[Stopwar-l] Write your MP: Say 'No' to Libya War Extension

[StopWar]

Take Action: Say 'No' to Libya War Extension

This week, Stephen Harper's Conservative government announced that they
will seek to extend Canada's role in NATO war on Libya for another
three-month period. In fact, Harper has said this war will be right near
the top of his agenda in the new Parliament.

StopWar will be writing to all members of Parliament in British Columbia,
urging them to vote against this extension of another costly, unjust war.

We will include in our letter the following statement from the Canadian
Peace Alliance, which we feel outlines a number of important reasons for
opposing this war.

We urge you to send your own message to your Member of Parliament. A full
list of contact information for all MPs can be found here:

http://tinyurl.com/4ybsjk7

In addition to writing your own MP, here are some key email contacts:

PM Stephen Harper: Harper.S at parl.gc.ca

Foreign Affairs Min John Baird: john.baird at parl.gc.ca

NDP Leader, Official Opposition, Jack Layton: Layton.J at parl.gc.ca

NDP Foreign Affairs critic Paul Dewar: Dewar.P at parl.gc.ca

Liberal Leader (interim), Bob Rae: Rae.B at parl.gc.ca

Green Party Leader, Elizabeth May: Elizabeth.May at parl.gc.ca

Let's make it loud and clear that the majority of people in Canada want
spending on public services and human needs, not on military occupations
and wars.

Derrick O'Keefe and Joanna Shniad, StopWar Co-Chairs

***

Stop the extension of the war in Libya

May 23, 2011

The Government of Canada is set to renew its support for the NATO led
bombing of Libya, as the current three-month mandate expires on June 16.
The Canadian Peace Alliance strongly condemns the ongoing NATO attacks
that have killed hundreds of civilians in the country and calls on the
Canadian government to end its support for the bombing.

Canada has already done 300 bombing runs and the cost of keeping planes,
ships and more than 500 military personnel in Libya is at least $100
million a month according to retired Col. Michel Drapeau. Last week, it
was reported that the Harper government had purchased an additional 1300
"smart bombs" for a total price of $130 million.

In total, NATO planes have been on more than 2500 bombing missions. We
know from watching the bombings of Iraq and Afghanistan that civilians are
inevitably caught in the crossfire despite claims that the bombings only
target military facilities. Now British commanders are calling for a much
more widespread bombing campaign against the infrastructure in Tripoli – a
direct violation of the Geneva convention. NATO bombs have already
targeted some infrastructure such as the bombing of a preschool for
children with Down Syndrome.

The NATO intervention in Libya has nothing to do with supporting the
legitimate struggle of the Libyan people for freedom and democracy. The
attack on Libya has but one goal in mind – control of the Arab uprisings
by western nations intent on the plunder of the resources of the region.
The initial enthusiasm shown by some western countries has been tempered
as of late, and divisions within NATO are now apparent. There was
widespread belief that the war would be short and that Gaddaffi would fall
quickly. This has been proven false.

Each NATO bomb that is dropped helps to give Gaddafi the false aura of
being an anti-imperialist fighter and both sides in the conflict are
becoming more entrenched, resulting in a stalemate. NATO planners are
scrambling to find a way out of this impasse and calls for
boots-on-the-ground from some quarters are becoming ever louder.

There have been multiple proposals for a ceasefire by the African Union
and Tripoli has agreed to talks. It is NATO that refuses to enter into any
dialogue to stop the killing.

We demand that the government of Canada call for an immediate ceasefire
and support talks aimed at a mediated settlement. We demand that the
opposition stand against this new war and call for Canadian forces to be
brought home.