Student Senate Resolution Against the War
Reed College Student Senate
Referendum On War With Iraq
Referred to the Student Body for a Vote [passed 398-55]

Whereas the decision to start a war is perhaps the most significant decision the leaders of a democracy can make; and

Whereas war requires ordering fellow citizens to kill and be killed in the name of the entire nation; and

Whereas for such a decision to be just and legitimate, the reasons offered for war must be principled and arrived at through public debate; and

Whereas to date, the justifications offered by President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, National Security Advisor Rice, their subordinates, and an array of commentators in the media do not justify a U.S. invasion of Iraq; and

Whereas an invasion of Iraq would likely make the region and the world less secure as the destruction of the Hussein regime may lead to prolonged instability in Iraq; destabilization of the wider Middle East including the possibility of a prolonged and heightened conflict between Israel and the Palestinians; increased popular appeal of radical Islamic movements and increased anti-Americanism worldwide; and increased terrorism in the U.S. and abroad; and

Whereas the post-Saddam regime plans currently being entertained by the Bush Administration are overly simple solutions and are dangerously unrealistic in their aims; such approaches could yield greater damage than the status quo, (1) The post-WWII military government put in place in post-WWII Japan would likely serve as a failing model to apply to the situation in Iraq according to experts on Japan's reconstruction, and (2) governance by the fractious and nebulous (many members have been implicated in war crimes committed during the Iran-Iraq War), US-funded Iraqi National Congress would not ensure the rights of the Iraqi people; and

Whereas the claims that this war will accomplish humanitarian goals are of doubtful veracity as the administration has already rebuked Kurdish requests for promises of protection and has assured military ally, Turkey, a state that is oppressive to its own Kurdish population, that the U.S. will not allow the Kurds in Iraq to make their own state; and

Whereas the likelihood of a high cost in lives of both combatants and non-combatants is too great given the weak justifications that have been offered for an invasion and the limited considerations for post-war Iraq; and

Whereas key U.S. allies do not support a unilateral or pre-emptive invasion of Iraq; many nations' governments and peoples allied with the U.S. are urging restraint, demanding more evidence of an Iraqi threat, or opposing a U.S. invasion of Iraq; governmental and popular support in Great Britain, the most stalwart U.S. ally, is weak at best; and

Whereas the Iraqi threat is not credible; the opposition to an invasion among senior U.S. government and military leaders as well as most U.S. allies in the Middle East suggests that the Iraqi threat is not credible; the Bush Administration has presented no credible evidence of Iraqi progress toward making nuclear weapons; if they have such evidence, they should have presented it by now in the face of mounting international and domestic opposition to an invasion of Iraq; and

Whereas a unilateral invasion of Iraq would be illegal under the Charter of the United Nations, to which the U.S. is a signatory; according to the Charter, only the Security Council has legal authority to start wars, with the single exception of national self-defense against armed attack; and

Whereas a unilateral invasion of Iraq would clearly violate international law as it would be illegal under the recently passed UN Security Council Resolution 1441 which emphasizes that the Security Council "Decides to remain seized of the matter"; and

Whereas the current position of administration officials stating that Hussein may provide the U.S. with a reason to go to war if he denies having weapons of mass destruction in the required December 8th listing of the weapons of mass destruction and weapons programs is one that would prematurely call off the inspections process in order to start a war; and

Whereas 88% of students voting in a special referendum election supported this measure and oppose a war against Iraq; and

Therefore Be It Resolved that a majority of Reed College students urge President Bush to neither unilaterally nor preemptively start a war with Iraq; and

Be It Further Resolved that we urge President Bush to end his stated policy that indicates that any non-cooperation on Iraq's part with U.S. demands will justify the use of force by the U.S., as these statements set the standard too low for starting a war with Iraq and, if carried through, would cause the inspections process to be derailed long before that option has been exhausted; and

Be It Further Resolved that we urge President Bush to acknowledge and apologize for U.S. support for Saddam Hussein's regime during some of its worse human rights violations; explain what new standard for foreign policy is being used to avoid such support for dictators in the future as this is important if any claims of interest in human rights or democratic government are to be taken seriously; and

Be It Further Resolved that we urge President Bush to revoke promises already made that compromise rights of self-determination which includes his promise to Turkey that a post-Saddam Iraq will not include an independent Kurdish state; and

Be It Further Resolved that we urge President Bush to clearly define the level and form of U.S. commitment to the human rights and the rights of self-determination of the Iraqi people, rather than simply alluding to U.S. intentions of promoting human rights and democracy in the abstract.