On Thursday a multi-generational delegation including PJALS members, Veterans for Peace, and clergy visited Rep. McMorris Rodgers’ office where we met with her District Director Louise Fendrich and Senator Cantwell’s office where we met with her Eastern Washington Representative Bryan Raines. Both said their offices had received many calls–keep ’em coming! Here’s our quick debrief of our first meeting:
Each person shared his or her own story and most important reasons to vote NO on any authorization of military intervention in Syria:
- People: Military intervention will hurt women and children who are always the majority of “collateral damage.” Everyday people will be hurt by strikes.
- Likelihood of escalation: military intervention will likely escalate violence from multiple sides in this complicated civil war.
- International response is the right response: It is not the role of the US to take military action in response to use of chemical weapons. The Chemical Weapons Convention’s 189 signatories, the International Criminal Courty, and the UN Security Council are the correct bodies to respond.
- Let’s uphold international norms through using international norms!
We shared this great 5-point resource from FCNL: 5 Reasons to Oppose War with Syria.