[2029] in peace2
vote against kerry to voice opposition to iraq war
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (corrina@MIT.EDU)
Wed Oct 30 15:23:16 2002
From: corrina@MIT.EDU
Message-ID: <1036009121.3dc03ea1ed347@webmail.mit.edu>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 15:18:41 -0500
To: peace-announce@mit.edu, peace-discuss@mit.edu, greens@mit.edu
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----- Forwarded message from Luke Phelan <lphelan@MIT.EDU> -----
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 15:01:07 -0500 (EST)
From: Luke Phelan <lphelan@MIT.EDU>
Reply-To: Luke Phelan <lphelan@MIT.EDU>
Subject: send an f.u. to kerry
To: nutso-flaming-pikans@mit.edu
from yesterdays globe.
KERRY FACES WRITE-IN CANDIDATE OPPOSING HIS VOTE ON IRAQ FORCE
Author(s): JJJGlen Johnson, Globe Staff Date: October 29, 2002 Page: A3
Section: National/Foreign
WASHINGTON - A Cambridge arms control specialist and peace activist is
mounting a write-in campaign against Senator John F. Kerry, hoping to
register public disapproval for his recent vote authorizing President Bush
to use military force against Iraq.
Randall C. Forsberg, a Democrat with a doctorate from MIT who serves as
director of the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies, conceded
yesterday that she does not have a strong chance of unseating Kerry next
week. Instead, she said she hopes that the votes she receives will send an
antiwar message. Forsberg has registered her candidacy with the secretary
of state's office so that any vote for her will be tallied under her name
rather than lumped into an "Other" category when ballots are counted.
"I think it's important for every person in Massachusetts who opposes war
in Iraq to vote for me," Forsberg said. "It won't only send a message to
Kerry, but also sends a message nationally that there are an awful lot of
peple who are opposed to war in Iraq.
"Iraq does not have nuclear weapons," she said. "I think for the United
States to conduct a unilateral war against Iraq is the worst thing the
government can do for the country at this time. It undermines
international law. It hurts the economy. We will occupy a country and take
on its oil fields and add to our superpower status in a threatening
manner. For all those reasons, it's likely to increase terrorist attacks
on US citizens and interests abroad."
Kerry has no Republican opponent in his bid for a fourth term. His only
other challenger is Michael E. Cloud of Wayland, the Libertarian Party
nominee.
In a statement, Kerry said: "While we agree that war is a last resort and
that we must act with the international community, I am convinced that
Iraq's weapons of mass destruction pose a serious threat to this country
and to the world. I continue to believe that a tough resolution combined
with the hard work of diplomacy is the best way for the UN to finally hold
Saddam Hussein accountable."
The Massachusetts Democrat announced Oct. 9 that he would support a
congressional resolution authorizing the use of force, if necessary, to
ensure there are inspections for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Kerry announced his decision after spending months criticizing the
administration's military response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, its
handling of fighting between Israel and the Palestinians, and its early
threats of military action against Iraq.
Instead, the senator counseled diplomacy, especially involvement of the
United Nations and a multinational approach to any military action. In his
speech announcing his support for the Bush administration, Kerry said the
Democrats could claim credit for pushing the president into accepting that
approach.
"That shift has made it possible, in my judgment, for the United States
Senate to move forward with greater unity, having asked and begun to
answer the questions that best defend our troops and protect our national
security," he said.
Kerry opposed a similar resolution in 1991 that authorized military force
in response to Iraq's occupation of Kuwait. The switch raised questions
about whether the senator was changing policy to bolster his expected
candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004. All of the
other expected Democratic candidates, except for Governor Howard Dean of
Vermont, voted in favor of the latest resolution on Iraq.
"The safer vote was to vote with the president, because in most states,
Democrats would have paid a price from Republicans for being soft on
defense," said William Schneider of the American Enter prise Institute.
"It's a vote they didn't want to cast. It puts them all on the spot. And
it is angering some liberals. He's not facing a Republican opponent, but
now it's from some of his own Democrats."
Forsberg, 59, said that after graduating from Columbia University in 1965,
she moved to Sweden and worked from 1968 through 1974 at the International
Peace Research Institute in Stockholm. In 1980 she founded her arms
control institute and wrote the "Call to Halt the Nuclear Arms Race,"
which became a manifesto for the nuclear freeze campaign. She received a
MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the so-called genius grant, in 1983 and a
doctoral degree from MIT in 1997.
Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com.
the article is on-line at:
http://nl9.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=0F6FDE4AFB131
BD8&p_docnum=2
forsberg's website is:
www.rforsberg.com
--puke
pop beats poetry
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