National Days of Action, June 28- July 17, 2013

The White House's June 13th announcement that it would begin directly supplying arms to the opposition in Syria is a dramatic escalation of the U.S./NATO war against that country.  Thousands of U.S. troops and intelligence personnel are training opposition forces and coordinating operations in Turkey and Jordan. Israel, the recipient of more than $3 billion annually in U.S. military aid has carried out heavy bombing raids against Syria. The Pentagon has developed plans for a "no-fly" zone over Syria, threatening a new U.S. air war. The pretext for this escalation is the assertion, presented without any actual evidence, that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons in the conflict that has been raging for more than two years.  Like their predecessors, President Obama and other top U.S. officials pretend to be concerned about "democracy" and "human rights" in Syria, but their closest allies in the campaign against Syria are police-state, absolute monarchies like Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Once again the so-called 'Responsibility to Protect', R2P, is used as a pretext for NATO to dominate this region.

Just as the false claim of "weapons of mass destruction" was used as justification for the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, the allegations that chemical weapons were used by the Syrian military is meant to mask the real motives of Washington and its allies. Their aim is to carry out "regime change," as part of the drive to create a "new Middle East." The invasion of Iraq in 2003, the U.S.-backed Israeli war in Lebanon in 2006, the 2011 NATO bombing of Libya, the now-escalating war in Syria and the growing threats against Iran are part of a coordinated regional effort by the United States, Britain and France to dominate this oil-rich and strategic region. The U.S. government cuts basic services and has eliminated hundreds of thousands of public sector workers jobs in the last three years in the name of  a discredited austerity which has destroyed the economy, but has unlimited billions available for wars of aggression and NSA surveillance of almost every American.

We join together to call for National Days of Action, June 28- July 17, 2013, to demand:

Stop the U.S./NATO/Israeli war and all forms of intervention against Syria!

.        Self-determination free from outside intervention for the Syrian people!

.        Fund people's needs, not the military!

.        U.S. Out of the Middle East!

ENDORSERS
Individuals:
*       Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney general
*       Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence
*       Akbar Muhammad, International Representative, Nation of Islam
*       Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild
*       Cynthia McKinny, former U.S. Congressperson
*       Ardeshir Ommani, President, American Iranian Friendship Committee (AIFC)
*       Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala, candidates, Green Party
*       Prof. Jared Ball, radio host
*       Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report
*       Margaret Flowers & Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance
*       Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report
*       David Swanson, Roots Action
*       Sami Ramadani, journalist and scholar
*       Jim Lafferty, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild/Los Angeles
*       Nada Khader, WESPAC
*       Ron Jacobs, journalist

National Organizations:
*       United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)
*       ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism)
*       United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ)
*       Arab Americans for Peace
*       Arab Americans for Syria - AA4S
*       Veterans For Peace
*       Progressive Democrats of America
*       World Can't Wait
*       Syrian American Forum
*       Voices for Creative Nonviolence
*       International Coalition to Free the Angola 3
*       Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines
*       March Forward!
*       KmB Pro-People Youth
*       Green Party of the United States
*       CRI-Panafricain
*       AF3IRM
*       All-African People's Revolutionary Party (GC)
*       Revival of Panafricanism Forum
*       Ugnayan (Linking the Children of the Motherland)
*       Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL)
*       Socialist Action
*       Pakistan USA Freedom Forum
*       Freedom Road Socialist Organization
*       U.S. Peace Council
*       U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
*       International Action Center
*       BAYAN USA
*       May 1 Workers and Immigrant Rights Coalition
*       Honduras Resistencia USA
*       The Green Shadow Cabinet
*       SI Solidarity with Iran
*       VFP Iran Working Group
*       Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space