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American Friends Service Committee ■
Church of the Brethren, Washington Office
Church Women United ■ Common Cause
Episcopal Church ■ Fellowship of Reconciliation
Friends Committee on National Legislation ■ Mennonite
Central Committee
National Council of Churches USA ■ National Council of
Jewish Women
NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Pax Christi USA ■ Unitarian Universalist Association
United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
January
17, 2008
Dear Representative:
On the eve of Martin Luther King Day, Congress has an
opportunity to take a step toward realizing Dr. King’s
vision of a world at peace by mandating a diplomatic surge
for Iraq and its neighbors.
On behalf of the organizations listed above we urge you to
cosponsor and take steps to enact H.R. 3797, the bipartisan
“New Diplomatic Offensive for Iraq Act.”
By passing this bill Congress can mandate and closely
monitor the kind of comprehensive regional diplomacy that we
believe is essential to ending the war in Iraq, preventing
wider war, and stabilizing the region as U.S. forces
withdraw from Iraq. The administration, as H.R. 3797
acknowledges, has already “undertaken critical elements of
the needed diplomatic effort” but says that “significantly
more robust” and sustained diplomacy is needed.
If you are already a cosponsor, we thank you for supporting
this important bipartisan legislation. We urge you to press
for House floor action on this bill at the earliest possible
date. If you have not yet cosponsored the New Diplomatic
Offensive for Iraq Act, we ask that you do so now and also
work to obtain a vote on the bill.
The New Diplomatic Offensive for Iraq Act:
•
requires the president to develop a regional diplomatic plan
for the Middle East modeled on the recommendations of the
Iraq Study Group,
•
directs the president to designate a special envoy to
implement the plan,
•
mandates quarterly progress reports to Congress, and
•
urges the president to work with the UN Security Council to
increase UN support for stability and reconstruction in
Iraq.
Congress can and should take additional steps to end the
U.S. war and occupation in Iraq, and bring peace and
stability to the Middle East. But by passing H.R. 3797
Congress can provide strong bipartisan support for the
vigorous and constructive diplomatic foundation needed in
this administration and the next to overcome past policy
failures and set the U.S. on a new course in Iraq and the
Middle East.
We strongly urge you to support H.R. 3797 and to press for a
vote on this important bipartisan initiative that is very
much in keeping with Dr. King’s conviction that negotiation
with allies and adversaries alike is the way to peace. Thank
you very much for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Mary Ellen McNish, General Secretary, American Friends
Service Committee
Rev. Phil Jones, Director, Church of the Brethren, Brethren
Witness, Washington Office
Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary, National Council of
the Churches of Christ in the USA
Gail Mengel, National Board President, Church Women United
Maureen Shea, Director of Government Relations, The
Episcopal Church
Mark C. Johnson, Ph.D., Executive Director, The Fellowship
of Reconciliation
Joe Volk, Executive Secretary Friends Committee on National
Legislation
Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach, Director, Washington Office,
Mennonite Central Committee.
Bob Edgar, President and CEO, Common Cause
Phyllis Snyder, President, National Council of Jewish Women
Simone Campbell, SSS, Executive Director, NETWORK, a
National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
David A. Robinson, Executive Director, Pax Christi USA:
National Catholic Peace Movement
Rev. William G. Sinkford, President, Unitarian Universalist
Association of Congregations
Rev. M. Linda Jaramillo, Executive Minister, United Church
of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries
James E. Winkler, General Secretary, General Board of Church
and Society, United Methodist Church |
New York, January 17, 2008