RESOLUTION ON AFGHAN ABDUCTEES

WHEREAS the United States government has attacked and bombed the country of Afghanistan without offering objective proof to its citizens or to the other nations of the world of the culpability of Afghanistan's government or its citizens or residents for the terrorist attack in New York City on September 11, 2001, and;

WHEREAS the United States government has bypassed and avoided compliance with various international treaties relating to international conflict, which it has entered into in years past and which, therefore, constitute the law of the land, and;

WHEREAS the United States government has eschewed reliance upon international law and institutions, such as the United Nations, in the aforementioned terrorist attack, and;

WHEREAS the United States military, subsequent to its attack on Afghanistan, has abducted hundreds of Afghanistan citizens and residents of that country, transporting them blindfolded, drugged and in chains to imprisonment at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo, Cuba, and;

WHEREAS the aforementioned abductees are being held incommunicado in small cages and are being subjected to defilement of their religious practices, and;

WHEREAS the aforementioned abductees are being subjected to illegal interrogation while suffering the stress of close confinement, isolation in a foreign land, lack of access to legal counsel, and probable torture by the U.S. military,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Veterans For Peace, Inc. demands that the U.S. military abductees from the recent war on Afghanistan be accorded the status of Prisoners of War (POW) and all the attendant rights relating to such a designation under the so-called Geneva Convention and any other convention governing activities in wartime and the treatment of prisoners that the United States is party to, and;

THAT, as a result of the desired designation of these abductees as POW's, the U.S. government immediately extend all rights of POW's to these persons, including access to The International Red Cross, access to legal advice, ability to communicate with their families, freedom of religious practice, release from close confinement, ability to exercise daily, proper medical care and any other POW right, or convention, embodied in any of the aforementioned international treaties that relate to these things, and;

THAT the U.S. government immediately begin planning for the repatriation of these prisoners at the cessation of hostilities, and;

THAT this repatriation of prisoners actually be accomplished by the U.S. government sooner rather than later and as covered by international law and convention. BE IT ALSO RESOLVED that Veterans For Peace, Inc. demands an immediate end to the war conducted by the U.S. government against the Afghan people, and;

THAT members and local chapters of Veterans For Peace, Inc. are urged to participate in the movement for peace in Afghanistan and justice for its men-of-arms, and;

THAT the war on Afghanistan will be a major issue of VFP focus.