This letter was sent to my two senators and my representative, October 4, 2002.

Please vote against any war with Iraq.

Please go further and introduce and support a resolution that denies any funds for any such war.

Consider this issue from the sole point of view of American self-interest. We have already seen Saddam refuse to use his weapons of mass destruction against the U.S. in the 1991 Gulf War, when he was losing, because of our threat of massive retaliation. We know that he is evil, but he is not suicidal.

It is also very much in the interest of the international community to contain him, and it is through international cooperation that we can best keep weapons of mass destruction out of his hands, not by starting a war on our own.

The real threat is not Saddam, it is Al Qaeda terrorists. That is a much harder threat to fight. Indeed, I fear that with our present policies we will have no more success in that "war" than we have in the war on drugs. But starting a war against Iraq will play right into their hands, making the recruitment of new terrorists far easier, by allowing them to describe the US as making war on Islam, or on the Arab world.

War is not the solution. We need to build bridges to other Arab governments, and to Iran, not go against them by sending in troops.

Fred Camper