NOW Calls for Peace As Bush Prepares to Declare War

Statement of NOW President Kim Gandy

March 19, 2003

As George W. Bush brings the United States to the brink of war with Iraq, NOW continues to stand with other members of Win Without War and the hundreds of millions of women and men around the world who are calling for peace.

We commend Senator Tom Daschle for his recent questioning of Bush's reported attempts at "diplomacy," and ask why more of our leaders are not speaking out against this pre-emptive strike without support from the Untied Nations. The Bush public relations machine continues to challenge the loyalty and patriotism of anyone asking important questions about the real mission and motives of the administration. And most of the media is reinforcing that message—where some commentators have gone so far as to call it treason.

How can we aspire to advance democracy around the world if we can't practice it here at home? Lending our voices to the demand for peace and open government is what democracy is all about.

Bush wants us to believe that the United States is united for war. But I believe that most of the world is united for peace.

Yes, Saddam Hussein is a maniacal tyrant, cruel and vicious. But where are these brave opponents of tyranny when the threat is here at home?

Women and children, in the U.S. and around the world, know what it is like to live under Code Red—the highest alert and greatest risk to our safety. Our tyrants, also capable of mass destruction, are hunger and homelessness, violence and poverty. We face that tyranny every day in our homes, our workplaces, and our schools.

Asking our government to keep women free from this tyranny is as fundamental a right as any in our Constitution. Yet this administration seems determined to divert desperately needed resources away from saving lives—and to use that money to rain destruction on a poverty-stricken country that is more than 50% children—all to settle a score with one dangerous man.

All signs point to Bush declaring war on Iraq in a matter of days, if not hours. As the drumbeat to stand behind this administration in a time of war gets louder, we must keep raising our voices for peace—and the harder that becomes, the more necessary it is.

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