Worldwide Actions Taken Against War In Iraq
He told reporters after talks with his Belgian counterpart, Louis Michel, that a January 27 report to the U.N. Security Council by arms inspectors seeking to eliminate Iraq's suspected weapons of mass destruction would only be an interim report.
France is chairing the Security Council this month.
``We see no justification today for an intervention, since the inspectors are able to do their work. We could not support unilateral action,'' de Villepin said.
He said he would use a meeting of the 15 EU foreign ministers in Brussels next Monday and Tuesday to seek a united stance on the issue.
EU diplomats say most member states are apprehensive about a possible conflict and fear the timetable is being driven not by Iraqi behavior but by the best weather conditions for a U.S. military strike.
Britain, the other EU member with a permanent Security Council seat, announced Monday it was sending a larger than expected 26,000 troops to the Gulf in preparation for possible action against Iraq.
France and Germany have said any military action would require a second U.N. resolution authorizing the use of force, whereas Washington and London, while not ruling out a new vote, say they already have sufficient legal authority.
The United States and Britain have both said time is running out for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Belgium's Michel said he was on the same wavelength as de Villepin. ``We really think there is a diplomatic, political space to be exploited, and that perhaps the European Union could play that role,'' he said.
De Villepin spoke out against a rush to war in a Security Council debate Monday, backed by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who warned of unpredictable consequences for the fight against terrorism.
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http://www.bordc.org/index.html
Bill of Rights Defense Committee Website
To obtain information on how to “Make your city or town a Civil Liberties Safe Zone” . Visit our Tools page http://www.bordc.org/Tools.htm to find out how!
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
P.O. Box 60591
Florence, MA 01062
(413) 582-0110
BORDCweb@attbi.com
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New York Times
December 23, 2002
Cities Urge Restraint in Fight Against Terror
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
LAGSTAFF, Ariz., Dec. 20 - Nearly two dozen cities around the country have passed resolutions urging federal authorities to respect the civil rights of local citizens when fighting terrorism. Efforts to pass similar measures are under way in more than 60 other places. While the resolutions are largely symbolic, many of them provide some legal justification for local authorities to resist cooperating in the federal war on terrorism when they deem civil liberties and Constitutional rights are being compromised.
Most of the resolutions have passed in liberal bastions like Boulder, Colo.; Santa Fe, N.M.; Cambridge, Mass.; and Berkeley, Calif., where opposition to government policy is a tradition. But less ideological places have also acted, with more localities considering it, from big cities like Chicago and Tampa, Fla., to smaller ones like Fairbanks, Alaska, and Grants Pass, Ore.
Many communities are getting help from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, a grass-roots group in Florence, Mass.
"People are very, very willing and committed to do everything reasonably possible about terrorist threats," said Elliot Mincberg, legal director of People for the American Way, a nonprofit group that works for constitutional protections. "But there is a growing concern about the executive branch is handling this, a unilateral assertion of power that, in many instances, intrudes on people's privacy and is carried out in a very secretive manner."
Art Babbott, the City Council member who sponsored the resolution in Flagstaff that passed last week after intense debate, said: "We've been singing the same song in this country for more than 200 years. It's a very good song, and I want to keep singing it. I'm very leery of changing the lyrics."
Supporters of the resolutions say the measures have grown out of a belief that the Patriot Act of 2001, the Homeland Security Act passed this year and a series of executive orders have given the federal government too much muscle in its war against terrorism at the expense of average Americans, especially Muslims. The 2001 act expands government powers in such matters as electronic surveillance, search warrants and detention.
The Homeland Security Act created a cabinet department for national defense.
In most places, the resolutions carry no legal weight, merely affirming the civil rights as federal authorities intensify antiterrorist efforts in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
But resolutions passed by some towns like Amherst, Mass., have a sharper tone, going so far as to direct city personnel not to help federal or state officials in activities that could be considered in violation of civil rights or liberties.
The Amherst measure, for example, says, "to the extent legally possible, no town employee shall officially assist or voluntarily cooperate with investigations, interrogations or arrest procedures" that may be judged to violate civil rights or liberties.
The Flagstaff measure, which passed with a City Council vote of 4 to 3, includes a part written so ambiguously that members on each side of the issue said it could give the police department and other city departments a legal basis to delay or even withhold cooperation with higher authorities investigating a terrorist threat or suspicious person. To the four council members who support the measure, that is a good thing. …
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The Eugene City Council Passes a Resolution Opposing the USA Patriot Act
November 25, 2002
By Jodi Unruh
New Anti-Terrorism Law Allows Police to Search Homes without a Warrant.
Downtown Eugene - The Eugene City Council passed a resolution Monday night opposing the USA Patriot Act. Congress passed the legislation shortly after September 11th in hopes of cracking down on terrorism. Eugene Councilors agreed to pass a resolution after listening to dozens speak out on the controversial anti-terrorism law during a public forum at the Eugene City Hall. Alexander Gonzales said, "If we grow up thinking that it's ok to profile, it's ok to subject people to searches, then what is ok?" Dawn Peebles said, "Now, ordinary citizens are fearful that the government can come into their homes without honoring the Bill of Rights."
Almost 2000 people had signed a petition asking the Eugene City Council to pass the Lane County Bill of Rights Defense Committee's Proposed Resolution. The document asks the US Attorney's Office and all federal, state, and local law enforcement officials to report to the City of Eugene the extent and manner in which they act under the new law. For instance, the resolution asks police to report the names and charges of any people being detained under the law, and to disclose the extent that federal authorities are monitoring political and religious gatherings in Eugene.
The new Eugene resolution is more symbolic than anything because officials don't have to comply with it. The document also asks Oregon Congressmen to try and revoke the law. 14 other local governments have passed similar resolutions.
Send comments and questions to:
kval13news@kval.com
KVAL-TV
4575 Blanton Road
Eugene, OR 97405
P.O. Box 1313
Eugene, OR 97440
Tel 541-342-4961
Fax 541-342-2635
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Subject: Save the Bill of Rights in your city or town
Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2003 19:27:32 -0800
WWW.INFOWARS.COM
SAVE THE BILL OF RIGHTS CAMPAIGN
Resolution Title: Olympia Liberty Preservation Resolution Drafted by Alex Jones on 01/07/03 edited for Olympia by Michael Strand on 01/11/03
Summary: Resolution to Oppose the USA Patriot Act, Homeland Security's Activation of NORTHCOM, the Designation of the United States as a Nation under Military Law under the NORTHCOM, and Related Unconstitutional Executive Orders and Presidential Decision Directives.
WHEREAS, the City of Olympia was founded and exists according to the laws of the Washington State Constitution and the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights, both of which guarantee the citizenry the protection of the unalienable rights granted them by their Creator; and
WHEREAS, the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights and the Washington State Constitution guarantee all persons living in the United States these inviolate rights including - freedom of speech; freedom of religion, assembly and petition; the right of privacy under the Fourth Amendment protecting the population from unreasonable searches and seizures; due process and equal protection to all people; equity before the law and the presumption of innocence; the right to hear the charges against you and to face your accuser; access to council and judicial proceedings; and the right to a fair, speedy and public trial; and
WHEREAS, the USA Patriot Act signed by George W. Bush on October 26, 2001 has hundreds of provisions that contradict the above mentioned rights, and in the words of Texas' District 14 Representative in Congress, Ron Paul, "Our forefathers would think it's time for a revolution...This is why they revolted in the first place...They revolted against much more mild oppression."(Ron Paul speaking about the Patriot Act in Insight Magazine, article title: Police State published Nov 9, 2001); and
WHEREAS, examples of the provisions in the USA Patriot Act, Homeland Security NORTHCOM, Executive Orders, and Presidential Decision Directives are designed specifically and are being implemented to violate the United States Constitution and the Washington State Constitution as well as the rights outlined in city charters are as listed:
- Gives the Attorney General and Secretary of State the power to designate domestic groups including political and religious organizations as "terrorist organizations" under the "Enemy Combatant" designation
-The "Enemy Combatant" designation gives law enforcement the unprecedented power to secretly seize citizens and non-citizens without ever charging them with a crime, and the dictatorial elements of the Federal Government claim the right to detain these "Enemy Combatants" indefinitely, at secret, secure military installations inside and outside the United States and to deny them legal representation, all of this while never being charged with a crime or telling them why they are being held. The Justice Department also claims the right to execute those designated "Enemy Combatant" in secret after a trail by secret military tribunal.
-Grants power to the Attorney General to subject citizens of other nations to indefinite detention as well as transporting them to third-party countries like Egypt and Morocco, where the Justice Department claims they can legally be tortured
-Authorizes total surveillance on confidential communications between attorneys and their clients in Federal custody in terrorism and non-terrorism cases
-Limits disclosure of public documents and records under the Freedom of Information Act
-Changes the definition in the United States code of the term "Domestic Terrorism." In Section 802 of HR 3162, known as the USA Patriot Act the new definition is amended to include "acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State." Under the new definition, the violation of any Federal or State law could generate a Justice Department designation of "Enemy Combatant" to the accused, who would then become subject to all the dictatorial horrors this designation brings as detailed above
-Section 213 of the USA Patriot Act allows any branch of the Federal or State Governments to break into your home or business, to remove any items (or place items) they wish without a warrant and without informing the person or business of this total violation of the Fourth Amendment.
-Section 213 of the USA Patriot Act also decapitates the First Amendment protection of Freedom of Speech by forcing silence on those victimized by their Unconstitutional, warrantless searches.
-Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act gives law enforcement expanded authority to obtain library and book store records (violating the Fourth Amendment) all the while prohibiting librarians and store workers from informing patrons of monitoring or information requests (violating the First Amendment)
-The USA Patriot Act is the enabling legislation empowering the reorganization from the International to the local level through the Homeland Security enforcement mechanism. The reorganization of the government under Homeland Security is centralized in the new North American Military Command. We are witnessing a complete transformation of the governmental structures in America. The new system that is emerging, what President George W. Bush calls "the Homeland" is right out of a college textbook detailing the development, expansion and maintenance of dictatorships. The Homeland Security system is the institutionalization of a military-industrial complex dictatorship. It is all color of law, finding its roots in Imperial Rome and fascist Germany.
-There are 1016 sections to the USA Patriot Act. It significantly expands the government's ability to access sensitive medical, mental health, financial, and educational records about individuals. It removes any burden of proof required to conduct telephone and Internet surveillance.
-The Office of Homeland Security and its Department of Total Information Awareness Network, run by convicted felon Admiral John Poindexter has proudly announced that every phone call we make, fax we send, letter we mail, and magazine we subscribe to will be carefully scrutinized.
-The Office of Homeland Security has also stated that it will contract with private corporations to carry out warrantless surveillance and data collection against the American people, creating a seamless web of Big Brother tyranny.
-The United States military is being authorized to designate American citizens "Enemy Combatants" and is being given the job to patrol America internally, in complete violation of the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act that strictly forbids military forces engaging in search and seizure operations inside the United States.
-The Pentagon has announced its wish to put 356,000 troops on the streets of America to engage in law enforcement activities. The Pentagon has stated that their mission of fighting terrorism includes fighting crime of all types.
-The Pentagon has also signed agreements with Canada and Mexico to bring foreign armies into the continental United States for "peacekeeping and anti-terror operations."
WHEREAS, the President and his allied agencies are using the crisis of September 11th to attack the bedrock freedoms that are the birth right of all Americans and that our Veterans have fought and died to preserve and protect; and
WHEREAS, over thirty cities in the United Sates have passed similar resolutions condemning the wholesale dismantling of our Constitutional Republic; and
RESOLVED that the City of Olympia affirms its strong opposition to terrorism, but also affirms that any efforts to end terrorism not be used as a pretext to destroy the fundamental rights and liberties of the people of Olympia, Washington, the United States and the world; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED that the actions of the USA Patriot Act, Homeland Security's Activation of NORTHCOM, the Designation of the United States as a Nation under Military Law under the NORTHCOM, and Related Unconstitutional Executive Orders and Presidential Decision Directives are aiding, by their bad example, the spread of a worldwide governmental movement in which this model for total dictatorship is duplicated to the detriment of the human condition; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED that the City of Olympia, Washington affirms the rights of all people, including United States citizens and citizens of other nations living within the City in accordance with the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED that, to the extent legally possible, no City employee or department shall assist or voluntarily cooperate with investigations, interrogations, or arrest procedures, public or clandestine, that are in violation of individuals' God-given rights that are simply enumerated by the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED that the Olympia City Council calls upon all private citizens and organizations including residents, employers, educators, and business owners to protect and defend the United States Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic and to demonstrate outspoken respect for the rights that have been paid for with so much blood by veterans and patriots throughout time, and to study the Bill of Rights so that they can recognize and resist attempts to undermine our Constitutional Republic and the system that has brought our civilization so much success; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED that the City of Olympia call on our United States Representatives and Senators to monitor the implementation of the USA Patriot Act, Homeland Security's Activation of NORTHCOM, the Designation of the United States as a Nation under Military Law under the NORTHCOM, and Related Unconstitutional Executive Orders and Presidential Decision Directives cited herein and to actively work for the repeal of them as well as the repeal of all Unconstitutional laws that violate the fundamental rights and liberties as stated in the United States Constitution and its amendments.
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The resolution from which the above City of Olympia resolution was drawn was a City of Austin resolution introduced for the people of Central Texas' consideration by Alex Jones. [Alex Jones of www.infowars.com ] Note: Resolutions similar to this one have passed in at least 30 other cities across America, with hundreds of other city and county governments considering passage of similar resolutions. As news spreads of what Homeland Security is really doing to our beloved American system, resistance will only spread. This document is an adaptation of resolutions passed in other cities. The writer felt it was vitally important to add more detail and to expose the role of Homeland Security and NORTHCOM if this scientifically-crafted takeover is to be stopped.
It is so important to America's future that cities or counties considering this resolution research the facts contained in this declaration. If our local governments are made up of good men and women, then they will have no other choice but to pass this or a similar resolution and to carry it out for the welfare of the citizenry. Liberty should not be a left-right issue. No matter what area of the political spectrum you see yourself occupying, you need to know that we all lose under the Homeland Security takeover.
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