Citizen's Injunction to Halt the Shipment of Military Material to Iraq

author : Port Militarization Resistance topic : Iraq occupation | Port Militarization Resistance | Port of Tacoma

[Fifteen people climbed over a police barrier at the Port of Tacoma on March 11 in order to deliver this document to law enforcement and military personnel overseeing the loading of the USNS Soderman with 300 Strykers and other equipment.]

Whereas, the invasion and occupation of Iraq is contrary to the rule of law inasmuch as it defies agreements that expressly prohibit the belligerent and aggressive invasion of a sovereign nation, and

Whereas, the invasion and occupation of Iraq defies both the letter, and the spirit, of internationally and domestically recognized legal statutes such as the United Nations Charter, the Nuremberg Tribunal Charter, the Geneva Conventions and the United States War Crimes Act, and

Whereas, the invasion and occupation of Iraq has resulted in a humanitarian crisis of significant proportions, and

Whereas, the escalation of conflict in Iraq is counterproductive to the goal of establishing a stable sovereign nation, and

Whereas a majority of United States Citizens oppose both the occupation of Iraq and the escalation of the conflict through the deployment of additional United States military forces, and

Whereas, the cost of the invasion and occupation of Iraq now exceeds $500 billion dollars, money which could have been spent to meet domestic and international needs needs such as health care, education, and the provision of essential public infrastructure, and

Whereas the best way to support United States soldiers is to prevent them from being placed into the middle of a conflict in which they have a high risk of killing and being killed, and

Whereas I have exhausted every legal means available to me to petition my elected leaders for the cessation of conflict, and

Whereas, under legal precedent and historical practice, control over the American military rests firmly within the civilian population,

Now, therefore be it resolved that I, the undersigned, as a citizen of the United States of America, do hereby prohibit the shipment of military vehicles belonging to the 4th Brigade through the publicly funded Port of Tacoma.

Signed on this Eleventh day of March in the year 2007.