Dear Congressman Chocola:

As I read and watched news reports this past week about the forthcoming election in Iraq and the escalating attacks being carried against the occupation forces, I couldn't help but think back to the reason our troops were sent to Iraq in the first place.

Contrary to what one might assume from President Bush's inaugural speech, it was not to spread democracy throughout the world. It was to protect America from what the president insisted was a grave and gathering threat -- Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi dictator was said to possess huge stockpiles of chemical, biological and perhaps nuclear weapons that he planned to unleash on the United States and soon. We now know beyond a doubt that those weapons did not exist.

The Iraq invasion was the first test of the Bush Doctrine of Preemptive War. I've written to you before about the legality and morality of this concept. Here's why I bring it up again: Did you read the New Yorker article by Seymour Hersh about Pentagon plans to begin covert military action in Iran later this year? Did you hear President Bush say that he would not rule out the possibility of invading Iran, the second spoke on his Axis of Evil? If you did, it's reasonable to assume that Iran's political leaders did too. Now, if the Bush Doctrine grants a country the right to attack preemptively any county that it believes has the intent and capability to attack it, doesn't that give Iran the right to attack us now?

As I type these words, some Iraqis are voting, some dying, some killing. Listed below are the names of our countrymen who in the past week have given their lives for a policy that defies logic and invites permanent global warfare triggered by cross-suspicion. I urge you again to condemn preemptive war. You and your colleagues have a responsibility. You can say to the world, "The United States government will never again launch an unprovoked war." If you're not willing to do that, what reason is there to believe that another country won't launch one against us?

With great concern,
writing on behalf of
Michiana Peace and Justice Coalition,

Ed Cohen