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

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hello again IAG supporters

This is just a refresher of the email we sent out last Wednesday about 
Friday's 5 PM rally to mark 18 years since the Iraq invasion (and 10 years 
since the war on Libya). I sent the calendar listing out as a News Release 
just now.

This information can also be found at http://www.pjw.info/iraq18yl.html . 
Feel free to circulate and hope to see a few folks Friday.

--dan handelman
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 at pjw.info
       http://www.pjw.info/Iraq.html

NEWS ITEM

For Immediate Release                         March 17, 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.)