Adopted by the national executive board of Asian Pacfic American Labor Alliance (APALA) Friday, August 20, 2004

End U.S. Occupation of Iraq — Bring the Troops Home Now!

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WHEREAS, there is general agreement in the United States and throughout the world that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction that posed an imminent threat to this country or to Iraq's neighbors, and that the government of Iraq had few if any discernable ties to those who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon; and

WHEREAS, the pretexts for war have been systematically revealed to have been fabricated, manipulated, exaggerated, or distorted to justify an invasion of Iraq planned long before September 11, 2001; and
 
WHEREAS, the federal government has approved $150 billion in public funds for the U.S. war in Iraq, draining those funds away from domestic priorities including transportation, health care, and national security; and

WHEREAS, the military invasion and continued occupation of Iraq has actually increased the level of international terrorism and made the U.S. and the world less, not more safe and secure; and

WHEREAS, the Bush administration doctrine of “unilaterlism and pre-emptive military assault” has isolated the U.S. in the international community of nations and alienated even long-time international allies of the U.S.; and

WHEREAS, the post-war U.S. occupation has provided a profit bonanza for U.S. and other multinational corporations awarded no-bid contracts for work in Iraq, while providing to the Iraqi people little or none of the promised reconstruction, restoration of electric power, water and sanitation; and

WHEREAS, the occupation of Iraq has been treated by the Bush administration as a golden opportunity to create a model of wholesale privatization and corporate domination intended to pave the way for this model to be imposed elsewhere in the world, including in the U.S.; and

WHEREAS, working families in the United States have paid a heavy price for the U.S. involvement in Iraq with the deaths of nearly 900 U.S. military personnel — with more than 5000 others wounded - since the start of the war on March 19, 2003, and the death of as many as 13,000 or more Iraqi civilians and the wounding, maiming, and dislocating of tens of thousands of other civilians; and

WHEREAS, the Bush Administration has used the Iraq War and the “War on Terrorism” as a platform to advocate for restrictions of civil liberties, with measures such as the Patriot Act; and

WHEREAS, the war and occupation of Iraq has engendered an atmosphere of hostility and discrimination toward immigrants and people of color generally, and has led to the victimization, stereotyping, and, in some cases, arrest and detention of innocent people; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO recognizes the courage and sacrifices of U.S. military personnel who have faced extraordinary dangers in the U.S. war in Iraq and who now want to come home; and

RESOLVED, that Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO calls on the National AFL-CIO to demand an immediate end to the US military occupation of Iraq and speedy return of all U.S. military personnel to their homes and families, and to support the repeal of the Patriot Act and the reordering of national priorities toward the human needs; and be it finally

RESOLVED. that Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO, in recognition and furtherance of its position in opposition to current U.S. policy in Iraq, will affiliate with and help actively support and promote U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW) to protect our members, their families, communities and jobs, and the lives and livelihoods of working people everywhere.

Gene Bruskin and Bob Muehlenkamp, Co-convenors

Amy Newell, National Organizer

Michael Eisenscher, Organizer & Web Coordinator

Adrienne Nicosia, Administrative Staff