[pjw] EVENT REMINDER: "War of Lies: Why Are US Troops Still in Iraq?" Tues 3/19/19 4-5:30 PM

[Peace and Justice Works]

Iraq Affinity Group supporters:

Below is the updated announcement for our event coming up a week from 
Tuesday marking 16 years since the US invasion of Iraq.

Since our last announcement, we have added three more co-sponsors: Women's 
International League for Peace and Freedom, Portland Peaceful Response 
Coalition and War Resisters League.

Right now I have someone who has promised to help get the Tower of Peace 
down to the event site and back. If anyone on this list who can help lift 
30 lbs and spend 30 minutes helping me string up the US Out of Iraq
banners onto the tower sometime in the next week (including tomorrow late 
afternoon) please let me know!

Thanks and please spread the word...
dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group

    For immediate release         February 23, 2019

                "War of Lies: Why Are US Troops Still in Iraq?"

           Visibility action marking 16 years since the US Invasion
                           *Tuesday, March 19, 2019*
                               4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
        East end of the Burnside Bridge (Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd at
                                   Burnside)

    On Tuesday, March 19 the Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group is
    teaming up with the weekly Stand for Peace and Justice event for a
    special visibility action marking 16 years since the US invaded Iraq in
    2003. The action will be held from 4:00 until 5:30 PM* and will feature
    the "Tower of Peace," a 12-foot-tall display which has been seen many
    times around town since 2012.

    The US invasion and occupation was based on the knowingly false
    information presented by the George W Bush administration alleging that
    Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. After the invasion, no such
    weapons were found. Similar lies about the alleged attack on a US naval
    destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin helped justify the Viet Nam war. The
    current President is pushing a false narrative about migrants coming
    across the Mexican border to try justifying spending some of the
    military's $700 billion plus budget to build an unnecessary wall.

    Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis lost their lives both in the invasion
    and the ensuing chaos, including under the Obama administration both
    prior to most US troops being withdrawn in 2011 and in the war against
    ISIS waged from 2014 until late last year. Airstrikes continue and the
    US has indicated it will move the 2000 ground troops currently in Syria
    into Iraq, which would bring the total close to 7500 in a country the
    US supposedly left over seven years ago. Members of the Iraqi
    parliament have asked the US to leave, particularly in the wake of
    President Trump's surprise Christmas visit in which he did not meet
    with any Iraqi officials.

    Event co-sponsored by Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group and
    Stand for Peace and Justice, with Women's International League for
    Peace and Freedom-Portland, Portland Peaceful Response Coalition and
    War Resisters League-Portland.

    A flyer for this event can be found at
    http://www.pjw.info/iraq_16yl_flyer.pdf


    For more information or to get involved contact the Peace and Justice
    Works Iraq Affinity Group at 503-236-3065 (voice or text), or email
    iraq at pjw.info .

    *- note: Stand for Peace and Justice usually runs from 4:30 to 5:30 PM,
    this will be a special extended action.