Rooting Out Evil
Saturday, February 22 - Sunday, February 23
Edgewood Chemical and Biological Laboratory, Edgewood, MD
We are sending an international team of volunteer international weapons inspectors
to Washington, D.C. during the weekend of February 22-23 to inspect the Edgewood
Chemical and Biological Laboratory.
The team currently includes Alan Simpson, a Member of the British House of Commons
(and head of Labour Against the War); Libby Davies,
MP for Vancouver East; Professor Mel Watkins of Science for Peace; Steve Staples
of the Polaris Institute; David Langille of the Centre
for Social Justice; Deborah Bourque, National President of the Canadian Union
of Postal Workers; Ed Hammond of the Sunshine Project; and Peter Shorret
from the Council for Responsible Genetics. We are expecting to be joined
by leaders of the faith community and parliamentarians from other countries. Launched
in Toronto by a small group of activists, Rooting Out Evil has now been endorsed by major Canadian and U.S. peace and
social justice groups. Among the major Canadian groups endorsing ROE are Greenpeace
Canada and the Centre for Social Justice. Several of the largest
American anti-war groups have also endorsed us:
Global Exchange, The National Network to End War Against
Iraq, ANSWER and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (USA).
Two of the largest unions in Canada, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and the Canadian
Union of Postal Workers have endorsed ROE. In addition, over 18,000 concerned
citizens from dozens of countries have endorsed the campaign by registering as
honorary citizen weapons inspectors on our web site at www.rootingoutevil.org . Network media
in several countries and documentary film-makers are covering the event. We believe
this interest indicates broad public support for a balanced treatment of the issue
of weapons of mass destruction. We find support for this approach in the words
of the US President. On October 4, 2001 George W Bush asked us “to root out evil so that our
children and grandchildren can live with freedom as the beacon all around the
world.” We took the President at his word. We have selected the USA as our first priority for a citizen weapons inspection
based on criteria provided by the Bush administration. According to those criteria,
the most
dangerous states are those run by leaders who: 1) have massive stockpiles of chemical,
biological, and nuclear weapons; 2) ignore due process at the United Nations;
3) refuse to sign and honour international treaties;
and 4) have come to power through illegitimate means. Rooting Out Evil was inspired by the Bush administration’s ongoing
escalation of military threats, unilateral demands and incendiary rhetoric about
Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, which the Bush government proposes to remove
- with its own weapons of mass destruction. The sad truth of course, is that most
of the world’s stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction are produced, stored
and controlled not by the so-called Axis of Evil, but by their chief accusers.
The US nuclear arsenal consists of over 15,000 warheads, on
hair trigger alert. Recent US nuclear posturing has prompted Korea, India and Pakistan towards further nuclear weapons proliferation. The United
States also maintains stockpiles of 24 thousand tonnes
of the very same chemical weapons - sarin and VX nerve
agents and mustard blister agent - which they accuse Saddam Hussein of possessing.
If the United States allowed Iraq to sign the Chemical Weapons Convention, then Iraq would have until 2012 to
dispose of its approximately 500 tonnes of chemical
weapons, the same deadline available to the United States. The United States is now developing new chemical and biological weapons
capabilities, and its recent diplomatic actions have severely weakened the major
international treaties which ban these weapons: The Chemical Weapons Convention
and the Biological Weapons Convention. On Februaary
22, we are planning a welcome on Capital Hill, a meeting with American scientists,
and a public forum in the evening. On Sunday, February 23, the team will proceed
to Edgewood Chemical and Biological (Weapons) Laboratory for an inspection. Assuming
that entry to this site is prohibited, the team will hold a final press conference
emphasizing that all nations, including the USA, should be held to the same standards. International
weapons inspectors should have unfettered access to search out and help decommission
all weapons of mass destruction wherever they might be. See; www.rootingoutevil.org.
Contact: David Langille, Director of Public Affairs,
416-927-0777 x225 or langille@socialjustice.org.