13 PEACE, VETERANS, AND FAITH GROUPS ASK GOVERNOR KITZHABER TO KEEP OREGON NATIONAL GUARD FROM DEPLOYMENT TO AFGHANISTAN IN 2013

On January 10, thirteen peace, veterans and faith organizations from
various parts of Oregon sent a letter to Governor John Kitzhaber urging
him to keep the Oregon National Guard from its planned deployment of 1800
Oregonians to Afghanistan in 2014. The groups' letter cites a 2009 effort
to keep the Guard in Oregon through the legislative process, and a
similar letter sent to Governor Ted Kulongoski in 2008. The full text of
the new letter is below and on line at
http://www.pjw.info./guardletter2013.pdf .

The groups listed on the letter are:
Peace and Justice Works, Military Families Speak Out of Oregon, Veterans
for Peace Chapter 132 (Corvallis), Veterans for Peace Chapter 72
(Portland), Rogue Valley Veterans for Peace Chapter 156 (Grants Pass),
Community Alliance of Lane County, Citizens for Peace & Justice
(Medford/Rogue Valley), Peace House (Ashland), Oregon PeaceWorks, Oregon
Physicians for Social Responsibility, War Resisters League--Portland
Chapter, 18th Avenue Peace House (Portland), and Augustana Lutheran Church
(Portland).

The groups include locally based and statewide groups, groups connected
to national organizations, and groups based in at least 6 of Oregon's
36 Counties. Two Portland area peace activists also signed the letter.

For more information contact Peace and Justice Works at 503-236-3065.

--------------------
Peace and Justice Works
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
503-236-3065


To: Governor John Kitzhaber
160 State Capitol
900 Court Street
Salem, Oregon 97301-4047(by e-mail and postal mail)

January 10, 2013

Governor Kitzhaber

We are writing you today as organizations who, in 2009, worked with the
legislature to keep the Oregon National Guard from deploying into
undeclared military conflict zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, hoping you
will exercise your authority of the Commander in Chief of the Guard to
keep them from the planned deployment to Afghanistan in 2014.

Over 5500 people signed the petition supporting our legislation, known as
HB 2556, and nearly 50 organizations supported the effort. We had pledges
from at least 30 members of the House to support the legislation, but it
was never brought to the floor.

The legal framework of the legislation was that the Authorization for Use
of Military Force of September 18, 2001, which launched the "War on
Terror," is overly broad and has allowed the United States to occupy
Afghanistan and attack Somalia, Pakistan, and elsewhere, invade Iraq, as
well as enabling the opening of the prison camp at Guantanamo, the PATRIOT
act, military tribunals, and other affronts to human, civil and
constitutional rights. The 2001 AUMF has been renewed annually by
Presidents Bush and Obama, and has no provision to end the "war," a
termination date nor a process or procedure to determine when the
authorization should terminate.

Recognizing that in 1986, Congress passed and the President signed the
"Montgomery Amendment," which provides that a governor cannot withhold
consent with regard to active duty outside the United States because of
any objection to the location, purpose, type, or schedule of such duty, we
hold that the President must act pursuant to the Constitution and laws of
the United States. The War Powers Act of 1973 (Public Law 93-148)
specifically limits the power of the President of the United States to
wage war without the approval of Congress. the 2001 AUMF could provide for
the National Guard to be deployed indefinitely.

Deployment of Oregon National Guard members in Afghanistan has resulted,
and continues to result, in significant harm to guard members and their
families, including death and injury, loss of time together, and financial
hardship.

While the bill at that time focused on the then-upcoming deployment of the
Guard to Iraq, we feel it is your duty to ensure that the request by the
federal government for Oregon's sons and daughters to be called into
harm's way are lawful and Constitutional.

We concur with the Eugene Register-Guard, which wrote in its editorial on
December 4, "The Oregon Army National Guard's 41st Infantry Brigade Combat
team, with a battalion based in Springfield, is scheduled to deploy 1,800
soldiers to Afghanistan in 2014. It's Oregon's second-largest overseas
deployment since World War II -- and it is a deployment that can be
avoided if Obama heeds the advice of the U.S. Senate and decides that the
time has come, not for sending more troops to Afghanistan, but for
bringing the 66,000 who are there now home as quickly as possible."

Thank you for your consideration

Sincerely,

Dan Handelman
for
Peace and Justice Works

Adele Kubein
for
Military Families Speak Out of Oregon

Bart Bolger
for
Veterans for Peace Chapter 132 (Corvallis)

Clayton Knight
for
Veterans for Peace Chapter 72 (Portland)

Jim Woods
for
Rogue Valley Veterans for Peace Chapter 156 (Grants Pass)

Michael Carrigan
for
Community Alliance of Lane County

Allen Hallmark
for
Citizens for Peace & Justice (Medford/Rogue Valley)

Herbert Rothschild
for
Peace House (Ashland)

Peter Bergel
for
Oregon PeaceWorks

Kelly Campbell
for
Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility

John Grueschow
for
War Resisters League--Portland Chapter

John Schweibert
for
18th Avenue Peace House (Portland)

Rev. W. J. Mark Knutson
for
Augustana Lutheran Church (Portland)

Geraldine Foote, St. Luke Lutheran Peace and Justice Advocacy Group*

Trudy Cooper, American Iranian Friendship Council*

*organizations listed for identification purposes only

reference: Read excerpts from our August 11, 2008 letter to Governor
Kulongoski at
http://www.pjw.info/kulongoskiletter08summary.html