Mountain View Voices for Peace

c/o PSC, 278-A Hope Street, Mountain View, CA 94041-1308
Telephone 650/969-1545   Fax 650/961-8918
http://www.mvvp.org

December 1, 2003

Hon. Anna Eshoo

698 Emerson Street

Palo Alto, CA 94301

Dear Congresswoman Eshoo:

On behalf of Mountain View Voices for Peace, I am writing to urge you to endorse Peace Action’s Campaign for a New Foreign Policy. We appreciate your consistent opposition to the War on Iraq, but we feel it is also important to establish a set of principles to avoid such dangerous ventures in the future.

As you know, the Peace Action Campaign is based upon a three-point platform:

1. Support Human Rights & Democracy

2. Reduce and Control the Nuclear Threat

3. Cooperate with the World Community

The full text is available at http://www.californiapeaceaction.org/campaigns/platform.htm.

At that level, it’s difficult for anyone with a principled attitude to disagree. We understand, however, that you are concerned about the more detailed statement, “Strengthen international law and stability by opposing the doctrine of ‘preemptive attacks.’” We have heard that you would support this position if the word “unilateral” were inserted before “preemptive.”

Without debating whether there ever might be a case in which the United Nations could justifiably agree to a preemptive attack on a sovereign nation, we believe that there is room for your perspective within the current language. The doctrine of “preemptive self-defense,” as promulgated by the Bush Administration, says that one nation or even a group of nations may launch a war outside the boundaries of international law. You have made it clear that you oppose this doctrine.

Once again, we call upon you to endorse the Campaign for a New Foreign Policy, to join us and many other organizations and elected officials to turn American foreign policy around.

Sincerely,

Lenny Siegel

Steering Committee Member