END THE CIVIL WAR AND REFUGEE CRISIS IN SYRIA
President Barack Obama and members of Congress
Mr. President and Members of the House and Senate:
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We call on you to significantly increase the number of Syrian refugees allowed to come to the U.S., fully fund UN refugee programs to help Syrian refugees, reject calls for military escalation including troop deployments, bombing, arms transfers and imposition of a “no fly zone,” intensify efforts to implement a ceasefire, and engage immediately in negotiations with all involved parties, including Russia and Iran, to end the Syrian civil war with a political agreement. |
Serious, realistic negotiations with Iran produced a political agreement on Iran’s nuclear program that thwarted the push for war.
Instead of diligently pursuing diplomacy, U.S. military interventions in Iraq and Syria are escalating. More troops have been deployed to Iraq. Despite solemn promises, they are now engaged in combat. US troops are being sent into harm's way in Syria despite promises of "no boots on the ground" there. Rather than the promised withdrawal, nearly ten thousand troops will remain in Afghanistan.
Now, while most Republican presidential candidates and Hillary Clinton have called for escalating the war in Syria by imposing a “no fly zone.”
We are on a road to more war, more death, more debt and more austerity that will be called for to sustain this misguided and tragic course of action. This is not what President Obama promised. This is not what the American people voted for.
It’s time for a major course correction.
Our government must take urgent and immediate action, working with all key stakeholders to end these terrible wars. While we work to end the war through diplomacy, helping refugees will cost less money and better protect human life than military escalation.
Instead of investing more blood and treasure in a failed policy that serves no one but the military industrial complex, we should vigorously implement the alternatives to military action that have a better prospect for success, will save lives and cost less, and will enable us to focus on creating well paid stable jobs, rebuild our nation’s failing infrastructure, repair our frayed social safety net, and reduce widening social and economic inequality.
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To:
President Barack Obama and members of Congress
From:
[Your Name]
We call on you to significantly increase the number of Syrian refugees allowed to come to the U.S., fully fund UN refugee programs to help Syrian refugees, reject calls for military escalation including troop deployments, bombing, arms transfers and imposition of a “no fly zone,” intensify efforts to implement a ceasefire, and engage immediately in negotiations with all involved parties, including Russia and Iran, to end the Syrian civil war with a political agreement.