Dear Friends,

"What do we do now?" The U.S. military victory in Iraq prompts many people to ask us at FCNL that question. This is Kathy Guthrie, Field Program Secretary, and I want to tell you about our discussions here at FCNL about that question.

But first THANK you for the work you have been doing to spread the message that "War is not the answer." You've been doing a remarkable job. Now, here's our answer to the question "What do we do now?"

This question comes to FCNL from all over the United States but also from Europe, South Asia, the Pacific Basin, Africa, and other places. Not infrequently, the inquiry comes with yet another order for our "War Is Not the Answer" bumper sticker or yard sign. That tells us something: the people in FCNL's community-base know that Iraq was just the first battle of a much larger war and that our FCNL contacts here and abroad are not giving up work to prevent that much larger war.

Here is FCNL's specific response to your question: What do we do now? We continue with our message that "War Is Not the Answer."

First, the U.S. and U.K. military victory in Iraq signals a failure of U.S. policy to keep the peace and to advance the cause of human security. The U.S. military did its job brilliantly. U.S. fighters fought bravely and honorably. The military succeeded. However, the civilian policy makers have failed. They have broken the bank spending scarce tax dollars for their military madness. They have set the world on the road to an endless World War Four. They have handed Al Qaeda and others extremist groups a victory (by giving them the war they wanted to start) and a recruiting paradise (by so angering and alienating most of the world's people). Also, they have taught so-called rogue states that only the credible threat of weapons of mass destruction can deter a U.S. military intervention. Thus, the shot fired in Iraq may be the starting gun of a new arms race around the world, and it may be heard as a casting call for would be terrorists to audition for a new round of terrorist acts here and abroad.

In short, the military victory in Iraq will almost certainly make us less safe, less secure, and, sadly, less democratic. Why less democratic? Because, as the Bush Administration moves the world into a permanent state of war and as more Americans feel (and are) less secure, Congress will almost certainly bend to the will of Attorney General Ashcroft. The Attorney General has crafted a USA PATRIOT ACT TWO that would further and dramatically compromise the Bill of Rights. In effect, we Americans are being told by our government that it must be allowed to destroy our liberty to protect democracy. This is the same idea that spawned the U.S. war in Vietnam with the dopy idea that we have to destroy the village to save it. And that is another powerful reason why "War Is Not the Answer."

So, what do we do now? We keep on keeping on. We build on the very real successes and accomplishments of our efforts to prevent the war in Iraq. Those efforts identified literally millions of new volunteers for the peace and justice movement. This is no hyperbole. We now refine our efforts to inform and organize those millions of concerned citizens. We all work together to prevent the next battle of the Bush Administration's endless war, be it Syria, Iran, North Korea, or another country. We the people take back and protect our inalienable rights as citizens by exercising those rights in public protest. And we convince Congress that "War Is Not the Answer" in time to save the world from the executive branch's military madness.

The administration has led our country down the proverbial garden path with false promises that you get peace by making war, but that path is really their road to American Empire. Most Americans, we believe, would not choose that road. That is the road to a world military disorder. Business, commerce, finance, science, art, and culture would all be discarded down that road, a road that could lead to an Armageddon. It is not too late to turn back. We can still find the road to a global civil society. We can still create policies for human security that affirm every human right. The times are tough. But, as Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward Justice." We have reached an historic moment. At this moment the new, broad, mainstream movement for peace and justice has a job to do. We have to construct a new section of that moral arc of the universe that will put us on the pathway from here to a world free of war or the threat of war. We may not get there, but our children or our children's children could.

Sincerely,

Kathy Guthrie
Field Program Secretary
Friends Committe on National Leigislation