AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE AND ANNOUNCEMENT FROM GOOD PEOPLE AT "UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE"

NO WAR, NO NUKES! End the War in Iraq: Bring Our Troops Home Now! Fund Essential Programs at Home, Not War Abroad! Abolish All Nuclear WeaponsWorldwide!

Weapons of Mass Destruction Found in Iraq: 0
Nuclear Weapons Stockpiled by the U.S.: 10,350
Cost of the War in Iraq: Tens of Thousands of Lives and Billions of Dollars

In May, world leaders, mayors and people from around the world will converge on the United Nations to decide the fate of the endangered Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Signed by 189 nations including the U.S., the NPT prohibits non-nuclear states from acquiring or producing nuclear weapons, and requires nations that have nuclear weapons to negotiate their elimination.

Now, the Bush administration is on the verge of undermining the NPT and generating a dangerous new nuclear arms race. The Bush administration's posture toward nuclear proliferation has been utterly hypocritical. It threatens war against nations such as Iran and North Korea if they violate the NPT, while flouting the treaty itself. The U.S. is legally obligated under the NPT to eliminate its nuclear weapons, but in fact, the Bush administration is upgrading U.S. nuclear weapons systems and infrastructure, seeking to build a new generation of "battle-ready" nukes, and has even threatened first use of nuclear weapons.

These terrifying moves are part of the larger Bush agenda of aggressive empire-building, the same drive for U.S. military and economic domination that led to the disastrous Iraq war. Nuclear weapons -- or rather, the fiction that Saddam Hussein was developing them -- were a key pretext for the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq. The whole world now recognizes this lie as an attempt to justify a war to control access to Iraq's oil and enhance U.S. power in the Middle East. The war in Iraq rages on with mounting casualties and a country in ruins, while here in the U.S., the cost of war translates into drastic cuts in vital services in our communities, hitting people of color, the poor, and working people the hardest.

The world has seen many horrific conflicts since the first and only use of nuclear weapons in war 60 years ago when the U.S. bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nevertheless, nuclear weapons have not been exploded in war again. Now the Bush Administration is threatening to breach that "firewall"by including nuclear weapons in its war-fighting plans. On Sunday, May 1st, the day before the NPT Conference opens, United for Peace and Justice and Abolition Now! are organizing a massive demonstration in the streets of New York City. We will call for our troops to come home from Iraq and for complete nuclear disarmament. Join us!