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Memorial Day, A Time to Remember and Mourn

May 22, 2014News, Upcoming Eventsadmin

Statement of LI Alliance for Memorial Day 2014

Margaret Melkonian, Executive Director, LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives, 516-741-4360

Memorial Day, A Time to Remember and to Mourn the Victims of War

Since the end of the Civil War, the American people have dedicated Memorial Day as a time to mourn the victims of war. It has become a nationwide day of remembrance and reconciliation.

On May 24^th, on the tenth Pax Christi LI’s Memorial Day Vigil, Long Islanders will gather at Jones Beach for a solemn march remembering and grieving for all those lost and wounded in wars.

This is a stark alternative to the Bethpage Federal Credit Union’s Air Show. It is regrettable that Bethpage Federal Credit Union and other sponsors have transformed this sacred day of mourning into a demonstration of military machinery and a vehicle for recruitment. The solemn peace march, in contrast, seeks to draw in persons no matter what their politics, by calling on our common humanity in an act of remembrance and mourning.

Memorial Day is a time to reflect on the consequences of war, to commit ourselves to end the cycle of violence, and to the return all those in harm’s way to their loved ones. Memorial Day is a sacred day of loss and remembrance and hope for a world without war. It is not the beginning of summer, a day for sales and for military demonstrations. Memorial Day is a sacred day.

The LI Alliance and LI peace partners call on Bethpage Federal Credit Union and other sponsors and also the NYS Parks Commission to forego military demonstrations at Jones Beach in the future. Instead, we ask them to remember why we grieve as a LI community on Memorial Day for all those lives lost in wars and why we hold close all those who we could not bear to lose.

Act to End War in Syria

May 15, 2014Uncategorizedadmin

ACTION ALERT ON SYRIA

CALLS FOR A CEASEFIRE NO ARMS – DON’T ESCALATE THE CONFLICT – NEGOTIATE AN END TO THE CONFLICT

Arming the rebels and escalating the US military response in Syria will result in thousands more deaths and increase the likelihood of a wider regional war and catastrophe. People need to weigh in with our reps on US efforts to end the war in Syria. It is about the Syrian people, and not regime change.

Please make a call and also write letter to Newsday and NYT:

President Obama – 202-456-1414 or president@whitehouse.gov

Senator Gillibrand – 631-249-2825 – 202-224-4451

Senator Schumer – 631- 753-0978 – 202-224-6542

Rep. Bishop CD 1 – 631-289-5000 – 202-225-3826

Rep. King CD 2 – 516-541-4225 – 202-225-7896

Rep. Israel CD 3 – 516-505-1448 – 202-225-3335

Rep. McCarthy CD 4 – 516-739-3008 – 202-225-5516

Urge President Obama, NY Senators and LI reps to work with global leaders and civil society to:

· Support an immediate ceasefire in Syria;

· Initiate urgent peace talks;

· Commit to not providing weapons to either side; and

· Ensure that the more than 8.3 million Syrians who need aid can access it.

New York Times: letters@nytimes.com

Newsday: letters@newsday.com

Remembering Jonathan Schell

March 27, 2014Newsadmin

REMEMBERING JONATHAN SCHELL

http://www.thenation.com/article/179014/remembering-jonathan-schell-1943-2014

“The power and persuasiveness of so much of Jonathan’s work came not only from his elegant style, clarity of analysis and powerful logic but also in the enduring belief that there is no idea so powerful as a moral one. In a special 1998 Nation issue making the case for nuclear abolition, he compelled us to confront the nuclear peril in which we all find ourselves, and he brilliantly laid out the argument that there exists a viable and desirable alternative to continued reliance on war and nuclear weapons. On the nuclear crisis, no voice was as clear, no writing as perceptive as Jonathan’s, going back to his acclaimed 1982 book The Fate of the Earth and his articles in The Nation and in other publications.“

Links include many Letters from Ground Zero,

The Will of the World, February 20, 2003
February 15, 2003, the day 10 million or so people in hundreds of cities on every continent demonstrated against war in Iraq, will go down in history as the first time that the people of the world expressed their clear and concerted will in regard to a pressing global issue. Never before—not during the Vietnam War, not during the antinuclear demonstrations of the early 1980s—had they made known their will so forcefully by all the means at their disposal. On that day, history may one day record, global democracy was born.

American Tragedy, March 20, 2003
The decision to go to war to overthrow the government of Iraq will bring unreckonable death and suffering to that country, the surrounding region and, possibly, the United States. It also marks a culmination in the rise within the United States of an immense concentration of unaccountable power that poses the greatest threat to the American constitutional system since the Watergate crisis. This transformation, in turn, threatens to push the world into a new era of rivalry, confrontation and war….

and The Other Superpower:

http://www.thenation.com/article/other-superpower

Become A Hofstra Peace Fellow!

February 4, 2014Blog Postsadmin

BECOME A PEACE FELLOW IN SPRING 2014

What is the LI Alliance Peace Fellows program?

The LI Alliance Peace Fellows Program is a peace education and issue advocacy program, in collaboration with Hofstra’s Center for Civic Engagement. It focuses on peace, nonviolence and alternatives to war and conflict in the context of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Fellows will examine The US Role in the World – by exploring the issues of peace, nonviolence, human security, and the global challenges that we face in the 21st Century and by Reimaging U.S. Foreign Policy. Peace Fellows will engage in training to facilitate deliberative discussions on campus about current policies and possible alternatives. Fellows will participate in issue advocacy and organizing training. The semester-long program will include readings, weekly meetings with briefings and discussions, lectures, training in deliberative dialogue techniques, and an assessment of the program.

LI Alliance Peace Fellows Requirements (5 hours a week):

Read briefing packet materials on issues and conduct additional research

Participate in weekly discussion sessions – TWO HOURS A WEEK.
Attend lectures and film nights (International Scene, CCE sponsored events)
Plan deliberative dialogue sessions as part of CCE’s special events
Collaborate with the Peace Fellows Coordinator for promoting peace education
Participate in trainings on issue advocacy, deliberative discussions and organizing
Brainstorm ways to approach issues raised in your training and research
Maintain a journal and submit an evaluation form

LI Alliance Peace Fellows SPRING 2014 Schedule:

1. Orientation & Overview of US Role in a Changing World
2. Peace and Nonviolence
3. Deliberative Dialogue Training
4. War and Peace: Conflict Case Study (Afghanistan)
5. Nuclear Proliferation & Disarmament
6. Deliberative Dialogue at Hofstra
7. Military Spending & Budget Priorities
8. Global Climate Change
9. Issue Advocacy Training
10. Role of Media and Public Understanding of Foreign Policy Issues

There is a $500 stipend for the semester after proper completion of the requirements of the program. For more information and an application, email longislandpeace@gmail.com

Deadline: February 13, 2014. Program begins February 20

Annual Report 2013. Thank you!

December 30, 2013Uncategorizedadmin

Long Island Alliance Annual Report 2013

2013 has been a year of many challenges and opportunities. With our community peace partners, the LI Alliance has worked to prevent U.S. bombing of Syria, to promote diplomacy with Iran and not more sanctions, to call for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan and to advocate for substantial cuts in military spending and shift those dollars toward meeting human security needs here at home and abroad. We have worked in concert with Peace Action New York State, United for Peace & Justice and Friends Committee on National Legislation. Our Alliance members and peace partners – Suffolk Peace Network, Pax Christi LI, Code Pink LI, Islamic Center of LI, Great Neck SANE/Peace Action, North Country Peace Group, Veterans for Peace LI, Social Justice Committee at UUCSR – have made calls and visits with congressional representatives, held vigils and actively engaged the community around them in dialogue.

The LI Alliance, in collaboration with Hofstra’s Center for Civic Engagement, initiated the Peace Fellows Program as a pilot project in the spring 2013 semester. Peace Fellows is a peace education and issue advocacy program on peace, nonviolence and alternatives to war and conflict. It represents the Alliance’s deep commitment to nurturing the next generation of peacemakers and social justice advocates. Nine Hofstra students participated in a ten-week program that included weekly briefing sessions on peace and war, nonviolence, Afghanistan, nuclear disarmament, global climate change, military spending and budget priorities and the keeping of a journal, submitted at the end of the program. They also attended lectures on and off campus. Peace Fellows organized a peace vigil on anniversary of Iraq War in March and facilitated deliberative discussions on the US role in the world in two classes and on global climate change on Earth Day. The program, funded by a bequest from the Norman Ackerman estate, a grant from The Herman Goldman Foundation and contributions from Alliance members, will continue in 2014.

Three Peace Fellows – Tara Hamilton, Denisse Giron and Blaine Volpe – are now Alliance Peace Interns this semester. With volunteer Peter Magistrale, the Peace Interns organized deliberative discussions on the US role in the world in two sessions of CCE’s Day of Dialogue and another session on Afghanistan with Kathy Kelly, Center for Creative Nonviolence who reported on her recent visit with the Afghan Peace Volunteers in Kabul. Our Assistant Director Ariel Flajnik facilitates monthly Skype meetings with Afghan Peace Volunteers and has promoted dialogue and involvement with APV among Hofstra students. The interns held a vigil marking the 12^th anniversary of the Afghan war in October, presented the film “Dirty Wars” featuring investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill to two classes on November 19. They are currently working on a drone education project at Hofstra to mark Human Rights Day. Both Ariel Flajnik and Denisse Giron attended the DC drone conference organized by Code Pink and other peace organizations in November.

Programs this spring and fall at Hofstra and at Shelter Rock, co-sponsored by the LI Alliance included several speakers: Kathy Kelly on Afghanistan, Medea Benjamin on drones, Bob Keeler on the American War Economy , Mel Goodman on the cost of war, Bernard Alter on US-Pakistan Policies, Roy Bourgeoise on the School of the Americas, Robert Jensen on Unchecked Capitalism and the Apocalypse, David Wildman on the Crisis in Syria, Kevin Martin on Endless War or Peace, Amy Goodman on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, and Sergio Argueta at the October 2 Annual Gandhi Commemoration on Keeping Peace in our Local Communities. Programs were sponsored by Pax Christi LI, Great Neck SANE/Peace Action, Shelter Rock Forum and the Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock.

In 2014 we continue to advocate for a world without war – for the resolution of conflicts through diplomacy not bombs. We will continue to push for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons and call for US leadership to convene an international conference to begin negotiations toward a nuclear free world. The increased militarization of our public and private lives will be a strong focus of our work as we renew our efforts to cut military spending, reorder national priorities and use dollars to rebuild our communities. It will be extremely important to pay close attention to how the United States will end the war in Afghanistan and to continue to call for the withdrawal of all US troops.

We are grateful for all of you who leap with us into the breach to repair the world – our community partners in the STOPWAR coalition and our Alliance members. We appreciate the hospitality and space provided by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock for organizing meetings and programs. We thank all of you who make a daily commitment to peace and to the saving the next generation from the scourge of war.

Peace,

Margaret Melkonian, Executive Director

Andrea Libresco, President

December 2013

Notes from the CodePink Drone Summit

November 25, 2013Blog Postsadmin

Drone Summit 2013 Notes
by Denisse Giron, Long Island Peace Intern at Hofstra University

Drones Around the Globe: Proliferation and Resistance –

Conference in Washington, DC, Nov.15-16, 2013

Hosted by Code Pink & many others

#drones2013

Dr. Cornel West

-“This is a love movement…love is what justice looks like”

-“Rich kids get taught, poor kids get tested” – on end of art programs

-“I come from a generation of people lifting their voice, not raising echoes [of mainstream media].”

-Education vs. schooling

-The importance of engaging in non-violent street action with a moral and spiritual foundation based on principle

-Congressional briefing with drone victims from Yemen: Tuesday. 11/19 @ Rayburn Building Room 2455, 4pm

Mary Ellen O’Connell – Kroc Institute

-Bush administration failed to acknowledge drone program + entered Yemen in 2004

-Days after entering office in January, Obama authorized a drone strike that killed a family, including a 5 year old

-Obama ordered doubling of drones when comparing 2008 to 2009 (Bush Admin vs. Obama Admin)

-United Nations Charter, Article 2: general prohibition to the use of force

-Article 51: gave exception to 9/11 because was in defense, but does not justify drone strikes because there is no armed conflict

-Self-defense ended in Afghanistan after 2002 – strikes are unjustifiable

-Attorney General Eric Holder said drone strikes within the US are unlawful but why not overseas? Biggest Al-Qaeda attack was in the US

-Need peace, reconciliation, and anti-terrorism around the world

Pardiss Kebriaei – Center Constitutional Rights

-500 = conservative number for people killed + 4,000 = liberal number for people killed (But neither number correctly reflects psychological trauma)

-Department of Justice’s definition of “imminence” doesn’t require clear evidence of specific attack in the immediate future

-Of thousands killed, US government only acknowledges 4 killed, all US citizens

-Many negative views and accusations of Anwar al-Awlaki

Marjorie Cohn – National Lawyers Guild/Association of American Jurists

-Congress only gave authority to defend against the people and organizations that carried out, aided, and supported 9/11 attacks = currently breaking law

-Congress has ability to executive check of powers

-Desmond Tutu in response to Senator Rand Paul’s filibuster: how dare you say that US lives are more important than others

-Armed but not lethal drones at Mexico-US border (rubber bullets)

Entesar al Qadhi -From Merab, Yemen

-First drone strike in her area 2002

-Most recent attack during celebration of Eid – 3 schoolboys killed

-Targets are supposed to be AQ but innocent victims are 16-30 years old

-Before US interference, did not know what AQ was

–Merab is one of the most resource rich areas, especially oil, but there are no universities

-“If you are against terrorism then you are against drones”

-New US focus in Yemen because government is absent in Yemen

Chris Cole – UK Drone Campaign Network (dronewars.net)

-3 nations have used drones: United States, Israel, and United Kingdom

-12 nations have faced drones strikes

-Drones bypass the need for boots on the ground and media scrutiny

-UK carrying out approximately 40% of drone strikes in Afghanistan = about 2 drone strikes per week

Elsa Rassbach – CODEPINK

-Germany has the most drone bases in Europe

-Many political parties, including SDP, agree to an international ban on fully autonomous drones

Dalit Baum – American Friends Service Committee/ Who Profits from the Occupation

-Israel is largest exporter of drones

-Gaza Strip approximately 25 miles long with 1.6 million people (1 million living as refugees)

-Heavily armed bulldozers used in Israel in refugee camps to take down houses, raids

– One report of man using bulldozer while drunk

-Have begun use of unmanned bulldozers controlled by remote controls, mostly women

-Heat sensors

– Said to be used to “reduce harm to human lives” despite exceeding the number of on-the-ground attacks

Faisal bin Ali Jaber

-Brother in law Salim gave lectures on targeted attacks and whether they actually were for AQ but no freedom of speech in Yemen

-After 22 hours into son’s wedding, 4 drones came down and killed Salim and nephew

-Before strike, officials came to make sure that Salim was home

-Great psychological damage in family: lost job and Salim’s mother went into a coma and died

-Described drones as toys in the sky = became accustomed to their presence

-“I am surprised we are fighting AQ…what is the definition of AQ?”

Baraa Shaiban – National Dialogue Conference

-Obama said anyone seeking democracy will find a friend in the United States but actions speak louder than words

-“No one would have thought that president who said he was a friend would authorize Special Forces to kill in secret”

-Tie between drone buzzing and PTSD

Amie Stepanovich – EPIC’s Domestic Surveillance Project

-Drone’s very reason for existing is surveillance

-Camera being developed to see what you are carrying in your bag

-Electronic stop and frisk

-In 2012, Congress passed law to use drones within the United States by 2015

-Customs and Borders have highest number of drones

-Last week, posted drone release rules…(not all written)

-Test sites have privacy policy that must be public

-Annual review of test sites

-Updates when necessary

-All drones in use at test site

-Problem: there are 6 test sites in total so will have to go to each instead of one head

-There is no law or regulation saying that drones in the US must be unarmed

Joe Nevins – Vassar College

– book is Operation Gatekeeper and Beyond: The War on Illegals

-US spends $18 billion in border security and enforcement

-40,000 border agents in the Senate’s version of the comprehensive immigration reform 2013

-VADER: Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation Radars (at borders)

-There are currently 10 drones total on both Mexico-US, Canada-US borders

-6,000-7,000 bodies have been found at Mexico-US border

-Functions like modern apartheid – militarization and drones at the border separate between privileged and the poor

Daniel Hale – former US soldier

-Former intel analysist

-“I made an oath to protect the Constitution…when I deployed to Iraq, I realized that we were not there defending it nor did we have a real relationship with it”

-Stark contrast between living in Iraq/being in military and living in New York (military life vs. civilian life)

-Military extremely conservative

-“We as individuals have a lot of power in dialogue”

Fahima Vorgetts – Afghan Women’s Fund

-Soldiers are leaving Afghanistan but we are beginning strategic relationships with military business = “The war is not over, the war is changing”

-Mainstream media shows drones in positive light (killing AQ) but does not cover immoral side of story

-“Did we think about the blood on the other side?”

-Bush: 52 drones, Obama: over 400

-We are creating more enemies, more Taliban (growing anti-North American sentiments)

Colonel Morris Davis – former US Air Force officer/

chief prosecutor of Gitmo military commissioners

-Utilized surveillance equipment on drones and took orders via chat

-Tillman was used as a poster boy for the war and recruitment until truth about his death was revealed (friendly fire)

-Of age males = guilty by association

“I prefer to see my actions as civil resistance rather than civil disobedience…we are there to uphold the law” – answer during Sunday workshop

DEC. 7 KAIROS AWARDS

November 5, 2013Uncategorizedadmin

SAVE THE DATE!!! DEC. 7th KAIROS AWARDS

The LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives

ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF PEACEMAKERS

KAIROS AWARDS DINNER

And Annual Meeting

Saturday, DECEMBER 7, 2013 at 6 p.m.

$75 per person

Hofstra University, Student Center, PLAZA ROOMS (North Campus), Hempstead NY (Hempstead Turnpike, west of Nassau Coliseum)

2013 Kairos Honorees

LONG ISLAND FOOD NOT BOMBS

sergio argueta

S.T.R.O.N.G. YOUTH, Inc. and Director of Undergraduate

Social Work Program at Adelphi University

robert summerville

Producer, The Long Island Project,

Member of Roosevelt School Board and NAACP.

Persistent Peacemakers Awards

michael d’innocenzo, Harry H. Wachtel Distinguished Teaching Professor

for the Study of Nonviolent Social Change, Hofstra University

and martin melkonian, Hofstra University and LI Alliance

next generation peacemaker awards

In recognition of their active commitment to promoting peace and social justice

LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives—2013 KAIROS DINNER

LI Alliance, P.O. Box 301, Garden City NY 11530lPh. (516) 741-4360 www.longislandpeace.org

Please reserve _____ places at $75 per person by Nov. 29th. No tickets will be sent. A reservation list will be checked at the door. EMAIL: longislandpeace@gmail.com or call 516-741-4360. I am/We are unable to attend, but would like to honor the 2013 Kairos recipients with a contribution of $ _______. Enclosed is a check for: $______.

“I no longer love blue skies…”

November 2, 2013Blog Postsadmin

Congressional No-Show at ‘Heart-Breaking’ Drone Survivor Hearing
Published on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 by Common Dreams

I no longer love blue skies. In fact, I prefer grey skies. Drones don’t fly when sky is grey.

Despite being heralded as the first time in history that U.S. lawmakers would hear directly from the survivors of a U.S. drone strike, only five elected officials chose to attend the congressional briefing that took place Tuesday.

Pakistani schoolteacher Rafiq ur Rehman and his two children—9 year-old daughter Nabila and 13 year-old son Zubair—came to Washington, DC to give their account of a U.S. drone attack that killed Rafiq’s mother, Momina Bibi, and injured the two children in the remote tribal region of North Waziristan last October.

According to journalist Anjali Kamat, who was present and tweeting live during the hearing, the only lawmakers to attend the briefing organized by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), were Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) and Rep. Rick Nolan (D-Minn.).

Before the handful of reporters and scant lawmakers, however, Rafiq and his children gave dramatic testimony which reportedly caused the translator to break down into tears.

In her testimony, Nabila shared that she was picking okra with her grandmother when the U.S. missile struck and both children described how they used to play outside but are now too afraid.

“I no longer love blue skies. In fact, I now prefer grey skies. Drones don’t fly when sky is grey,” said Zubair, whose leg was injured by shrapnel during the strike.

“My grandmother was nobody’s enemy,” he added.

“Nobody has ever told me why my mother was targeted that day,” Rafiq wrote in an open letter to President Barack Obama last week. “The media reported that the attack was on a car, but there is no road alongside my mother’s house. Several reported the attack was on a house. But the missiles hit a nearby field, not a house. All reported that five militants were killed. Only one person was killed – a 65-year-old grandmother of nine.”

“But the United States and its citizens probably do not know this,” Rafiq continued. “No one ever asked us who was killed or injured that day. Not the United States or my own government. Nobody has come to investigate nor has anyone been held accountable.”

He concluded, “Quite simply, nobody seems to care.”

The purpose of the briefing, Grayson told the Guardian, is “simply to get people to start to think through the implications of killing hundreds of people ordered by the president, or worse, unelected and unidentifiable bureaucrats within the Department of Defense without any declaration of war.”

The family was joined by their legal representative Jennifer Gibson of the UK human rights organization Reprieve. Their Islamabad-based lawyer, Shahzad Akbar, was also supposed to be present but was denied a visa by the US authorities—”a recurring problem,” according to Reprieve, “since he began representing civilian victims of drone strikes in 2011.”

“The onus is now on President Obama and his Administration to bring this war out of the shadows and to give answers,” said Gibson.

Also present was U.S. filmmaker Robert Greenwald, who first met Rafiq when he traveled to Pakistan to interview the drone strike victims for his documentary Unmanned: America’s Drone Wars. Before the briefing, Greenwald told the Guardian that he hoped the briefing “will begin the process of demanding investigation. Innocent people are being killed.”

Click here to watch the entire Congressional briefing

Click here to watch the entire documentary Unmanned: America’s Drone Wars

2013 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

October 11, 2013Uncategorizedadmin

LI Alliance Hails Nobel Peace Prize Winner: The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

The LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives applauds Nobel Committee’s choice to award the 2013 Peace Prize to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention prohibits the production and storage of these weapons and came in force in 1997, making them illegal under international law.

Since then, the Organization for the Prohibition has carried out implementation of the treaty through inspections and destruction of more than 80% of the international stockpile of chemical weapon. 189 states have acceded to the convention.

The Nobel Peace Prize and recent OPCW efforts in Syria demonstrate the effectiveness of multilateralism as a better and more effective means of preventing the spread of these weapons of mass destruction. Moreover, it highlights the importance of international law in resolving and preventing conflicts.

The choice of OPCW also challenges states who are not members to sign on and to the United States and Russia to accelerate their work to eliminate their own stockpiles.

The OPCW inspectors in Syria also provide a glimpse of how the disarmament process works – and this focus emphasizes that while expensive and dangerous, disarmament can be accomplished through universal adherence and compliance with international law.

The work of the OPCW has been a reality check that disarmament works. And in the case of Syria illustrates that diplomacy, multilateralism and the rule of law are better alternatives to the use of military force.

Margaret Melkonian, Executive Director

longislandpeace@gmail.com

516-741-4360

Letter: Find peaceful alternatives in Syria

September 5, 2013Newsadmin

Letter: Find peaceful alternatives in Syria
Published: September 4, 2013 6:30 PM by Newsday

Newsday’s editorial “Syria: red lines, bad choices” [Aug. 28], arguing for a limited military retaliation against the Syrian government, raises many profound questions. Why are we rushing to war without waiting for the UN inspectors’ report?

Why intervene now in a civil war that has claimed over 100,000 lives and forced 2 million refugees to flee the country?

Why is a military strike the only option? Should we not consider the consequences of the United States’ unilateral action? Have we learned nothing from the Iraq War?

Why not use the considerable power of the United States to lead international efforts for a cease-fire, a weapons embargo on all sides and concerted negotiations? Negotiations should include the Syrian government, the rebels, Russia, Iran, Turkey and others, for a diplomatic and political solution to end Syria’s civil war.

Why can’t we pursue peace, instead of war and more violence? Why not consider how many more Syrians will die if we decide to use military force yet again?

The American people must let our leaders know that we do not want another U.S. war and must say no to war against Syria.

Margaret Melkonian, Uniondale

Margaret Melkonian is the executive director of the Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives, a nonprofit activist and educational organization.
Photo credit: AP | Secretary of State John Kerry testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013, before the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing to advance President Barack Obama’s request for congressional authorization for military intervention in Syria, a response to last month’s alleged sarin gas attack in the Syrian civil war. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)