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<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>1) Phone Blockade 3 November<BR>2) Petition<BR>3)
Letter-writing<BR>4) Contingency Plans<BR><BR>Dear all<BR><BR>Fallujah and over
a dozen other Iraqi towns are under threat of major assault by US forces. JNV
supports those organising activities to try to prevent these assaults. No US
attack is inevitable. Public protests inside and outside Iraq have the power to
derail these attacks, or at the very least to minimise the damage done, and to
help prevent further such atrocities.<BR><BR>Britain is complicit in these
attacks, directly, by redeploying British troops to the centre of Iraq to free
up US forces to take part in the planned assaults. Here are some ideas for
pro-active action, and some London contingency plans if the major attacks do
take place. (More info on our website <A
href="http://www.j-n-v.org">www.j-n-v.org</A> )<BR><BR>Best wishes<BR><BR>Maya
Evans<BR>Milan Rai<BR>JNV<BR><BR>****************<BR><BR>1) Phone Blockade of
the MOD & Email Geoff Hoon<BR>Wednesday 3 November<BR><BR>Phone the MOD
between 9am - 5pm on the day after the US elections. Please ask to speak to
Geoff Hoon, to tell him to oppose the planned assaults on Fallujah and other
cities, and to demand that he withdraw the Black Watch from their supportive
role in Central Iraq.<BR><BR>MOD Public Enquiry Office: 0870 607 4455<BR>MOD
Press Office: 020 7218 2906<BR><BR>You may also wish to try this email address
for Geoff Hoon's PA:<BR><A
href="mailto:sofs.pa2@modho.gsi.gov.uk">sofs.pa2@modho.gsi.gov.uk</A><BR><BR>****************<BR><BR>2)
Stop The Attacks - Petition<BR><BR>At a meeting called by Voices UK, there was a
call for a petition to be drawn up and circulated immediately for use this
weekend. A pdf is attached of two versions of the petition, one concentrating on
the immediate crisis, the other including the demand for troops to be withdrawn.
Next is the text of the narrow focus petition:<BR><BR>BASIC PETITION
TEXT<BR><BR>To Our Local MP<BR>Please tell Geoff Hoon: Don’t let British Troops
support Bush’s massacres in Iraq’s cities. The senseless slaughter of civilians
is making a desperate situation even worse.<BR>Don’t Attack Fallujah—Recall The
Black Watch<BR><BR>TOP TIPS<BR><BR>For Using This Petition<BR><BR>This petition
is designed to be used the weekend of 30/31 October. Using pretty much this
text, Wrexham Peace & Justice Forum collected 450 signatures in 2 hours
recently.<BR><BR>1) One reason for their success is that they had a huge poster
version of the text behind them so that people knew what they were signing.
People were queueing to sign.<BR><BR>So JNV has included in the pdf full A4 size
versions of the text, for you to enlarge to A3 or larger size (some photocopy
shops can enlarge to A1).<BR><BR>2) Please do let the local radio and newspapers
know about your petitioning, and take your own photos to send to the paper if
they do not send a photographer themselves. Whatever the response of your local
MP when you present the petition, that is worth press releasing also.<BR><BR>3)
Please let us know the results of your petitioning. If you have any suggestions
for improving the petition or how to present it on the street/at work, please
let us know.<BR><BR>This petition initiative came out of an emergency meeting
called by Voices in the Wilderness UK. There may be further editions of this
petition in future weeks.<BR><BR>Please check out the JNV website <<A
href="http://www.j-n-v.org">www.j-n-v.org</A>> and the Voices UK website
<<A href="http://www.voicesuk.org">www.voicesuk.org</A>> for more
campaigning information.<BR><BR>****************<BR><BR>3)
Letter-writing<BR><BR>Write to your MP<BR><BR>This is something that anyone and
everyone can do. If you ask your MP to ask Geoff Hoon to recall the Black Watch
from central Iraq, and to withdraw all British support for the planned US
assaults, then she/he will pass on your concerns to the Defence Secretary, and
you get two (small) impacts from one letter. A veteran letter-writer informs us
that when/if you receive a response, it is well worth writing back, as it is
this reply of yours that has most impact.<BR><BR>You can (a) find out who your
MP is and (b) fax your MP from the following website:<BR><A
href="http://faxyourmp.org.uk/">http://faxyourmp.org.uk/</A><BR><BR>Some
possible points for a letter:<BR><BR>1) Human Cost<BR>Please remind the Defence
Secretary of the horrors of the earlier (April 2004) siege of Fallujah - horrors
which the British Government refused to condemn, ‘insist[ing] that there were
“no disagreements” with the US about its tactics on the ground’ (Independent, 14
April). On 11 April the director of Fallujah’s general hospital, Rafie
al-Issawi, estimated – on the basis of figures gathered from four clinics around
the city as well as the hospital itself - that more than 600 people had been
killed and that ‘the vast majority of the dead were women, children and the
elderly’ (Guardian, 12 April). Ask whether the British government has sought
assurances that US tactics and rules of engagement have been changed to prevent
such carnage in any future engagement.<BR><BR>2) Redeployment<BR>Please ask the
Defence Secretary why British troops are being redeployed with the ‘aim of …
free[ing] US forces to attack Fallujah’ (Telegraph, 18 Oct) again – this time
causing possibly even greater carnage.<BR><BR>3) Condemnation and
Withdrawal<BR>I urge you to condemn the redeployment and to support calls for
the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq. I would be grateful if you would ask
the Defence Secretary to withdraw British troops from central Iraq, and ask also
whether contingency plans have been prepared for the withdrawal of all British
troops from Iraq in the event that the January elections produce a government in
Baghdad which calls for the removal of foreign forces.<BR><BR>Voices UK has
drawn up more points for writing to your MP, available at<BR><A
href="http://www.voices.netuxo.co.uk/actnow.htm#contactyourmp">http://www.voices.netuxo.co.uk/actnow.htm#contactyourmp</A><BR><BR>****************<BR><BR>4)
Contingency Plans<BR><BR>There are now plans for a London demo, and for London
nonviolent direct action, on the night of any major attack. Please see <A
href="http://www.j-n-v.org">www.j-n-v.org</A> for more details. If your local
group draws up any similar contingency plans, please register them with Stop The
War and with JNV.<BR><BR>-- <BR>Justice Not Vengeance<BR>landline 0845 458 9571
(UK) +44 1424 428 792 (int)<BR><A
href="http://www.j-n-v.org">www.j-n-v.org</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>