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Norfolk, ss
To Any Constable of the Town of Brookline,
Greetings,
In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are hereby required to NOTIFY and
WARN the Inhabitants of the TOWN OF BROOKLINE, qualified to vote at elections to meet at
the High School Auditorium in said Brookline on WEDNESDAY, the THIRTEENTH day of
NOVEMBER, 2002, at 8:00 o’clock in the evening for a Special Town Meeting at which time
and place the following article is to be acted upon and determined by the representative town
meeting:
ARTICLE 1
To see if the Town will adopt the following resolution:
WHEREAS: We as a people and a nation must not retreat from our commitment to act
as a constructive force within the community of nations. Human progress resides in the respect
for international law and the sovereignty of nations. As the strongest of these nations, the U.S.
has a special responsibility to uphold and abide by broadly supported principles of international
behavior such as those laid out in the U.N. Charter; and
WHEREAS: The U.N. Charter decrees:
1. No nation can use military force except in self-defense (arts. 39, 51);
2. The Security Council is the only body that can authorize the use of force (art. 24;
ch. VII); &
3. Only the Security Council can decide what action can be taken to maintain or
restore international peace and security. (art. 39); and
WHEREAS: We view with great alarm two major changes in U.S. foreign policy by the
Bush administration: a new policy of “preemptive” attack, and a concerted determination to act
unilaterally in world affairs. Both policies eviscerate a half-century of successes in establishing
safeguards minimizing violence in the conduct of international relations; and
WHEREAS: The Bush administration has blurred the important distinction between
“preemptive war” and the more pertinent and far more treacherous notion of “preventive war.”
Our Sen. Kennedy recently said: “’preemptive’ action refers to times when states react to an
imminent threat of attack. … By contrast, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor …. was a
‘preventive’ action. The coldly premeditated nature of preventive attacks and preventive wars
makes them anathema to well-established principles against aggression”; and
WHEREAS: We regret Congress' abdication of it's responsibility,
reminiscent of the shameful Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. As stated by Sen. Byrd, the
recently passed Resolution “…
is a blank check for the president to take whatever action he feels ‘is necessary and appropriate
in order to defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed
by Iraq.’ … Congress must not attempt to give away the authority to determine when war is to be
declared.”; and
WHEREAS: The desire of people the world over is to feel safe and secure. The surest
long-term path to safety and security, both domestic and abroad, is through collaborative efforts
under international law – not through belligerence and unilateralism.
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Brookline Town Meeting:
A. opposes any U.S. attack on Iraq until and unless (1) there is clear and convincing
evidence of a serious and imminent threat of aggression by Iraq, and (2) the U.N. has
determined that collective action is necessary against Iraq; and
B. believes that, at this time, neither of these conditions has been met.
AND YOU ARE DIRECTED TO SERVE THIS WARRANT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE
BY-LAWS OF THE TOWN OF BROOKLINE.
HEREOF FAIL NOT, and make due return of this WARRANT, with your doings thereon, to the
Town Clerk, FOURTEEN DAYS at least before the day of said meeting.
Given under our hands and the seal of the Town of Brookline, Massachusetts, this 22nd day of
October, 2002.
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