[pjw] UPDATE: EVENT: "Iraq: Still Recovering 18 Years After the US Invasion" Fri 3/19 5 PM

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hi PJW supporters

The below announcement updates the one we sent last month, adding 
information on the Syria strike, correcting typos, and adding an 
endorser. This information can also be found at 
http://www.pjw.info/iraq18yl.html . Feel free to circulate, and do let us 
know if your group wants to be listed as a cosponsor or endorser.
--dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group

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

CALENDAR LISTING


For Immediate Release                         March 10, 2021


                              Iraq: Still Recovering
                          18 Years After The US Invasion
                          Friday, March 19, 2021 5:00 PM
                     Weekly Friday Rally for Peace and Justice
                            Pioneer Courthouse Square,
                              SW Yamhill and Broadway
                        **Joe Biden is the 6th consecutive
                            US President to bomb Iraq**

      Join Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group on Friday, March 19,
      2021 for a march and rally marking 18 years since the US invaded Iraq
      in 2003. The event, titled "Iraq: Still Recovering 18 Years After The
      US Invasion", takes place at the weekly Friday Rally for Peace and
      Justice at Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW Yamhill and Broadway.

      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. Members of Congress,
      including then-Senator Joe Biden, voted to authorize war. After the
      invasion, no WMDs were found. As part of an agreement by Bush,
      President Barack Obama withdrew troops in 2011, only to send more back
      in to fight the Islamic State in 2014. In early 2020, President Trump
      deeply damaged US-Iraq relations by using a drone to assassinate
      Iranian General Soleimani and an Iraqi militia leader. The Iraqi
      parliament voted to demand the US leave their country. In late January,
      the US killed an Islamic State leader in an airstrike, making Joe Biden
      the sixth consecutive US President to bomb the country of Iraq.

      While there are now only 2500 US Troops in Iraq, the instability caused
      by 13 years of sanctions and war (1990-2003) and 18 years since the
      second war and invasion, keep many Iraqis from having even their basic
      needs met. While greatly reduced, attacks by ISIS, which did not exist
      before the invasion, continue. The US embassy in Baghdad is the world's
      largest, despite Iraq being the 36th largest country by population and
      58th largest in size. It is clear the US wants to stay in Iraq to
      control the oil resources not just in Iraq but in the entire region.
      March 19 also marks 10 years since Barack Obama launched the US war on
      Libya, which threw that country into turmoil which is only now seeming
      to come to resolution with a new unity government forming.

      On February 26, President Biden ordered an airstrike in Syria to
      retaliate for rocket attacks on a US military installation in Iraq. A
      separate rocket attack in Iraq in early March prompted Defense
      Secretary Lloyd Austin to declare that "We demand the right to protect
      our troops." There seems to be no recognition that if the US had never
      invaded Iraq, no American troops would be getting attacked.

    It is time to end all US wars and bring the troops home!

      This event is part of the weekly Friday rally for Peace and Justice,
      which began shortly after the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Begun
      by Portland Peaceful Response Coalition, Peace and Justice Works has
      hosted these rallies since March, 2020.

      Event coordinated by Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group,
      endorsed by the Pacific Green Party.

      For more information, or if your group would like to cosponsor or
      endorse this event, contact Peace and Justice Works at 503-236-3065 or
      iraq at pjw.info. A flyer for the event can be found at
      http://www.pjw.info//iraq_18yl_flyer.pdf .

      (NOTE: The first two presidents to bomb Iraq were George HW Bush
      1991-92 and Bill Clinton 1993-2000.)