Urgent Action: US must respond fairly and responsibly

Along with people in the US and around the world, I am grieving the
tragic loss of lives that occurred on September 11. My deepest
sympathies are with the victims' families and loved ones.

Those who are responsible for the attacks have deservedly earned the
condemnation of billions of people. I hope they will be swiftly
apprehended and brought to justice according to the norms of
international law.

In this time of crisis, I appeal to you, as an elected public official
whose mandate is to serve the interests of your constituency, to
support a US response to the tragedy that respects innocent lives and
protects the civil liberties of all people.

Now more than ever, the people of the United States of America need
their elected leaders to make fair decisions, based on sound judgment,
that points the US and the world in the direction of peace with
justice--necessary in any strategy to ensure that tragedies like that
of September 11, 2001 never occur again.

I ask you to consider and implement the following into your decision making:

• Acts of military retaliation that endanger the lives of civilians
  anywhere in the world are unacceptable. We cannot pay tribute to the
  loss of innocent lives by taking more innocent lives. To paraphrase
  Gandhi, "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind." We are
  concerned about the misguided knee-jerk reaction among representatives
  of the US government that a military strike is necessary to punish the
  perpetrators of the attacks. Rather than a military counterattack, the
  US government must apprehend and prosecute those responsible for the
  crimes in compliance with international law.






• The difference between the guilty and the innocent must be
  distinguished. We must condemn the hate crimes and discrimination
  already being experienced by members of the Arab and Muslim
  communities and protect their rights. Those who commit atrocities are
  not the same as those who may simply share their religious beliefs,
  ethnicity or national origin. Prejudice only engenders a spiral of
  hatred that leads to the kind of violence the world witnessed on
  September 11.






• The civil liberties of all people must be protected. We Americans
  hold dear the democratic liberties granted to us by the US
  Constitution. It would be tragic indeed if the events of September 11
  were to rob us not only of innocent lives, but of our cherished
  liberties. We oppose any efforts to diminish our right to privacy and
  freedom of speech.




• A commitment to peace with justice and love toward our brothers and
  sisters around the world must be made. From the depths of this
  horrific tragedy, we must rise up and become passionate advocates of
  peace with justice and conflict resolution. Only love leads to peace
  with justice, while hate takes us toward war and injustice.