[pjw] INFO: 14 Oregon Groups ask Governor Kotek to keep the National Guard in Oregon

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hello fellow peace activists
Below is the 2023 version of our "Guard Home Letter" to Oregon's governor, 
which has been pretty much an annual ritual since 2004. Fourteen 
Oregon-based groups signed the one to Governor Kotek this year.

You can also find the letter at
https://pjw.info/guardhomeletter2023.html

Feel free to share widely!
dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group

August 3, 2023

To: Governor Tina Kotek

Re: Deployment of Oregon National Guard to undeclared war zones

Governor Kotek

For at least 15 years, peace groups in Oregon have been urging our 
Governors not to send the Guard overseas for combat and support missions 
in countries against which Congress has not declared war. In 2008-09, many 
of the groups organized the Keep Oregon's Guard in Oregon campaign, 
pushing for a resolution from the legislature to prevent deployments to 
Iraq and Afghanistan under the outdated 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for 
Use of Military Force. Over 7000 signatures from all over the state were 
submitted urging the legislature to pass a resolution about keeping the 
Guard home. Because the 2001 AUMF was specific to those responsible for 
what happened on 9/11 that year, and the 2002 AUMF was about ousting the 
now long-dead Saddam Hussein from power, there is no authority for the US 
to maintain troops in Iraq, assert its right to intervene in Afghanistan, 
or for that matter have a presence in Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan or 
Syria.

The people of Oregon need the National Guard to stay stateside to handle 
wildfires, conduct search and rescue missions, and provide support for the 
medical system in public health crises such as the pandemic. With climate 
change not abating, there will likely be more natural disasters needing 
the Guard's attention in the years to come.

Annual letters to Governor Brown included one in 2020 which called 
attention to six of Oregon's 13 helicopters normally used to fight 
wildfires being deployed in Afghanistan.

The US has withdrawn its troops from Afghanistan, but retains the right 
for "over-the-horizon" attacks against suspected terrorists.*-1 There are 
2500 troops still in Iraq,*-2 and at least 900 in Syria in over 20 
bases.*-3

We urge you to set a firm policy that Oregon's Guard will not take part in 
any current or future deployments without a formal declaration of war from 
Congress. Open-ended Authorizations for Use of Military Force have been 
used to justify ongoing war actions without congress reconsidering the 
underlying policies. Efforts to repeal the 2002 Iraq War Authorization 
have stalled, and Congress does not seem to have an appetite to amend or 
repeal the 2001 Authorization, with a vote earlier in 2023 failing 9-86 in 
the Senate.*-4

Governor Brown did not send the National Guard to participate in crowd 
control during the 2020 racial justice uprisings in Portland, and would 
not allow President Trump to send the Guard to the Mexican border to 
support his prejudiced and often racist immigration policies. We 
appreciated those decisions.

Many of us reached out to you as a candidate in August 2022 to seek your 
opinion on this life-and-death policy issue for Oregon's Guard.

We are sending this letter to you in proximity to the 78th anniversary of 
the US bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thinking about the devastation 
caused by war no matter which side you are on. We would like you to have 
Oregon take the lead in ending the reliance on violence to resolve 
conflict and instead Keep Oregon's Guard in Oregon.

Thank you,

Dan Handelman for
Peace and Justice Works (Portland)

Rick Staggenborg, MD, President for
Veterans For Peace Linus Pauling Chapter 132 of Corvallis-Albany

Veterans For Peace, Rogue Valley Chapter 156

Stand for Peace (Portland)

Albany Peace Seekers

Oregon PeaceWorks

Some Members of the Jewish Community of Portland, Oregon

Pacific Green Party

Alliance for Democracy (Portland)

Peace Action Group of the First Unitarian Church (Portland)

Portland Central America Solidarity Committee

Barry Reeves for
Buddhist's Responding (Corvallis)

Natasha Beck for
Portland Women's International League for Peace and Freedom

Congregation Shir Tikvah



*1- 
https://www.reuters.com/world/cia-carried-out-drone-strike-afghanistan-us-officials-say-2022-08-01/

*2- 
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/why-u-s-forces-remain-in-iraq-20-years-after-shock-and-awe

*3- 
https://thecradle.co/article-view/24879/exclusive-us-and-syria-holding-secret-talks-in-oman

*4- 
https://www.paul.senate.gov/senators-continue-efforts-to-return-war-powers-to-congress-introduce-the-end-endless-wars-act/