REQUESTING THE EVANSTON CITY COUNCIL
TO PROTEST THE CONTEMPLATED
WAR ON IRAQ

WHEREAS, the citizens of the Evanston and their local
elected officials have the constitutional right to
petition the national government on this matter of
grave concern to our city, the nation, and the world
community, and

WHEREAS, the residents of the City of Evanston hold high
the sanctity of human life; and

WHEREAS, the residents of the City of Evanston believe
that a democratic nation should neither be an aggressor
nation nor pursue an unjust war; and

WHEREAS the people of the City of Evanston do not
believe it is the right of one nation to dictate the
choices of another nation, however heinous the leaders
it chooses; and

WHEREAS, former United Nations weapons inspectors,
other experts, and world leaders have testified that
Iraq - unlike North Korea, India, Pakistan, or Israel -
neither possesses nuclear weapons nor the capacity to
produce them, and does not pose an imminent threat to
the United States; and

WHEREAS, the actions of the Gulf War, the UN sanctions,
and continued bombing of regions of Iraq have already
resulted in the deaths of over 500,000 people,
predominantly Iraqi women, children, and the elderly,
yet have proven ineffective in accomplishing the
removal of Saddam Hussein; and

WHEREAS, a new attack on Iraq will cause tens or
hundreds of thousands more civilian casualties, as well
as military casualties on both sides of the conflict;
and

WHEREAS, The City of Evanston's 18-25 year old
population is likely to be a source of
conscription and recruitment for military personnel to
fight a war from which there is no just cause or
result; and

WHEREAS, the cost to the nation, including the City of
Evanston, is estimated to be more than 200 billion
dollars, thus depleting the reserves, harming the
economy, and resulting in further neglect of education,
health care, housing, and the infrastructure, as well
as other services desperately in need of repair or
reform; and

WHEREAS no one to date has been able to articulate why
war on Iraq is in the interest of American citizens;
and

WHEREAS, a war with Iraq has been declared by nearly
all U.S. religious leaders as unjust; and

WHEREAS, many national security experts, including the
Director of the CIA, state that an attack on Iraq is
more likely to result in the use of weapons of mass
destruction than will a policy of containment; and

WHEREAS, the leaders of most Middle Eastern and Muslim
nations warn that an attack on Iraq is likely to spur
even more animosity toward the U.S. from Muslims around
the world and fuel even more Islamic radicalism
directed against us; and

WHEREAS Osama Bin Laden and the al-Qaeda terrorist
network remain a serious threat to our nation that
demands security attention; and

WHEREAS, United Nations' led inspections have been far
more effective in eliminating weapons of mass
destruction than have been all the bombing during the
Gulf War; and

WHEREAS, a war with Iraq is unneeded, unjust, and poses
a real threat to our nation and our democratic
traditions and rights;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE GOVERNING BODY OF
THE CITY OF EVANSTON hereby voices our opposition to any
preemptive strike or act of war contemplated by the
President and the Congress of the United States, and
resolves that no war against Iraq be undertaken at any
time by the United States unless as a response to a
direct military attack by Iraq.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the governing body
reaffirms The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
the principles of international law, and calls on the
Bush administration and our representatives in Congress
to provide leadership in encouraging peace, democracy,
and respect for human rights in Iraq and throughout the
Middle East.