$5,000 spent to oppose war

Published February 18, 2003

WELLINGTON, Feb 17: A 51-year-old New Zealander who earns a living cleaning motels and sewing has spent 5,000 New Zealand dollars (2,750 US dollars) of her own money on a newspaper advertisement urging US President George W. Bush to pull back from war in Iraq.

Margie Beamsley’s open letter, saying, “Mr Bush, please say ‘Never again’ to war,” was published as a half-page advertisement in Monday’s Wellington Dominion-Post newspaper.

“You need not see the day when you are reviled as the man who brought the world to war,” wrote the odd-jobs lady from the tiny town of Karamea, on the west coast of the South Island.

“You can take a different stand and be honoured as the man who used his power to find a warless way, a way that remembers that every human being is glorious, hidden like you and me, beneath our fears.”—dpa

Opinion

Editorial

Doctor attacked
09 Jun, 2026

Doctor attacked

AN act of reprehensible violence has shaken the medical community. On Saturday, an employee of the Provincial Civil...
AJK flare-up
Updated 09 Jun, 2026

AJK flare-up

The situation started deteriorating after a trader affiliated with the JAAC was reportedly shot in an altercation with law-enforcers.
Fault lines
09 Jun, 2026

Fault lines

THE April 8 ceasefire that halted hostilities between Israel and Iran has encountered its most serious test yet....
Soft on traders
08 Jun, 2026

Soft on traders

THE Fixed Tax Asaan Scheme for traders with an annual turnover of up to Rs200m has been designed as a ‘pragmatic...
Ceasefire in name
Updated 08 Jun, 2026

Ceasefire in name

Both sides accuse the other of violating the truce that was supposed to halt the conflict in April, yet neither appears willing to abandon negotiations altogether.
Damaged childhoods
08 Jun, 2026

Damaged childhoods

CHILD abuse is so prevalent that the UN ranked Pakistan as the least safe country for children. Even so, more than...