Returned Peace Corps for Kerry/Edwards

Statement of Support
for John Kerry and John Edwards by
Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and Staff

We joined the Peace Corps because we were committed to the idea that Americans could partner with people of different nations, cultures, religions and political philosophies to address world wide problems of poverty, ignorance, disease and underdevelopment.

We learned much about the countries in which we served, and about ourselves, and formed countless friendships.

As returned Peace Corps volunteers and staff members, we are profoundly concerned by the greatly diminished respect and trust for the US in our countries of service and elsewhere.

This loss has been the consequence of policies and attitudes of the Bush-Cheney Administration that have squandered the universal good will for Americans after 9/11. They have alienated the populations of our traditional allies and created fear and distrust in countless other nations.

The insularity and recklessness of this Administration has been demonstrated most tragically by an internationally unsanctioned and ill conceived war in Iraq. It has also been seen in their abrogation of previously negotiated global agreements to control climate change, to hold gross violators of human rights legally accountable before an international tribunal, and to stop nuclear testing and proliferation.

This is the most important election in our lifetimes. It can decisively shape the relationship between the US and the world and thus the security and prosperity of our own nation and the well-being of the people with whom we worked in the Peace Corps.

We support the election of John Kerry as President and John Edwards as Vice President because they offer an opportunity to bring peace in Iraq, to reestablish mutual respect in our international relations, and to more effectively combat terrorism by addressing its causes as well as its manifestations.

www.rpc4kerryedwards.org