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War in Iraq

A Peace Report from Rep. Dennis Kucinich
by Rep. Dennis Kucinich
in Journal issue May-June 2003
May 23, 2003

My fellow advocate for peace,

For more than six months, millions of people throughout the world have joined together against war. Millions have instead stood for peace. And, while we support our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters, our friends and relatives who are enlisted in the service of our great nation, we are united and unwavering in our belief that the conflicts of the world cannot be resolved through perpetual warfare.

As you may know, I am running for President of the United States. I am running because I believe in the cause of perpetual peace, not perpetual war. I believe we must reach out to our adversaries, not with fists clenched to cause mutual pain, but with open hearts to establish mutual understanding.

While I am running for the highest public office in our great democracy, my sights are set even higher than victory in a single election. With your help, I am also trying to build a movement for progressive social, economic, and political change.

I am certain that an historic movement of great and lasting achievement is within our grasp. I am certain because I have marched for peace through our great cities with all of our brothers and sisters. I am certain because I have spoken with so many of you, and each person has shown me their resolute and indefatigable core. And I am certain because each person committed to our movement is connected to the greater whole in common cause as never before.

Technology, and in particular email and the Internet, has played a highly significant role in establishing and reinforcing our strong bond. Over the last several weeks, many of you have written and spoken to me about the lack of meaningful information concerning our movement’s response to the invasion of Iraq. I believe this problem is serious and endemic, and extends to the inadequate reporting of peace-related activities that occurs daily in Washington, D.C.

Today, in response to this problem, I will begin to publish an eNewsletter called the Peace Report. The first report follows below. In this periodic report from our nation’s capitol, I will describe a new kind of campaign that wages peace, not war. It is a campaign being waged every day, at the highest levels of your Federal government, for the cause of peace.

As a Congressman from Ohio and as co-chair (with Rep. Barbara Lee) of the Democratic Progressive Caucus, I act daily with other elected officials to resist endless war. With the Peace Report, I hope to provide you with timely information about our efforts in order to help you take action to promote peace.

The Peace Report will tell you about those elected Federal officials, in many cases your elected officials, who are working to bring an end to this war and to lead this nation to non-violent conflict resolution.

I hope my Peace Report will serve all interested in the cause of peace, regardless who they may choose to support. If you do not wish to receive the Peace Report, for any reason, please follow the instructions at the end of this email.

The Peace Report will initially follow a standard weblog format with journal entries. It will also provide information about upcoming peace- related activities and initiatives in Congress and the Federal government. What follows is our first report. Thank you for reading.

Peace, always, to you and your families and friends,

Dennis

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