Tell Bush, Cheney, and Congress:U.S. HANDS OFF KOREA!Sign the petition online. Please join our online campaign to demand U.S. HANDS OFF KOREA, by sending emails to President Bush, your senators, your congressperson, key congressional leaders and the media telling them you want the U.S. to end its warmongering campaign against Korea NOW!
The text of our online petition is below:
President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Rice, Secretary-General Annan, and Congressional Leaders,
I am writing this letter to oppose the current international warmongering campaign against Korea being carried out by the U.S. government, and to demand that it end immediately!
With the recent routine testing of 7 missiles by the DPRK, the Bush Administration is working overtime to gather international support for sanctions and other hostile actions towards North Korea.
It is important to put the launch of the missiles in perspective to see which country is the real threat to peace in the region.
The DPRK tested 7 missiles, one of them the Taepodong-2 missile. The others were short-range Scud and medium-range Rodong missiles. These tests violated no international law and were completely within that country’s rights as a sovereign state. These sorts of tests are conducted all the time by many countries.
Even the New York Times, in a July 5 editorial, had to admit that, "Since the test poses no direct security threat, and violates no international treaty, there is no justification for any military response, by the United States or anyone else."
The testing of 7 small rockets by the DPRK pales in comparison with the massive military mobilization by the U.S.
On June 14, the U.S. Air Force held “a quality control test” for its 500 Minuteman III missiles. One of these missiles traveled 4,800 miles towards the central Pacific, and three test warheads landed near the Marshall Islands.
At the same time, three U.S. Navy carrier battle groups—including three aircraft carriers, 22,000 troops, dozens of fighter planes and several heavy bombers —were assembled in the western Pacific off Guam in the largest naval mobilization since the Vietnam War. The USS Curtis Wilbur and the USS Fitzgerald, both guided-missile destroyers with massive destructive capacity sit right off the coast of North Korea. The U.S. also sent spy planes on 170 missions over North Korea. Just hours ago, the USS Martin, a 9,200-ton guided missile destroyer with the Navy's most advanced combat weapon system arrived in the region as a direct challenge to the DPRK.
The U.S. still has more than 30,000 troops stationed in South Korea despite widespread, militant opposition to them. Its claims that the troops are there to protect the south from the north are rejected by the majority of southerners. In fact, there have been massive demonstrations against the U.S. military presence.
It's important to remember that President George W. Bush named the DPRK, along with Iraq and Iran, as one of the “axis of evil.” As the whole world witnesses the torture, rape, and murder that "regime change" has brought to the people of Iraq, the DPRK has every reason to be concerned and has every right to take necessary steps to defend itself.
The DRPK has tried repeatedly to get the U.S. to end the state of war that still exists since the 1950-53 Korean War and to sign a peace treaty that would normalize relations between the two countries. The U.S. always refuses. The U.S. war on the Korean Peninsula resulted in the death of 4 million Korean people and the division and continuing U.S. occupation of the country to this day.
Considering the U.S. missile test, the military maneuvers, and the constant stream of threats against the DPRK from both the Republican administration and the Democratic Party leaders, it is quite clear that the Pyongyang government faces a serious threat from the most belligerent and heavily armed military in the world.
As part of the media hype to demonize and isolate the DPRK, Bush and his media mouthpieces have raised the specter of North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons. Again, this must be put into perspective. The U.S. stockpile contains almost 10,000 nuclear warheads. This includes 5,735 active or operational warheads: 5,235 strategic and 500 nonstrategic warheads. The U.S. also has approximately 4,225 additional warheads held in the reserve or inactive stockpiles.
The U.S. is also the only country to ever use nuclear weapons against civilian targets. The Bush Administration has also made it very clear that it considers use of nuclear weapons is acceptable in its global crusade of regime change.
I reject the use of "weapons of mass destruction" as justification for a campaign of sanctions and hostility against the people of North Korea.
I denounce this fabricated crisis as just the latest in a string of distortions generated by Washington to justify its program of endless war.
I demand:
- An end to Washington's campaign of lies and hostility towards the people of North Korea.
- An end to the military operations targeting North Korea.
- That the U.S. end the state of war with North Korea that has lasted more than 50 years.
- The immediate withdrawal of the U.S. naval carrier groups deployed against the DPRK.
Sincerely,
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