CREDO Action & Courage to Resist & Don’t Attack Iran – 2018-11-12 23:22:48
https://act.credoaction.com/sign/no_wall_sbcc
ACTION ALERT: Tell Congress:
“Hold the Line on Border Wall Funding”
CREDO Action
WASHINGTON (November 10, 2018) — Donald Trump was so desperate for votes that he manufactured a xenophobic crisis ahead of the midterms.
He demonized a caravan of refugees and deployed thousands of active duty military troops to the border to gin up supporters. [1, 2] He just enacted another racist ban on asylum seekers. [3] And now he is bringing his racist hysteria to Congress and demanding border wall funding as part of end-of-year budget negotiations. [4] That is unacceptable.
Voters just gave a diverse and progressive group of Democrats control of the House. [5] To stop Trump and Republicans’ anti-immigrant agenda, we need to make sure that this new Congress has a chance to weigh-in on the upcoming budget fight. That’s why CREDO is teaming up with our friends at the Southern Border Communities Coalition to demand that the current Congress reject any end-of-year funding bill that greenlights construction of a border wall or expands DHS. [6]
Will You Add Your Name Now?
Tell Congress: Not one taxpayer dollar for Trump’s wall of hate. Pass a clean continuing resolution with no right-wing poison pills to fuel the deportation machine.
Months ago, Trump Republicans kicked the can on DHS budget negotiations to avoid a public backlash over family separation before the midterms. Now Congress has until Dec. 7 to pass legislation that will keep DHS running, and Republicans are already pushing for a bill that would fund a border wall and expand ICE, CBP and DHS as a whole. [7]
Congress should hold Trump and Republicans accountable for ripping immigrant families apart. Funding Trump’s wall and supercharging his rogue deportation force should not even be on the table.
Trump’s border wall isn’t just unnecessary, a waste of millions of taxpayer dollars and harmful to the environment and communities who live in the southern border region, but it’s also a monument to hate.
Building it would hand Trump a major political victory and ramp up attacks on our communities. It would prove to his racist base of supporters that he has the power to deliver on hateful campaign promises, no matter how extreme they are. If we want to undermine Trump’s white nationalism, we need to make sure Congress blocks the wall.
Remember, for every Trump collaborator who uses immigrants to sow fear and hate, there are people just like you who are standing up to their divisive tactics and organizing to protect neighbors, friends and family members. Yours are the voices Congress needs to hear during this next round of budget fights.
ACTION: Tell Congress: Not one taxpayer dollar for Trump’s wall of hate. Pass a clean CR with no right-wing poison pills to fuel the deportation machine.
Thanks for speaking out.
References:
1. James LaPorta and Tom O’Connor, “Migrant Caravan: U.S. military will have up to 14,000 troops, many are armed, ready to intervene at Mexico border,” Newsweek, Oct. 29, 2018.
2. Sarah Westwood, Kevin Liptak and Jeff Zeleny, “Trump says he will restrict asylum, claims troops will shoot at rock throwers,” CNN, Nov. 2, 2018.
3. Dara Lind, “Trump signs a 90-day asylum ban for border crossers,” Vox, Nov. 9, 2018.
4. Burgess Everett, “Trump preps for border wall fight with Dems,” POLITICO, Nov. 7, 2018.
5. Southern Border Communities Coalition, “Trump’s endgame: Stoke fear of immigrants to fund vanity wall,” accessed Nov. 8, 2018.
6. Jane Timm, “Women candidates smash more barriers in history-making election night,” NBC, Nov. 6, 2018.
7. Alexander Bolton, “McConnell says he will push for border wall funding,” The Hill, Nov. 7, 2018.
8. Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Nicholas Fandos, “Pelosi and Trump Agree on Something: She Should Be Speaker,” The New York Times, Nov. 7, 2018.
ACTION ALERT:
US Troops Have a Legal Right to Refuse
Illegal Orders to Attack Asylum Seekers or
Participate in a ‘Pre-emptive’ War on Iran
Courage to Resist
“Refuse illegal orders!” –
Col. Ann Wright (US Army, ret.)
(October 9, 2018) — This summer, what might have been the defining low point of previous administrations, was simply the outrage of the moment: A plan to have the military host massive concentration camps of upward of 200,000 immigrant detainees across the United States, as we reported to you in July.
These camps do not appear to be going up as quickly nor on such a massive scale as first announced (quite possibly due to the resistance on many levels), but they do appear to be moving forward. On the Texas border at Tornillo Port of Entry, a tent city that first detained a couple hundred children a few months ago will hold nearly 4,000 kids by the end of the year.
Few people actually join the military to travel to distant lands to kill people. Fewer still join to help run concentration camps. Under both US and international law, military personnel have a moral and legal obligation to refuse to comply with any order that involves collaboration with these camps, but unfortunately few are aware of this fact.
That’s why we need your help. Together, we’re going to launch a strategically targeted communications project to reach service members across the country with this message:
• These camps are illegal and immoral.
• You have a responsibility to refuse and expose these orders.
• Direct military resistance is powerful.
A 2007 Petition Worth Reviving:
2007 Petition Calls on US Military Personnel to Refuse
Illegal Orders to Launch ‘Preemptive’ Attack on Iran
RevComUS
(October 14, 2007) — A new petition that appears on the website AfterDowningStreet.org begins:
“ATTENTION: Joint Chiefs of Staff and all US Military Personnel:
“Do not attack Iran.
“Any preemptive US attack on Iran would be illegal.
“Any preemptive US attack on Iran would be criminal.”
The petition says: “To attack Iran, a sovereign nation of 70-million people, would be a crime of the highest magnitude.”
Among the signatories to the petition listed on the AfterDowningStreet.org site are:
* Daniel Ellsberg, author of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers;
* Thom Hartmann, author and Air America radio host;
* Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, Tikkun and Chair, the Network of Spiritual Progressives;
* Cynthia McKinney, former Congresswoman;
* Willie Nelson, entertainer;
* Cindy Sheehan, Gold Star Families for Peace;
* Norman Solomon, author and syndicated columnist;
* Elizabeth de la Vega, former federal prosecutor and author of US v. George W. Bush;
* Gore Vidal, author;
* Ann Wright, US Army Colonel (Retired) and US diplomat who resigned in March 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war.
Under the subhead “Legal basis for our Request — Do not attack Iran,” the petition points out:
“The Nuremberg Principles, which are part of US law, provide that all military personnel have the obligation not to obey illegal orders.”
This part of the petition also says:
“Following the orders of your government or superior does not relieve you from responsibility under international law. Under the Principles of International Law recoginized in the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal, complicity in the commission of war crime is a crime under international law.”
As part of the “Background,” the petition points out:
“The Bush Administration’s charges against Iran have not been proven. Neither the development of nuclear weapons, nor providing assistance to Iraq would, if proven, constitute justification for an illegal war.”
The petition goes on to say:
“The people of Iran have little control over their government, yet would suffer tremendously should the US attack. Bombing raids would amount to collective punishment, a violation of the Geneva Convention, and would surely sow the seeds of hatred for generations to come. Children make up a quarter of Iran’s population.”
In the section titled “Know the Risks Involved in Refusing an Illegal Order or Signing This Statement,” the petition notes:
“We knowingly and willingly make this plea, aware of the risk that, in violation of our First Amendment rights, we could be charged under remaining sections of the unconstitutional Espionage Act or other unconstitutional statute, and that we could be fined, imprisoned, or barred from government employment.
“We make this plea, also aware that you have no easy options. If you obey an illegal order to participate in an aggressive attack on Iran, you could potentially be charged with war crimes. If you heed our call and disobey an illegal order you could be falsely charged with crimes including treason. You could be falsely court martialed. You could be imprisoned.”
This is a very significant statement. The people who are taking this stand should be supported if they come under attack from the authorities for exercising their rights.
The petition can be found online at dontattackiran.org.
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
