[pjw] REPORT BACK: will US get out?: Friday rally #261 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Iraq Affinity Group supporters

We were blessed with a break during a very rainy day to hold the special 
event marking 22 years since the US invasion of Iraq last night. Nine of 
us rallied and eight marched, with plenty of supportive honks and verbal 
thank yous, one odd commenter telling us that we should not care what 
happens in Palestine because it's not our business, and several dozen 
people who took our new fact sheets (I'll send out the text tomorrow).

https://pjw.info/iraq22ylfacts.pdf

Before getting to the theme of the day and news of the week, I took a 
moment to remember Malcolm Chaddock, who as I noted in an earlier email 
died last weekend at a relatively young age.

In addition to his presence at our (and many other) rallies, Malcolm was 
part of the organizing of the annual Hiroshima/Nagasaki memorials, and 
yesterday was the first meeting to plan this year's event. The other 
organizers were saddened and sympathetic when I relayed news of Malcolm's 
death. I said "Malcolm Chaddock Presente!" and the crowd responded 
"Presente!"

OK, so, the story you all know but it bears repeating:

After 9/11, George W Bush lied about Iraq being connected to the attacks, 
lied about the presence of Weapons of Mass Destruction, and got congress 
to pass an Authorization for Use of Military Force. The AUMF is still in 
effect today, though Saddam Hussein was captured (and killed) and Iraq is 
ostensibly a US ally.

The 2003 invasion began with massive bombings known as "shock and awe," 
destroying much of what was left of Iraq's infrastructure after the 
devastation from the 1991 Gulf War and 13 years of sanctions.

As internal fighting intensified, the US responded by sending in more 
waves of troops in "surges", with President Obama finally withdrawing all 
but the magical 2500 number in 2011. Then with the rise of the Islamic 
State in 2014, Obama sent more troops in. In 2017, Trump razed Mosul to 
the ground to defeat Isis, and in 2021 Biden withdrew all but... 2500 
troops. Supposedly-- because as we learned in December after the fall of 
Assad in Syria, there were supposed to be just 900 troops in Syria but 
were really 2000, and there are more than 2500 troops in Iraq. But the US 
won't reveal how many for "security" reasons.

While the US built and maintains the world's largest embassy in Baghdad, 
the statement from the Iraqi government in February was that the US troops 
will be leaving in September this year. Let's hope this might be the year 
we really do get out.

Just to prove that they're still there, the US conducted an airstrike in 
Iraq on March 13, supposedly killing the #2 person in ISIS (a repeated 
claim).

  https://news.antiwar.com/2025/03/16/us-says-it-killed-isis-second-in-command-in-iraq-airstrike/

In other news:

--Also as noted earlier this week, Israel unilaterally ended the ceasefire 
in Gaza, killing over 500 people in the first few days of their renewed 
genocidal effort.

  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-gaza-netzarim-corridor-hamas-war-threat-palestinians-collective-punishment/

---In response, Hamas fired missiles toward Tel Aviv, but there were no 
injuries. This underscores the imbalance in the military capabilities of 
the two sides of the conflict.

  https://www.npr.org/2025/03/20/nx-s1-5334420/israel-gaza-hamas-rockets

---The motivation for the attack may have included self-preservation for 
Prime Minister Netanyahu. Immediately after it was launched, the far right 
party which quit the government coalition due to the ceasefire jumped 
back in.

  https://archive.vn/2aWjD
  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-03-18/ty-article/.premium/after-return-to-gaza-fighting-ben-gvirs-far-right-party-agrees-to-rejoin-netanyahu-govt/00000195-a94f-d610-a79d-affff8870000

--Elsewhere, US airstrikes in Yemen killed 53 people last weekend, followed 
up with five more strikes in two days later in the week.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2025/03/16/yemen-us-airstrikes-kill-31-including-women-and-children/
  https://news.antiwar.com/2025/03/20/more-us-airstrikes-hit-yemen-as-houthis-fire-missiles-at-israel/

--And the "peace President" Trump's new lax rules allowed the US to carry 
out airstrikes in Somalia. The bombings killed "enemy combatants," which 
is a strange term for people who, as far as I know, were not directly 
threatening the US in any way.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2025/03/19/us-launches-airstrike-in-somalia-claims-al-shabaab-fighters-killed/

--Russia and Ukraine basically agreed to stop attacks on each 
others' energy infrastructure for 30 days. It's not a ceasefire, a peace 
negotiation or a pledge for both sides to disarm, but I guess it's a step 
forward?

  https://news.antiwar.com/2025/03/18/trump-and-putin-agree-on-energy-and-infrastructure-ceasefire-in-ukraine/

--Remember how PJW testified to the Oregon legislature that the National 
Guard should not be deployed to the border and entertain Trump's claim 
there's an invasion going on there? Well... apparently the Oregon 
National Guard is heading to the Mexican border in October for "Security 
operations." We need to remind Gov. Kotek that Gov. Brown refused to send 
the guard to the border back in 2018.

  https://www.kptv.com/2025/03/12/oregon-national-guard-deploy-us-mexico-border-security-operations/

In local news, the Chief told police to stop going to City Council 
community meetings. Though he (the Chief) doesn't seem to understand the 
cops' presence wasn't "outreach" but _was_ intimidation, in theory there 
won't be any more incidents in the near future.

  https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2025/03/portland-police-stop-attending-councilors-town-halls-following-concerns-chief-says.html

Along the march route I relayed a story that says the Jenin refugee camp 
has been nearly completely destroyed by the US-backed Israeli Defense 
Forces, particularly with their new interventions since January this year. 
Businesses and homes destroyed, thousands forced to flee. Your tax dollars 
at work.

  https://thecradle.co/articles/jenin-camp-100-percent-destroyed-after-two-month-israeli-siege

Defense Secretary Hegsgeth bragged about cutting $580 million from the 
Pentagon budget, mostly in grants and contracts. A little calculator tells 
me that makes up less than 0.7% of the military budget. Why not redirect 
billions to housing, health care and other human needs? Oh, that doesn't 
fit the agenda of white supremacists scared that they will soon no longer 
be in the majority in the country.

  https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5206516-pentagon-cancels-wasteful-spending/

On that note, this week the DEI backlash led to taking down information 
about baseball legend Jackie Robinson's distinguished military career (for 
what that's worth... militarism is of concern no matter who participates). 
Public outcry led to the information being restored.

  https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/trump-erase-history-jackie-robinson-rcna197514

(And no, once again I am not making this up.)

Among the nine people at the rally was a longtime ally of Ann Huntwork, 
who was glad to see the Peace Memorial Sign in person for the first time.
I issued a warning that it would probably go out near the Apple Store, but 
something in the ionosphere (? maybe? ) made it conk out around the corner 
by the Gucci store this week.

The anniversary of the Iraq war was the last Friday Rally sponsored by the 
Portland Peaceful Response Coalition as the pandemic lockdown began just 
before that 2020 event.

  https://www.pjw.info/iraq17yl.html

In addition to the Ann Huntwork ally, a former PPRC participant we had not 
seen at Friday Rally for years attended this week. Come join us some 
week if you can, it's good for the spirits.

peace
dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group