Call to Action:

A Statement Against War and in Support of Peace and Democracy

(Revised 3/3/03)

Peace Committee, Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting

The United States faces a tremendous crisis domestically and internationally. As Friends, we endorse democracy because it enables each person to be heard in a humanitarian civil society and it best assures that liberty and equality are protected by our government. We repudiate violence and war because these violate the primacy of love, destroy lives, waste precious human and other resources, and tear apart the fabric of society. From its earliest days, the Religious Society of Friends has held that war is contrary to the spirit and to life. Looking to the God within, and listening to the words of great religious leaders, Friends have renounced weapons of war and used the methods of love and self-sacrifice in their place.

Thus, as the nation continues to respond to the attacks of September 11th, it becomes increasingly obvious that the greatest threat to United States may not be from without but from within, from its own government. We do not minimize the horror of the September 11th attacks when both American civilians and symbolic landmarks were destroyed. However, the administration, supported by most members of Congress, is now responding in a manner that strikes at the principles that make the United States a free society.

#1. Administration officials have dramatically increased the power of the federal government:

**They have caused thousands to be jailed, using the power of the federal government to deprive them of liberty and basic American due process;

**They have infringed upon our constitutional right to trial by jury by advocating the use of secret military tribunals as an alternative to open judicial proceedings for citizens and non-citizens;

**They have brought to the United States the practice of mass secret detentions by the federal government, depriving American citizens of the knowledge of even the names of those people being jailed in their name;

**They have unfairly targeted citizens of 13 foreign nations residing in the U.S., requiring them to register with the federal government for no reason other than their nationality;

**They have sought to deprive American citizens of our protection from unreasonable search and seizure through programs such as the proposed Terrorist Information Protection System (TIPS);

**They have undermined the right of American citizens to legal counsel by authorizing the federal government to eavesdrop on attorney/client conversations, even if the citizen has not been convicted of any crime;

**They have advocated the restriction of the right of American citizens to monitor the activities of the administration by proposing that the Department of Homeland Security be exempted from the Freedom of Information Act and whistleblower protections and otherwise encircling the executive branch with an iron curtain of secrecy;

**They have promoted the dismemberment of the American right to privacy by increasing the administration's ability to wiretap and otherwise spy on American citizens;

**They have undermined the separation of powers essential to American democracy by limiting judicial review of executive branch decisions to spy on and detain American citizens.

#2. In addition, administration officials have prepared for a war against Iraq that is without sufficient cause, that will mean the slaughter of innocent citizens in Iraq and other nations, and that will be financially and psychologically ruinous:

**They have misled the American people, and the leaders and citizens of other nations in proclaiming an imminent threat from Iraq;

**They have mobilized weapons and more than 150,000 troops to the Persian Gulf and Middle East bases without a declaration of war, and this number will grow;

**They have redirected billions of dollars in federal funds from domestic spending to the war effort, leaving many to suffer the direct effects;

**They have plunged the federal budget into the deepest levels of deficit spending in U.S. history, and the deficit will grow if war occurs;

*They have glorified the institution of war by unfairly associating it with American principles of freedom, security and greatness;

**They have demonized Arabic people and associated the religion of Islam with evil;

**They have failed to consider the short-term or long-term impacts of war on the emotional, psychological, physical and economic well being of Americans and others residing within our borders;

**They have failed to consider the right to life that citizens of Iraq and other nations who would be harmed by war will suffer.

#3. For these and other reasons, we urge the Members of the Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting:

**To work to contain the true threat to this nation and the world- the Administration - until such time as we can democratically remove them from office;

**To work to prevent war using non-violent means, such as letter-writing, petition-signing, public demonstrations, and supporting the work of FCNL and other organizations in their anti-war efforts;

**To work for peaceful alternatives to war, including the increase of humanitarian support to non-Americans within our own borders and in other lands.

**To educate others about the principles of love, repudiation of war, and the promotion of peaceful alternatives such as the Religious Society of Friends has embraced for four centuries.