On behalf of the Chester County Peace Movement, we are asking local faith-based leaders to join CCPM’s Saturday peace vigils in unity for No War With Iran. The latest escalation between the U.S. and Iran over the killing of General Qassim Suleimani could very possibly be the start of a WWIII. Haven’t we lost one too many lives to war since post-9/11? Shouldn’t all lives matter? Should an American life be more valued than another human life anywhere else on this planet?

Since 2003, CCPM has stood on the corners of High and Market Streets every Saturday in downtown West Chester from 11:00 a.m.–12:00 noon, bringing awareness and alternatives to war. 

The human and financial tolls of the costs of post-9/11 wars are unconscionable: *

• Over 801,000 people have died due to direct war violence, and several times as many indirectly.
• Over 335,000 civilians have been killed as a result of the fighting.
• Over 6,950 US soldiers have died in the wars.
• 21 million — the number of war refugees and displaced persons.
• The US federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars with Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria is over $6.4 trillion dollars. This does not include future interest costs on borrowing for the wars, which will add an estimated $8 trillion in the next 40 years.
• US government funding of reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan has totaled over $170 billion. Most of those funds have gone towards arming security forces in both countries. Much of the money allocated to humanitarian relief and rebuilding civil society has been lost to fraud, waste, and abuse.
• The US government is conducting counterterror activities in 80 countries.
• The wars have been accompanied by violations of human rights and civil liberties, in the US and abroad.

*(https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/)

Does the above sound reasonable or proportionate?

War isn’t good for any living thing – great or small – child, woman, or man anywhere on this planet. We encourage you as a local faith leader to join us on Saturdays to spread love, not hate – to stand for peace, not war.

Out of concern for all humanity, please stand with us.

The Chester County Peace Movement

PO Box 803

West Chester, PA 19381

www.ccpeace.org

Annette Bauerlein

Andi Hubbard

Cathy Lakoff

Chris Barr

John Hellman

Kevin Patrick Kelly