AGAINST THE CURRENT U.S. POLICY OF PERMANENT AND 'PREEMPTIVE' WAR

WHEREAS, the Bush administration, too often with bipartisan support, has used the idea of a "war on terror" to justify permanent and preemptive war and to provide political cover for:

• attacking and occupying other nations (Iraq 2003) and possibly launching future "preemptive" attacks (including against Iran);
• massively increasing U.S. investment in war and disinvesting in education, healthcare, environmental safety and other human needs;
• dismantling civil liberties, compromising constitutional rights and violating international law in the name of fighting terrorism; 
• transferring billions of dollars from public treasuries to private corporations as unprecedented war profiteering; and

WHEREAS, the "war on terror" is an ideological construct that obscures the reasons for the real war—which include control over wealth and resources; and

WHEREAS, the Bush administration announced a "National Security Strategy" of "preemptive war" in September 2002 that arrogated to the United States the unilateral right of the “use of force before attacks occur” at any time against any country that it deems hostile, even if that country has not taken any aggressive action against the U.S; and

WHEREAS, in line with its "National Security Strategy" of "preemptive war," the U.S. invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003; and

WHEREAS, the war in Iraq has so far cost the lives of thousands of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers, and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians; has displaced more than 4 million Iraqis, only a few of whom have returned in recent months, and has had a financial cost of more than $2 trillion; and

WHEREAS, the $720 million a day that the war costs could pay for 84 new elementary schools or 12,478 elementary school teachers or 95,364 Head Start placements for children or a year of free school lunches for 1,153,846 children or a year of healthcare for 423,529 children or homes for 6,482 families or 34,904 four-year scholarships for students at state universities (www.afsc.org/cost/); and

WHEREAS, the war has greatly increased the destabilization of the Middle East and Persian Gulf; and

WHEREAS, since the war in Iraq began, Iraq has become a new breeding ground for terrorists, prompting a September 2006 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate to state that "the Iraq conflict has become the ‘cause célèbre’ for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement"; and

WHEREAS, the Bush administration, in the name of fighting a “war on terror,” has tarnished our constitution, debased our civil liberties, and brazenly ignored international law by:

• denying the right of habeas corpus to both noncitizens and citizens under the Military Commissions Act;
• sanctioning rendition, the practice of seizing unindicted individuals and shipping them to nations where torture is used as a method of interrogation;
• detaining almost 400 individuals at Guantánamo Bay without charges and without access to U.S. courts;
• allowing the CIA, in violation of the Geneva Conventions, to use “waterboarding,” a method of interrogation that simulates drowning; 
• authorizing surveillance of U.S. citizens without a warrant, in violation of the Fourth Amendment;
• exercising the theory of a "unitary executive" to aggrandize presidential power and limit congressional oversight; and

WHEREAS, the longer the war in Iraq continues, the more privatized both destruction and reconstruction become, with many of the functions of the military contracted to private firms; with Halliburton getting more than $20 billion in Iraq contracts and Blackwater and the mercenary industry more than $4 billion:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers go on record in opposition to the Bush administration’s theory and practice of permanent and preemptive war; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers demand that the United States immediately begin a complete withdrawal of armed forces from Iraq; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers call for an end to private war profiteering and that contractors be held responsible for their crimes while engaged in contracted activities; and

RESOLVED, that the 2008 American Federation of Teachers national convention expresses its solidarity with all Iraqi unions in their efforts to organize and establish free and independent unions; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers supports Iraqi labor efforts to protect the national sovereignty of its oil, other natural resources and public assets; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers’ president will communicate our concerns and support for independent trade unions in Iraq to the Iraqi unions, the Iraqi government through its ambassador in Washington, DC and the United States. government, including the president, the Congress, and the Department of State; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers call for a reversal of the current federal funding priorities that create austerity for labor by investing in unending war while at the same time taking funds from education, healthcare, environmental safety and other human needs; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers call for a restoration of the fundamental constitutional, civil and human rights that have been suspended in order to pursue the “war on terror” and that the AFT advocate for (1) the elimination of the practices of rendition, torture, and warrantless surveillance, (2) the closing of the prison at Guantánamo Bay and (3) the repeal of the Military Commissions Act and the Patriot Act; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers consider the principles enunciated in this resolution when making endorsements in the 2008 presidential and congressional elections; and

RESOLVED, that American Federation of Teachers establish relationships with organizations of veterans and military families and build a network of union members who are vets or in military families; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers communicate to its affiliate locals and state and regional bodies, and the AFL-CIO, the existence and significance of these issues and encourage those bodies to undertake appropriate education and solidarity actions in line with this resolution.