The Hague Appeal for Peace, which has always
called for the force of law, not the law of force, as the instrument
of international relations, notes with distress that a few nations
are prepared to violate
international law, ignore the voice of the world's second super power,
public opinion, and risk a lawless and violent future.
- We believe the best way to support the young
men and women in military service is to bring them home alive
and well.
- We believe the use of the billions of dollars
that will be required for carrying out the destruction of Iraq
and the $20 Billion per year projected for post war expenditures,
would be better allocated to cleaning up the swamp of poverty,
disease and illiteracy that gives rise to despotic rule and
terrorism.
- We believe the United Nations is the world's
only forum for debating and managing peace and security. We
will defend the fundamental values of international law, of
the Charter of the United Nations, of democracy and human rights.
- We commend those who have resisted blind
reliance on the law of force including most members of the
Security Council and Secretary General Kofi Annan. We are as
critical of the despotic regime of Saddam Hussein as anyone,
but we have learned much over the years about safer ways of
handling tyranny and saber rattling. The quantity and nature
of weapons in today's world is of such lethal consequence that
to risk war is to risk massive numbers of dead, wounded and
people made ill, hungry and homeless and angry.
- The new doctrine of preventive war will do
more to prevent the achievement of democracy and justice in
the world than to prevent terrorism.
- We call on all nations to abide by treaties
and agreements long ago reached that require the elimination
of all weapons of mass destruction.
We grieve with the victims of this atrocity.
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