[pjw] REPORT BACK: Drone war continues: Friday rally #80 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Iraq Affinity Group supporters

We were back up to six people at last night's Friday Rally for Peace and 
Justice. Once again many pedestrians and drivers expressed their support. 
One woman urged us to think of doing something else other than rallying. I 
tried to explain that we were engaging in public education and handed her 
a flyer for next week's Afghanistan 20 years later rally
( https://pjw.info/afghanistan20yl.html ). Along the march route one 
person was so glad to see a "Free Palestine" sign that they high-fived the 
marcher holding it.

At the rally, here is some of what we talked about:

--The US appears to be continuing its drone war in Afghanistan; the 
Taliban are complaining about breaches of Afghan airspace:

  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/29/taliban-consequences-if-us-continues-to-fly-drones-in-airspace

---The US also said it won't consult the Taliban before launching strikes 
in Afghanistan:

  https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2021/09/24/us-wont-be-asking-taliban-permission-to-strike-terror-groups-in-afghanistan/

---And 22 Republicans want to put sanctions on the Taliban, even though 
withheld funds already threaten economic disaster for Afghanistan. The 
Taliban (FWIW) note this is an extension of a war posture.

  https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-174854

--The UN has calculated that over 350,000 people have died in the civil 
war in Syria since 2011; no estimate how many of those have been caused 
by the US since they started bombing in 2014:

  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/24/at-least-350000-people-killed-in-syria-war-new-un-count

--In a slight sign that things may be able to get better, Iraq 
has continued mediating between Saudi Arabia and Iran, something they are 
in a far better position to do than the US:

  https://www.barrons.com/news/rivals-iran-saudi-held-new-round-of-talks-in-iraq-01632907507

--Here in the US, Senators Durbin and Leahy wrote a letter to President 
Biden calling for no drone strikes outside war zones; this is Biden's 
declared policy buy it seems to be a reference to ending strikes in 
Afghanistan.

  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-senators-call-biden-end-lethal-force-outside-war-zones

---Also, the Senate and House are working on bipartisan bills to take 
back their Constitutionally granted war powers from the office of the 
President:

  https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/09/30/mcgovern-meijer-tee-up-house-bill-clawing-back-war-powers-from-president/

--President Biden is competing with previous presidents' titles as 
"deporter in chief," last week expelling as many as 14,000 Haitian 
refugees. Folks probably also saw the border guards who were whipping 
refugees with their horse reins.

  https://theintercept.com/2021/09/20/biden-haiti-deportations-texas-del-rio/

In local news, on Monday the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office shot and 
killed a man during a traffic stop; it was the 30th deadly force incident 
by law enforcement in Oregon this year. Portland Copwatch has not traced 
more than 38 in a given year since tracking began in 2010.

  https://www.opb.org/article/2021/09/27/clackamas-county-deputy-shoots-kills-person-during-traffic-stop/

  https://www.portlandcopwatch.org/OR_shootings_letter0221.pdf

Along the march route I brought up the fact that Biden refused an offer by 
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to talk during the UN's meeting this 
past week. It's suggested that Biden didn't want to talk to them without 
also talking to the Israelis, which is ridiculous given how often the US 
talks to Israel alone.

  https://www.axios.com/biden-rejected-meeting-mahmoud-abbas-un-3d8cbeb8-c947-4567-b872-65d0130423c5.html

And along the final stretch I noted this opinion piece that compares the 
objections to spending $3.5 trillion on human needs and infrastructure to 
the promise to spend $8 trillion on the Pentagon over the next 10 years.

  https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/bloated-defense-budget-passes-easily-congress-fights-over-safety-net-n1280568

The Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign conked out underneath a security 
camera at the Gucci store on SW 4th again, for the first time in a few 
weeks. When we got back to the Square again at the end it turned itself 
back on after about 5 minutes of rest; this has happened before but is 
just... weird.

As noted above, next week is our special event marking 20 years since the 
Afghan war. Kathy Kelly sent information today that folks involved in the 
Ban Killer Drones movement are doing a "day of atonement" on Oct. 7 about 
the drone war begun after the US invaded Afghanistan. I found this article 
referencing the action:

  https://paxchristiusa.org/2021/09/29/a-day-of-atonement/

Feel free to join us next week for the special event, or any Friday at 5 
PM at SW Yamhill and Broadway, if you feel up to it. Remember to mask up 
and stay appropriately distanced.

thanks

dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group