A RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE GOVERNING BODY TO PROTEST THE CONTEMPLATED WAR ON IRAQ.

WHEREAS, Santa Fe is the City of Holy Faith, whose residents hold high the sanctity of human life; and

WHEREAS, the governing body of the City of Santa Fe deplores the events of September 11, 2001 and the grievous loss of life and well-being already suffered by the people of the United States; and

WHEREAS, the United States of America is the most powerful democracy in the world, and as such should lead by example employing humane international diplomatic efforts as the preferred means to resolve international conflict; and

WHEREAS, former United Nations weapons inspectors, other experts and world leaders have contested the present administration’s claim that indisputable evidence exists of Iraq’s present possession of weapons of mass destruction and the ability to deploy such weapons; and

WHEREAS, the United States is unable to verify that any credible proof of a clear and present danger to its sovereignty or harm to its populace exists; and

WHEREAS, in spite of the absence of such threat to the nation’s security, the President of the United States has vowed to take preemptive action against Iraq upon approval by Congress, under the guise of expediency to remove the leadership and destroy weapons of mass destruction; and

WHEREAS, the government of Iraq has agreed to unconditional return of international weapons inspectors to determine Iraq’s compliance with United Nation Security Council resolutions concerning the development of weapons of mass destruction by Iraq; and

WHEREAS, such preemptive strike or a declaration of any act of war is certain to plunge the United States into a war of unpredictable outcome; and

WHEREAS, the devastation of the American landscape and loss of American life at home and abroad is likely to be heavy; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico, including the City of Santa Fe, has in the past been a primary source of conscription and recruitment for military personnel, who will doubtlessly be recruited once again, to fight a war from which there is no benefit to our state; and

WHEREAS, the cost to the nation, including the City of Santa Fe, will be estimated to be in the billions of dollars, depleting the reserves and harming the economy and resulting in further neglect of education, universal health insurance, housing and the infrastructure as well as other services desperately in need of repair or reform; and

WHEREAS, the government of the United States seeks to whip the nation into a war frenzy at the expense of addressing domestic concerns; and

WHEREAS, key European and Middle East allies, Japan, Russia and China oppose United States military action in Iraq;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF SANTA FE hereby protests any preemptive strike or act of war contemplated by the President and the Congress of the United States, and resolves that no war against Iraq be undertaken at any time by the United States without the full support of the United Nations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the governing body reaffirms the Articles of the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the principles of international law, and urges the present administration and our representatives in Congress to work with and through the United Nations to obtain compliance by Iraq concerning the development of weapons of mass destruction, to support fully the return of international weapons inspectors to Iraq for that purpose, and to actively support United Nations diplomatic efforts to encourage democracy and respect for human rights in Iraq.