[pjw] NEWS: March and rally to mark 25 years after "Gulf War" Fri Jan 15, 4:30 PM
Peace and Justice Works
pjw at pjw.info
Thu Jan 14 13:10:04 EST 2016
Hi, one more time, Iraq Affinity Group supporters:
Below is the (final) news release we sent out just now to the media. You
will see it includes at the bottom the full list of historical documents
we've been forwarding out for the last 8 days.
Today's document is the announcement for a protest from July 26, 2014,
about 2 weeks before Iraq War III broke out, that contextualizes the US
build-up of troops in Iraq signalling that another round of bombing was
imminent.
http://www.pjw.info/iraq_war_iii_072614.htm
Please do forward this widely and, if the weather people know what
they're talking about, come to our dry protest Friday at 4:30 PM.
(Incidentally, there is a housing justice rally at City Hall tomorrow
night at the exact same time, but as we wrote to the organizers, the PPRC
Friday Rally takes place at Pioneer Square every week, and we didn't pick
January 15 as the date for the "Gulf War," George HW Bush did.)
--dan h
peace and justice works iraq affinity group
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2016 10:01:45 -0800 (PST)
From: Peace and Justice Works <pjw at pjw.info>
To: News Media <newsmedia at pjw.info>
Subject: NEWS: March and rally to mark 25 years after "Gulf War" Fri Jan 15,
4:30 PM
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
NEWS ITEM
For immediate release January 14, 2016
Media contact: Dan Handelman, Peace and Justice Works, 503-236-3065
"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. Peace
and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group and Portland Peaceful Response Coalition
(PPRC) will remember 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's 1990 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 significance of the 'Gulf War' in world history cannot be underestimated,"
said Dan Handelman of Peace and Justice Works (PJW), who was also part of
CAUSMIME in 1991-92. "It marked the beginning of the post-Cold War era where US
intervention around the world, and particularly in the Middle East, became
routine, unchallenged, and never-ending."
To supplement the history of the war against Iraq and the opposition to it in
Portland, PJW has been posting historical documents to its website ranging from
1991 to the present at http://www.pjw.info/gw25yl.html .
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, contact Peace and Justice Works at 503-236-3065.
* Historical documents: 25 Years in Iraq:
o Article on 1/12/91 March (12-15,000 people):
http://www.pjw.info/gw25yl/gulfwarprotest011291.pdf
o About Portland's 1991 Coalition:
http://www.pjw.info/gw25yl/CAUSMIMEpromo.pdf
o 1991 Weekly Friday Rally organized by CAUSMIME:
http://www.pjw.info/gw25yl/CAUSMIME_Friday_rally.pdf
o Flyer for 2/16/91 Rally and March, which started on the east and west sides,
both leading to marches that met up at NW Broadway and Everett Sts:
http://www.pjw.info/gw25yl/March_rally021691.pdf
o Flyer: 9/11/92 March vs. No Fly Zones:
http://www.pjw.info/gw25yl/ProtestNoFlyZones091192.pdf
o Flyer: 1/16/96 Vigil 5 Years Later:
http://www.pjw.info/gw25yl/GW5ylflyer.pdf
o 10 Years Later event 1/16/01: * Flyer: 1/16/01 event:
http://www.pjw.info/gw25yl/GW10yl_flyer.pdf
* Details on 1/16/01 event
http://www.pjw.info/GW10yl.html
o Info on 3/15/03 march, 4 days before Iraq war stared+more:
* Flyer: 3/15/03 (featuring keynote speaker Rep. John Lewis)
http://www.pjw.info/mar15flyer.pdf
* Photo of crowd: 3/15/03 (estimated by organizers at 30,000+, Oregonian said
14,000):
http://pjw.info/mar1503_over14000.jpg
* 157 cosponsors: 3/15/03
http://www.pjw.info/mar15cosponsor.html
* Photo of crowd at protest marking one year of Iraq war 3/20/04
http://www.pjw.info/oregonian032004.JPG
* All major rallies 2002-2015 organized by loose-knit network of Portland
groups:
http://pjw.info/majormobilizations2002_.html
o Gulf War, 20 Years Later 1/14/11
http://www.pjw.info/gw20yl.html
o US still in Iraq after withdrawal 3/20/12
http://pjw.info/iraq9yl.html
o "No More US Bombs on Iraq" 7/26/14 in lead-up to Iraq War III (8/8/14):
http://www.pjw.info/iraq_war_iii_072614.html
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