Colleagues:

You undoubtedly you have been following the discussion over an impending war with Iraq. GBush has asked Congress for a resolution to give him the powers to wage war with Iraq and possibly other countries in the region.

Bush has provided few facts on the dangers Iraq presents to the world. Bush has recruited one ally, English Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The danger now with a resolution before Congress is compromise. Bush presents his extreme and the compromise is he gets a half a loaf, which still gives him the power to wage a war. The danger is the Senate Democrats will cave and give Bush what he wants.

Friday's Chicago Sun-Times had a front-page picture of an American bomber leaving an aircraft carrier to bomb one of four air-defense sites in Iraq. Americans have patrolled no-fly zones for Iraqi aircraft since the end of the Gulf War in 1991. They routinely bomb sites that demonstrate locking onto US/UK planes with their radar guided SAM missiles. However, US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said the US had stepped up bombing raids in anticipation of the war that Bush is seeking.

You might also note on the picture on page six of Bush surrounded by Republican supporters that the group sans Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleesa Rice is totally white. Perhaps I'm too much of a Democrat, but public policy needs to be determined by more than a group of insular white men.

Now, you can do something about Bush's latest power grab. A rally of opposition to the impending war is occurring next Wednesday, October 2 at noon in the Federal Plaza in Chicago. Drop what you have planned and come to this rally. Bring as many people as you can and make this an event of thousands.

A pdf file of the flyer may be downloaded here. Please forward this page or the downloadable flyer to your lists, make your calls and hit your friends and acquaintances.

In the words of the great American civil rights advocate, Frederick Douglass, "agitate, agitate, and agitate." With that mantra, this Bush war can and will be stopped.

- Doug Dobmeyer