May 15, 2003
Colleagues circulate petition on weapons inspection
Three colleagues in the Atmospheric Sciences Department are circulating a petition to Congress calling for the resumption of UN weapons inspections in Iraq. Research meteorologist Tad Anderson, along with faculty Marcia Baker and Robert Charlson, had already gathered more than 150 signatures at last count.
“A lot of us have been looking for a way to get involved in the democratic process because we have concerns about the direction our country is taking,” Anderson said. “We thought that, as scholars, we have a role to play in the weapons inspection situation because it has to do with how objective truth is determined.”
Just as science is built on peer review, Anderson said, he and his colleagues believe that professional, independent oversight is needed to determine whether or not the pre-war evidence presented to Congress by the administration concerning Iraqi chemical and biological weapons was accurate.
The trio wrote up a petition and circulated it through off-campus e-mail to the mailing list of Faculty for Peace, an organization formed a few months ago to oppose the war in Iraq. Those who wanted to sign the petition simply replied to Anderson’s home e-mail indicating they wanted their name on it.
“We sent the petition to the entire Washington delegation to Congress last week but haven’t yet gotten a reply,” Anderson said.
He said the group is still interested in collecting signatures and would like to spread the idea to other campuses. To get a copy of the petition, contact Anderson at his home e-mail, tadandcindy@earthlink.net.
