• Home
• Issues
  • Prevent War
  • Afghanistan
  • Nuclear Disarmament
  • Federal Budget
  • Environment
  • Immigration
  • Native American
  • More Issues
• Take Action
  • Action Center
  • Contact Congress
  • Grassroots Toolkit
  • War Is Not the Answer
• Join the Network
  • On Quakers
• For Young Adults
• FCNL Green Building
• Donate
• Links

E-News: Cluster Bomb Victory, Iran Talks, and More

March 17, 2009

No More Cluster Bomb Exports
Take the Next Step to Ban Cluster Bombs
Quote of the Week: Talking to Iran
Afghanistan: More Troops + Afghanistan = Catastrophe
From the Quakers' Colonel: Six Years Later in Iraq
Take Action: Urge Your Rep. to Work for Middle East Peace
Immigration: Keep the Border Control on the Border
Grassroots Tip: Where Do Your Members of Congress Stand?
War Is Not the Answer Photo of the Week: Lillian, Alabama

No More Cluster Bomb Exports

Great news! The omnibus spending bill that President Barack Obama signed on March 11 prohibits the United States from exporting nearly all cluster bombs. FCNL coordinates the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Bombs and led the lobbying for this ban. Find out more about the ban in this Congressional Quarterly article.

Take the Next Step to Ban Cluster Bombs

If these weapons are so bad we cannot export them, why should our soldiers use them? They shouldn't. Last week you generated more than 6,000 emails to the Senate in support of legislation to ban U.S. use of cluster bombs. Take the next step: Be part of a national call-in day to your senators on Monday, March 30.

Quote of the Week: Talking to Iran

The United States cannot "have our cake and eat it too… engaging in polemics and diatribes with the Iranians while at the same time engaging seemingly in a negotiating process," former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee March 5. Read the memo by Jim Fine, FCNL legislative secretary for foreign policy, on the Senate testimony and on the debate within the Obama administration on how to manage negotiations with Iran.

Afghanistan: More Troops + Afghanistan = Catastrophe

President Obama is preparing to send 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan. This video, the first part of a documentary directed by Robert Greenwald, questions the U.S. strategy of more troops and more war. Check out the video and spread the word that diplomacy and development, not war, are the answer in Afghanistan.

From the Quakers' Colonel: Six Years Later in Iraq

Looking back over the past six years, Col. Dan Smith (USA, ret.) compares the original intent of the war with what has actually been accomplished. He also reminds us that setting a December 31, 2011, deadline for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops means the world will see three more anniversaries of the U.S. invasion.

Take Action: Urge Your Rep. to Work for Middle East Peace

A resolution recently introduced by Rep. William Delahunt (MA) advances a constructive U.S. approach to Israeli-Palestinian peace. It supports the mission of Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell, affirms that Israeli-Palestinian peace is an essential national security interest of the United States, and supports the creation of a viable Palestinian state living in peace with Israel. Already 89 representatives have cosponsored H. Res.130, more than any previous congressional statement on Israeli-Palestinian peace. Urge your representative to sign on as a cosponsor.

 

Immigration: Keep the Border Control on the Border

This documentary from the Port Townsend (WA) Peace Movement illustrates the activities of U.S. Customs and Border Protection on the Olympic Peninsula and how it affects local communities. Check out the trailer and find out more on FCNL's Immigration: It's Our Community blog.

 

Grassroots Tip: Where Do Your Members of Congress Stand?

One way to answer that question is to find out what bills they have introduced or cosponsored. Our online congressional directory can show you if your members are supporting legislation FCNL is working on. Enter your zip code, click on a member's photo, and then click on Bills. If your member isn't supporting legislation you care about, you can write a message and ask your member to cosponsor the bill.

 

War Is Not the Answer Photo of the Week: Lillian, Alabama

Elaine Buker, a local yard sign distributor, at November 2008 Pensacola Peace Festival sponsored by the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Pensacola. The second annual festival will be held in November 2009. Elaine says, "Y'all come down and see us!"

Order your own War Is Not the Answer sign and put yourself on the map.