(no subject)
CURB TRAFFICKING OF SMALL ARMS AND LIGHT WEAPONS: Even as the search for chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons in Iraq has proved fruitless, small arms and light weapons (SALW) continue to kill scores of Iraqis every month and an average of 300,000 people worldwide each year, primarily civilians. Such weapons are the primary instrument of killing and human rights violations by violent extremist groups and repressive governments alike. Sometimes referred to as “the real weapons of mass destruction,” SALW are an ever present threat to the lives, human rights, and personal security of people all over the world.
A new bill in the Senate, the Security and Fair Enforcement in Arms Trafficking Act of 2004 (S 2627), seeks to control the scourge of these weapons in important ways. It reaffirms U.S. policy to conduct rigorous end-use checks to prevent the diversion of small arms and calls for serious progress on the marking and tracing of arms and the regulation of arms brokers. Especially important is that it calls for a globally binding agreement, such as the proposed Arms Trade Treaty, that would prohibit all arms transfers to countries that engage in gross and consistent violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.
ACTION: Please contact your senators and urge them to cosponsor S 2627. Let them know that international cooperation to control the under-regulated flow of small arms around the world is a crucial part of any strategy to reduce the dangers posed by violent extremists. The current U.S. strategy for addressing these challenges is fundamentally flawed. Providing extensive military aid to all countries that support the U.S. counter-terrorism agenda (even repressive, authoritarian governments that are implicated in serious human rights abuses) makes calls for democracy around the world ring hollow. An international agreement would help keep dangerous weapons, including ones that could be used to destroy commercial passenger jets or other vulnerable targets, out of the wrong hands and help repair the relationship between the U.S. and the international community.
CONTACTING YOUR SENATOR IS EASY: Start with the sample letter posted in our Legislative Action Center, personalize the language, then email or fax your message directly from our site. You can also print it out and mail it. To view the sample letter, click here, then click Go in the Take Action Now box.
BACKGROUND: While the threats of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons dominate the news and the policy agenda, small arms and light weapons (SALW) continue to kill an average of 300,000 people each year, primarily civilians. Sometimes referred to as “the real weapons of mass destruction,” small arms are an ever present threat to global security, as well as to the lives and human rights of people all over the world.
Irresponsible or illegal transfers of arms and ammunition such as assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, and man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) have strengthened violent armed groups and oppressive governments in Iraq, Afghanistan, Colombia, Haiti, and Liberia, threatening U.S. lives and interests. These weapons directly contribute to widespread human rights violations and pose a grave threat to the stability and economic development of many countries.
Despite these negative consequences, the U.S. and other countries have yet to effectively address this often legal, global arms proliferation problem. The U.S. appears to be blocking European Union proposals in the UN that would establish globally binding agreements on issues such as arms brokering and marking and tracing of arms. This has slowed efforts to create more enforceable agreements to deal with the many jurisdictional issues that allow arms brokers to illegally transfer arms to ColombiaÂ’s FARC or to trace arms that illegally reach al Qaeda. By not conducting sufficient end-user checks to ensure that U.S. arms transfers are used as intended, and by transferring arms to countries with poor human rights records, the U.S. risks contributing to illegal diversions and seeing U.S. arms used to commit human rights violations.
These policy failures have real consequences for the U.S. beyond the immediate misuse of U.S. weapons, for they undermine U.S. efforts to address the challenges that violent extremist groups pose. Providing arms and funding to foreign militaries has been a significant instrument of U.S. foreign policy for decades, but its prominence has been particularly troubling since September 11, 2001. In attempting to garner support for its counter-terrorism agenda, the U.S. has funded foreign militaries and waived restrictions on arms transfers at an unprecedented rate, including to many countries whose governments are repressive and whose militaries are implicated in serious human rights abuses. This fuels anti-U.S. sentiment around the world.
International cooperation to regulate the arms trade would be an extremely important alternative to this unwise course in U.S. policy. Cooperative efforts would reduce access to the primary tools of political violence and repression Â- small arms and light weapons. Moreover, pursuing a multilateral agreement prohibiting all arms transfers to governments that commit serious human rights abuses would be an important step toward winning the hearts and minds of people throughout the Middle East, Central Asia, and elsewhere who suffer under repressive regimes. Such agreements are a more humane and effective method of reducing the dangers posed by violent extremist groups, failed states, and repressive governments than the ineffective, militarized “war on terror.”
To: George W. Bush
We call on you to request expert election monitors to avoid an unprecedented electoral - and Constitutional - crisis over the Presidential election of November 2, 2004. Such a request was made by 13 Members of Congress on July 1, 2004.
We saw a preview of this crisis in 2000 in Florida. We believe the 2004 crisis will be worse because:
Across the nation, error-prone punchcard machines have been replaced by touchscreen machines that have failed repeatedly in actual elections. These machines lack paper trails, their source code is proprietary, and computer security experts believe these machines are hackable, so voters have no confidence their votes will be recorded and counted honestly. To compound voter fears, Diebold CEO Wally O'Dell vowed to "deliver" Ohio's crucial electoral votes to you
The crimes committed by partisan Florida election officials in 2000 were never punished, which sent a clear signal to partisan officials that they could violate election laws with impunity
As the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights documented in 2001, discrimination against minorities - mostly Democrats - in 2000 was widespread. More than half of the votes that went uncounted nationwide were cast by minorities. Most of these problems were never fixed, as the Commission documented in April 2004
Most of the Florida non-felons whose voting rights were illegally revoked in 2000 have not regained their voting rights, and the 2004 "felon" purge was rigged to hurt Democrats by removing black "felons" and help Republicans by overlooking hispanic "felons." This revelation - following a lawsuit opposed by Florida - created a furor, but officials insist they will "find other ways" to purge "felons"
Also in Florida, Republicans eliminated the witness requirement for absentee ballots, creating a major opportunity for fraud. Republicans are tricking new citizens into registering as Republicans by illegally pre-checking the "Republican" box
In Missouri, the Republican Secretary of State is trying to stop mainly Democratic voters in St. Louis from voting early
There may be many other illegal activities underway at the state and local level that have simply not been discovered because no one is looking for them
Key officials in your administration seek the power to postpone (or cancel) the 2004 election based on warnings of terrorist attacks, even though past warnings have been conspicuously politicized
Pro-Republican bias in the corporate-owned media, especially at Fox News, has been widely documented, creating an uneven playing field for the campaign. This problem is compounded by the extremely limited coverage planned for the summer conventions
All five Republican Supreme Court Justices who betrayed America by throwing out 175,000 uncounted votes in 2000 remain on the Court, so any dispute that ends up in the Supreme Court will lack legitimacy
The American people share our concerns. A poll in June 2004 found 44% of all voters - and 62% of Democrats - fear a Florida-style debacle in November.
We believe observers who are experts in administering honest, transparent, and fair elections are needed for the "battleground" states (Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin) that will decide the Presidency. We call on you to request such experts from the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and the Carter Center.
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