http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/hdZO0IEmZM0Nzt0uoO0EL

Even as matters go from bad to worse in Iraq, the Bush administration appears to have begun military operations in an additional ten countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. Most prominent among these countries is Iran, where the stated goal appears to be identifying targets related to Iran’s nuclear program that could be subject to a preemptive attack.

Click here to take action!
http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/hdZO0IEmZM0Nzt0uoO0EL

According to an explosive article by renowned investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, President Bush has signed a series of executive orders and Presidential findings authorizing the Pentagon to send in reconnaissance teams into a number of countries to prepare for military action without any congressional oversight. Underlying the mission in Iran appears to be the prediction that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would lead to regime change, throwing out the fundamentalist mullahs who largely control the country. The only analysts who share this view also incorrectly predicted that our troops occupying Iraq would be greeted with flowers rather than an insurgency.

Tell President Bush to rescind his executive orders authorizing Rumsfeld to send troops into countries with which we are not at war.

Click here to take action!
http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/hdZO0IEmZM0Nzt0uoO0EL

Please forward this newsletter to your friends and help spread the word about this important campaign!

Inauguration Week proved to be a very productive time for the Peace Movement thanks to AFSC's volunteers and supporters. As approval for the Iraq War continues to fall, it seems that we have reached a turning point.

First, thank you to everyone who signed the Iraq Peace Petition calling for a withdrawal of U.S. troops. Last Friday, we were able to deliver more than 13,000 signatures to the President.

Given the rate that signatures are being added, we know that we have only hit the tip of an iceberg of opposition to the war. So we're extending the life of the petition and will make further signature deliveries through the spring. Please sign the petition now or, if you've already signed, please ask more of your friends and family to do so.

Click here to visit the Iraq Peace Petition:
http://ga3.org/campaign/iraq_peace/wwwundu4a5n3ti8

On Martin Luther King Day, we launched our Wage Peace bracelet. The blue bracelet is a practical way to make the pro-peace majority more visible. To date we have distributed more than 4,000 online and at the Eyes Wide Open exhibit. Proceeds benefit our work to end the war.

Click here to get your bracelet:
http://ga3.org/ct/z7A7S5F1Hm_z/bracelet/

A special thanks is also due to the hundreds of you who called the White House switchboard on the morning after the inauguration to ask the President to "Wake up and end the war" on the first day of his second term.

During inauguration week, AFSC's Eyes Wide Open exhibit made stops at the Washington National Cathedral and the National City Christian Church. At the National Cathedral, the boots were the centerpiece of an interfaith service for Martin Luther King Day that included a moving speech by AFSC Board Chair Paul Lacey.

Click here to read Paul's speech and see exhibit photos:
http://ga3.org/ct/S1A7S5F1Hm_L/eyes-dc

Media outlets from across the country covered the exhibit over the course of the week, reaching millions of people. This would not have been possible without the more than 100 local volunteers who unloaded and reloaded the Eyes Wide Open truck, lovingly arranged boots, and guided people through the exhibit. Thank you!

Eyes Wide Open will be at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis from January 28-31 and in Little Rock from February 1-3. If you're nearby, please visit the exhibit and/or volunteer. If you have friends or family in the area, please forward the information.

See the Eyes Wide Open web site for more dates, locations and local contacts: http://ga3.org/ct/zpA7S5F1Hm_S/eyes/

Stay tuned for more information about how we can work together to end the Iraq war. A supplemental appropriation bill to fund the war will be introduced very soon and we'll be asking you to get in touch with your Congressional delegation. On the weekend of March 19-20 there will be events across the nation to mark the second anniversary of the war.

The momentum to end the war is building. Working together, we can bring the troops home and give Iraq back to the Iraqi people.

Peace,

Peter Lems
AFSC Iraq staff

http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/012605A.shtml

Pentagon Files Reveal More Allegations of Abuse in Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/012605B.shtml

http://www.guerrillafunk.com/thoughts/doc612.html

Informant: SIUHIN

by Jeremy Brecher

Common Dreams

01/25/05

It's time for all Americans to face our responsibility to halt Bush administration war crimes. It's time to give our support to those who are refusing to participate in those crimes. It's time for a new 'Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority.' I for one will say right now that I support those who refuse illegal orders to participate in this illegal war. I know there are many who will join me. To Alberto Gonzales, I would like to say that I encourage all Americans, military and civilian, to disobey orders based on your memos justifying torture. I say it's their legal right, indeed their legal and moral duty, to disobey such illegal orders...

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0125-31.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

While investigators zero in on what happened to billions of dollars allegedly siphoned away in the Oil-for-Food scandal, a less high-profile probe is under way into spending in Iraq. Investigations into how the U.S-led coalition spent Iraq’s oil revenues after the fall of Baghdad in 2003 have found several problems.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145288,00.html


From Information Clearing House