people and nation.

Until and unless the current U.S.Administration provides evidence which clearly demonstrates that Iraq or any other nation poses a clear, direct and immediate danger to our country, we oppose all of this Administration's pre-emptive and unilateral military activities in Iraq. Furthermore, we cannot support any war that is initiated without a formal Declaration of War by Congress, as our Constitution requires.

Although we detest the dictatorial policies of Saddam Hussein and others like him throughout the world, and sympatize with the tragic plight of the Iraqi people, we oppose unilateral and pre-emptive U.S. military intervention on the grounds that it establishes a dangerous precedent in the conduct of international affairs, that it could easily lead to an increase of violent regional instability and the spread of much wider conflicts, that it places needless and unacceptable financial burdens on the American people, that it diverts us from addressing critical domestic priorities, and that it distracts us from our goals of tracking down and destroying international terrorists and their lairs.

Furthermore, we do not believe that the American military can or should be used as the police force of the world by any administration, Republican or Democrat. Consequently, we believe that the lives and well being of our nation's soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines should not be squandered or sacrificed for causes other than in the direct defense of our people and nation.

Finally, we believe that a doctrine of pre-emptive and unilateral U.S. military attack on Iraq or any other nation is illegal, unnecessary, counter-productive and presents a truly dire and distressing threat to our vital international interests and basic national security. As military veterans, we have a unique understanding of war and know the many hidden truths that lie behind war's easy theories and promises, as well as behind the tragic consequences that even, "victory" brings. We therefore call on all like-minded veterans and family members to endorse this statement and support us in our efforts to help avert, mitigate or stop a national tragedy and an international calamity.

We ask that you support our troops, by demanding that they be brought home from Iraq immediately. We ask that you support our nation's vital interests, by demanding that our troops should never be placed in harm's way except to meet and defeat any direct and immediate threat to our people.

VETERANS, to Endorse Veterans Against Iraq War CLICK HERE!

FAMILY MEMBERS, to Endorse Veterans Against Iraq War CLICK HERE!