[pjw] EVENT REMINDER/UPDATES: "End 25 Years of Killing: US Out of Iraq": Friday, January 15 4:30 PM

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hi again
I know it's a busy and confusing time as we have events bookending next 
week; the Monday Guantanamo action at the Hawthorne Bridge and Friday's 
expanded PPRC weekly rally in Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Below is the updated announcement about the "End 25 Years of Kiling: US 
Out of Iraq" rally and march. We've posted a flyer for the event at
  http://www.pjw.info/iraq25yl_flyer.pdf
Please print it out and post it widely!

As we nudge toward the date we will be posting information from the span 
of these 25 years to the "resources" section of the event page at
  http://www.pjw.info/gw25yl.html

The first two items are:

* An article about the massive peace rally/march on January 12, 1991 which 
was called the largest event in Pioneer Square history at that time, with 
the mainstream media counting 12,000-15,000 people:

  http://www.pjw.info/gw25yl/gulfwarprotest011291.pdf

* A promotional flyer from the Coalition Against US Military Intervention
in the Middle East (CAUSMIME) which organized that event:

  http://www.pjw.info/gw25yl/CAUSMIMEpromo.pdf

PJW was founded about a year later. It's a strange nostalgic feeling to 
read the list of organizations who were part of the Coalition, as very few 
are still around today; among those you can still join are WILPF, Radical 
Women, Freedom Socialist Party, PCASC, NW Draft Counseling (now The 
Military & Draft Counseling Project or War Resisters League-Portland), 
Peace House, and Peace Action Committee at First Unitarian.

The updated calendar listing has the current list of supporters for next 
week's event.

Hope to see you there!
dan h
peace and justice works iraq affinity group


    Peace and Justice Works
      Iraq Affinity Group
      PO Box 42456
      Portland, OR 97242
      (503) 236-3065 (Office)
      iraq @ pjw.info
      http://www.pjw.info/Iraq.html

    Calendar Listing

    For immediate release
    December 12, 2015 (updated December 22, 2015)

                   "End 25 Years of Killing: US Out of Iraq"
     Expanded Portland Peaceful Response Coalition Friday Rally and March
                           Friday, January 15, 2016
                                 4:30-6:00 PM
              Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW Yamhill and Morrison

    Three wars, millions of lives, and 25 years later, the United States
    continues its military and economic intervention in the country of
    Iraq. Join Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group and Portland
    Peaceful Response Coalition (PPRC) in remembering the date that "Gulf
    War Part I" began in 1991 with an expanded PPRC Friday Rally on January
    15, starting at a special early time, 4:30 PM at Pioneer Courthouse
    Square, SW Yamhill and Morrison.

    In 1991, President George HW Bush gave Saddam Hussein a deadline of
    January 15-- Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday-- to withdraw Iraqi
    troops from neighboring Kuwait. The next day, January 16, the US began
    one of the most intense bombing campaigns in history, eventually
    driving Iraqi forces out of the Emirate (and strafing retreating Iraqi
    troops on the "Highway of Death"). The US continued killing Iraqis
    directly through enforcing "no-fly zones" in Northern and Southern
    Iraq, and a bombing campaign in late 1998 launched while President
    Clinton was facing impeachment. The unprecedented sanctions put in
    place after Iraq's1990 invasion of Kuwait decimated Iraq, causing the
    deaths of at least half a million children, which Secretary of State
    Madeline Albright acknowledged in a CBS interview, stating "the
    price... we think the price is worth it."

    The sanctions were finally lifted, for the most part, after the US
    bombed and invaded Iraq starting on March 19, 2003 (Iraq War part II)
    in a mission dubbed "shock and awe." Thousands upon thousands of Iraqis
    were killed not only by the US bombing and invading forces, but by
    sectarian strife triggered by the killing of Saddam Hussein and the
    dismantling of the existing government. These actions led to the rise
    of both Al Qaeda in Iraq and the Islamic State. At least 4800 American
    soldiers died in the effort, which left Iraq in more chaos than it had
    been in before the invasion. Although most American troops were
    withdrawn in December 2011, at least 200 remained, in part to guard the
    world's largest embassy-- the US embassy in Baghdad.

    On August 8, 2014, the US began bombing Iraq for the third time in 25
    years, ostensibly to support Iraq's fight against the Islamic State.
    Dozens of Iraqi civilians have been reported killed by the air
    campaign, and despite the promise of "no boots on the ground," at least
    3500 American soldiers, acting as "advisors" and "special operations
    forces," are back in the country. The US began similarly bombing Syria
    several weeks later, the main difference being there is no formal
    relationship between the US and Syrian governments and the US has a
    stated goal of regime change there.

    In Portland, the Coalition Against US Military Intervention in the
    Middle East (CAUSMIME) rallied 12,000 people in Pioneer Courthouse
    Square on January 12, 1991, days before the war broke out. CAUSMIME
    also held weekly Friday rallies in Pioneer Courthouse Square for
    several months before and after the war began, an inspiration to the
    Portland Peaceful Response Coalition rallies which have continued
    weekly since November 2001. The Coalition continued protesting the war
    and putting on educational forums after the 1991 shooting war ended in
    late February, dissolving about a year later. At about the same time,
    Peace and Justice Works was formed including its Iraq Affinity Group.

    The January 2016 event is endorsed by Portland Close Guantanamo
    Coalition, Veterans for Peace Chapter 72, Recruiter Watch PDX, Little
    Light of Mine Friends Worship Group, Jewish Voice for Peace-Portland,
    and others. For more information, to get involved or to
    cosponsor/endorse the event contact Peace and Justice Works at
    503-236-3065.