This war in Iraq has been and remains a disaster.

Untold, uncounted thousands of Iraqis have been killed in its three-plus years, and more than 2600 Americans have now lost their lives. It was started based on erroneously stated principles by men and women who knew better or differently. Rather than making Americans and the world safer from "terrorism," it has sharpened animosities between people, caused hostility to replace the nearly world-wide sympathy the United States enjoyed after the horror of September 11, 2001, and alienated Americans from their government.

At home, it has compromised our constitutional guarantees and granted the administration leeway to call our commitment to liberty into question.

Speaking for Chattanooga Quakers, I appeal to our fellow citizens to explore every avenue to arrest this gigantic fraud, to our country, its economy, and our religious convictions

          Signed: Bill Reynolds, Clerk of Chattanooga Religious Society of Friends, ("Quakers")

Submitted to the Chattanooga Times Free Press

August 2006