Dear Supporter,

I imagine that if Mitt Romney would have won, this e-mail would be very different. In fact, while the crimes being committed would likely be the same, millions of people would be starting to act in opposition once more.

We could imagine the street protest, and people knocking on our office door, calling in, sending in donations, and e-mailing asking what they could do to stop Romney's targeted assassinations, killing and maiming children using drones, indefinite detention here and abroad, or his criminalizing whistle blowers and activists. Instead there is a new wind of passivity, a cold chill in the air. We know many good people who care about what is happening here and around the world. Many of them still feel the "worse" option was prevented and we need to get back to business as usual. 

While we don't know exactly what the world would look like had Romney won, we do know the reality of the crimes committed in the last month since Obama has been re-elected. His victory was celebrated with another drone bombing in Yemen. Drone bombings, particularly in Northern Pakistan, are Obama's real legacy which causes whole villages to live in fear, thousands of children to grow up without parents, and parents to get old without children. Obama has continued to prosecute Bradley Manning for exposing his and George Bush's crimes. Under Obama's leadership the United States backed Israel's latest massacre in Gaza and attempted to block Palestine's bid for "Non-Member Observer Statehood" in the United Nations. All this while readying the machines of war against Syria. Obama's draconian NDAA legislation will soon be renewed with very little protest.

Now that the dust of the election is beginning to clear and people are settling back into another 4 years of safe 'progress,' I am writing to let you know that World Can't Wait is still here for you and everyone who feels that stopping the government's criminal actions is what's important, not the name that signs off on them. We are ready to launch a determined season of meaningful protest countering the deadly calm of Obama's crimes. This January we will be in Washington D.C. demanding the immediate closure of Guantanamo on January 11 (the eleventh anniversary), protesting the drone wars during the Inauguration and standing up for abortion rights during the anniversary of Roe V. Wade. We'll be where we are needed the most in 2013.

We need you with us! Please donate to support these efforts. Your donations will support our actions in January and beyond as we continue to expose the war criminals, stand up to military recruiters, and organize people to visibly put humanity and the planet first. 

January 11th: Shut Down Guantanamo

For eleven years now, hundreds of men have languished at Guantanamo prison. Join us to demand its immediate closure NOW!

January 21st Drone Protest at the Inauguration

In DC during the inauguration, join us to say no to the wars which continue under Obama, and are increasingly being fought using drones.

Cheers for getting a little truth out in the pages of the New York Times

Pardiss Kebraei and Hina Shamsi, lawyers with, respectively, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union, had this letter to the editor published December 6, 2012:

“Election Spurred a Move to Codify U.S. Drone Policy” (front page, Nov. 25) and “Rules for Targeted Killing” (editorial, Nov. 30) showed how shaky the legal underpinnings of President Obama’s targeted killing policy are. If the Obama administration believes that its killing program is lawful and wise only because President Obama is in power, that’s a sure sign that the program is neither lawful nor wise.

Secret targeted killing rules are undemocratic, and a new set of them is unnecessary. The “legal architecture” the administration is searching for is already in place. It is the United States Constitution and international law, which permit the government to use lethal force in response to truly imminent threats but do not support the current killing policy. That policy goes far beyond what the law allows.

If due process means anything, it surely means that the courts have a crucial role to play in reviewing the policy, not least when it comes to the government’s use of lethal force against its own citizens, which has been the case in some drone strikes.

That is precisely the principle that the Center for Constitutional Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union are seeking to vindicate in a lawsuit now pending in federal court.

Samantha Goldman, Steering Committee member of The World Can't Wait