+comunity+ Open letter regarding the public expression of thanks to Slovenia by the United States Congress for Slovenia's support of the US-led war in Iraq (fwd)

[reni hofmueller]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2003 13:00:34 +0200
From: Zveza mirovnih drustev skupin in posameznikov <zvezamir at yahoo.com>

Date: April 2, 2003
To: Slovene government authorities
Cc: Interested members of the public, public figures, mass media, public
administration officials, the world, etc.


Open letter regarding the public expression of thanks to Slovenia by the United
States Congress for Slovenia's support of the US-led war in Iraq


On April 1 the United States Congress passed a resolution thanking selected
countries who are ostensibly included in "the coalition to disarm Iraq,"  which
is to say in the military coalition against Iraq. Slovenia is also mentioned
among the countries, specifically, in the group of ten Eastern European
countries which on February 5 issued a joint declaration (the Vilnius
Declaration) stating that the United States had presented compelling evidence of
Iraq's development of weapons of mass destruction, of its efforts to deceive UN
inspectors, and of its connections with international terrorism.

Up until now the political leadership has been deluding itself as well as its
public that the Vilnius Declaration was intended to support the resolution of
the crisis within the UN framework, and should not be understood as an
expression of support for a US military invasion of Iraq. Further, the
government has continued to insist that Slovenia is not part of the military
coalition. Contrary to the government's assertions, it has now become crystal
clear that the United States interprets the Vilnius Declaration as an expression
of support for its illegal and illegitimate invasion and occupation of Iraq, and
that Slovenia as a Vilnius signatory lends support to American imperial
advances.

The resolution was introduced by Senator Richard Lugar, Chair of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Lugar, at a hearing on NATO enlargement on
Tuesday, April 1, stated, "I believe that the candidate countries-Latvia,
Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria-are ready to assume
full membership responsibilities and contribute to European stability and
security.All seven have been supportive of Coalition military efforts in Iraq. I
will urge the Senate to vote in favor of bringing the seven candidate nations
into NATO."

It is clear why the political leadership has not withdrawn from the Vilnius
Declaration despite the sharp criticism and demands of the public, and why it
has not issued an official denial of the statements by high-ranking American and
British politicians which place Slovenia in the military coalition: they are
afraid that doing so would jeopardize their efforts to bring Slovenia into NATO,
since this would give rise to doubts about Slovenia's suitability as a vassal of
the American empire. One of the principal conditions for Slovenia's entry into
NATO, which the Slovene political elite has long tried to conceal from Slovenia'
s citizens, has come unambiguously to light: support for "crisis resolution" (in
other words, the assertion of the interests of the strongest) using military
means.

SLOVENIA IS THUS ENTERING NATO OVER THE CORPSES OF THE IRAQI PEOPLE, THROUGH
COOPERATION IN THE BREAKDOWN OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, BY SIDING WITH MIGHT OVER
RIGHT, AND IN CONTRADICTION TO ARTICLE 124 OF THE SLOVENE CONSTITUTION!

And this is just the beginning: if the political leadership of Slovenia is, even
before entry into NATO, incapable of asserting its views with respect to the
resolution of international problems in multilateral organizations when these
differ from those of its "transatlantic allies" (that is, assuming it even has
an independent viewpoint which differs in any significant way from the American
position), and if it is incapable of successfully resisting the signing of
statements crafted by representatives of the military-industrial complex who are
behind NATO enlargement, it will be even less capable of doing so after becoming
a member of the alliance.  NATO membership will lead to the complete
subordination of Slovenia's foreign policy to the dictates of the American
political and military-industrial elite-in other words, to Slovenia's complicity
in all future imperial wars.

The Association of .. hereby calls on all members of the Slovene political
leadership, and in particular Prime Minister Anton Rop and Foreign Minister
Dmitrij Rupel, to apologize to the Slovene people for lying, and to
unequivocally inform the political leadership of the United States that Slovenia
does not support the war against Iraq. Slovenia must publicly withdraw from the
Vilnius Declaration, condemn the US attacks on Iraq, and demand the exclusion of
Slovenia's name from all lists, both public and secret, of countries which
support the war. If the Slovene leadership fails to do this, we citizens of
Slovenia will take this to mean that the government has in fact included our
country in the military coalition despite the opposition of the vast majority of
Slovenes, has thereby lost its last remaining shred of credibility and
legitimacy, and only retains its power through undemocratic and repressive
means.


Franci Pavlisic and Nina Fabjancic, on behalf of the Association of Peace
Organizations and Activists.

Contact: zvezamir at yahoo.com
Telephone:
+386 31 215 455 (Franci Pavlisic)
+386 31 487 404 (Nina Fabjancic)

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You can get more information on Slovene involment in war coalition, protests,
peace movements on web site: http://www.acmolotov.org/nevojna/