Results for America in Foreign Policy and National Security

Who are we?
Results for America is a project initiated by the Civil Society Institute, a non-profit, independent organization dedicated to supporting and encouraging the involvement of community level groups and individuals in the public life of the country.

Results for America includes your friends and your neighbors, Republicans, Democrats and Independents, veterans and anti-war activists, religious, cultural, business and community leaders. We are civil society—the people who make our communities work. And now it is time for us to speak out together. Join us.

Results for America calls on politicians and candidates from all parties to discover America and listen to the voices of experience and wisdom on the challenges we face together as a nation.

Why have we come together?
Since the attacks of September 11th, US policymakers have increasingly focused on unilateral military goals while eroding civil liberties at home. Yet Americans say they feel less safe and secure than ever. The terrorist threat remains.

It is time for our voices to be heard in support of ideas that will actually make America safer, more secure and a better place to live.

We are asking tough questions.
Finding the right answers means asking the right questions.

Look over the following questions. Add some of your own. Share what is on your mind with your family, friends, neighbors and colleagues.

Even better, ask candidates, policymakers and the media these same questions—and make it clear that you want straight answers.

Ask:

• Have US troops in Iraq curbed or increased the threat of terrorism?
• Are there weapons of mass destruction hidden in Iraq?
• Can US and British-led forces give birth to a genuine democracy in Iraq?
• How can the oil resources of Iraq be utilized to benefit the Iraqi people?
• Has US legitimacy suffered because we initiated a war without international consensus?
• Is the United States prepared to police the world without multinational organizations?
• How much is this war costing American taxpayers? How could we spend this money at home?
• How long will the US maintain forces in Iraq?
• What strategies can be used to best address terrorism?

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We are supporting ideas that work.
More and more Americans believe our response to the threat of global terrorism is doing nothing to make our country safer and is, in fact, fanning the flames of anti-American sentiment all over the globe.

We believe that in order to be truly secure, America needs to cease acting unilaterally and become fully reengaged in the global community. To achieve this, America needs to:

• Work cooperatively with the international community to seek and eradicate terrorist networks.
• Direct our own resources to dismantle terrorist networks. We must do this through investment in intelligence gathering, cooperative intelligence and policing agreements with governments around the world, and by suffocating the networks' financial ability to launch attacks.
• Develop energy policies that reduce US dependence on Middle Eastern oil.
• Develop an international consensus on burden sharing and power sharing in Iraq, with the goal of rebuilding Iraq and turning the government over to the Iraqi people.
• Restore essential services throughout Iraq and work toward an international fund to improve the living conditions for all Iraqis.
• Recommit to participating in international aid and development organizations.
• Recognize that the burden of $87 billion dollars a year in Iraq for an indefinite period, added to a $5 trillion plus deficit, will harm the economic health of our country and create an unwarranted hardship on working families.

We are creating a new dialogue about foreign policy and national security.
America's security must not rely solely on military strategies. New enemies require new strategies. The challenges we face in fighting terrorism will require the highest level of cooperation from organizations like the United Nations, NATO and governments around the globe.

So we are creating new opportunities for discussing these issues and developing forums where our voices will be heard by policymakers. Throughout the next year and beyond, we will keep looking for new ways to keep national security high on everyone's agenda.

Be sure to share your concerns, ideas and dreams for how to make our country, and the world, safer. You can write to local, state or national elected officials or people running for local, state or national office. Tell them what is working and what needs improvement.

We cannot afford to let foreign policy and national security issues be dominated by unilateralists who alienate us from the world community.

How can you do more?
Download your Results for America security toolkit.

In your toolkit, you will find everything you need to help make security a vital issue in 2004 and beyond. You will discover ways to connect with others in your community and nationwide who share your hopes and concerns. Download eye-opening articles, suggested talking points and postcards. You can even send personalized emails to your friends and neighbors to encourage them to get involved.

We invite you to join us in getting Results for America in foreign policy and national security.

Our security and safety depend upon it.

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What is the problem?
The display of military might unleashed in Baghdad was unmatched in all of human history, yet the threat of terrorism remains and many argue it is growing because of the war in Iraq. Saddam Hussein, like Osama bin Laden, is still at large, and organized Iraqi opposition to US forces is growing. More Americans have died since the official “ending” of the war than during the heat of combat.

Having dismantled the government of Saddam Hussein, we are now obligated to follow through. In order to accomplish this very expensive task, the US needs the very allies we alienated during the debate before the war.

Further, we cannot secure ourselves from terrorism in the long run if we do not also strengthen our ties to nations and peoples throughout the world. Unilateralism will not secure our homeland or protect our interests abroad.