Contacting your state legislators

WISCONSIN: BRING THE GUARD HOME!  IT’S THE LAW.

Dear Friends,

Time is running short.  We only have a couple more days to call on our state representatives to cosponsor legislation to keep our Wisconsin guard from being unlawfully deployed.  We need people from all over the state to call their State Representatives and State Senators.

Next week Representative Spencer Black and Senator John Erpenbach will be introducing legislation in both houses to help restore the rule of law and to end the war and occupation of Iraq .  The legislation directs the governor to review every federal call-up order of the Wisconsin Guard for its legality, and where there is no lawful basis for Guard federalization, to take action to keep the Wisconsin Guard at home.

This matter is urgent and we need to act by Friday March 27, each of us asking our State Representatives and State Senator to co-sponsor LRB 1256/AB 203.  Time is of the essence.  Please call your state legislators TODAY!

Find contact information for your state legislators at http://www.legis.wisconsin.gov/w3asp/waml/waml.aspx

There are currently only 8 co-sponsors in both houses combined, it was introduced on April 9, 2009 - Introduced by Representatives Black, Berceau, Grigsby, Milroy, Parisi, Pocan, Pope-Roberts, A. Williams and Richards, cosponsored by Senator Erpenbach.  Referred to Committee on Veterans and Military Affairs.

This legislation can help bring an end to the illegal and immoral war and occupation of Iraq .  The authority under which the Wisconsin Guard were deployed to Iraq was the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) passed by Congress in 2002.  That AUMF limited authorized military action to two purposes: 1) to foce Iraq to comply with then extant U.N. Security Council resolutions; and 2) to defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat allegedly posed by Iraq .  Now that Saddam Hussein has been removed from power and we know that Iraq does not have – and never had- any weapons of mass destruction, the original mission has been completed and the 2002 AUMF is not in force.  Therefore, there is no legal basis for sending the Wisconsin National Guard to Iraq .

We need to show our state legislators that there is strong support in Wisconsin to end illegal National Guard deployments.  Call your representative today and please share this information widely.

In Solidarity,

Joy First

On behalf of Wisconsin : Bring the Guard Home! It’s the Law.

608 222-7581

jsfirst@tds.net