Teach-in on Iraq in DC this Sunday

Along with our colleagues Code Pink, the Institute for Policy Studies and other stalwart peace and justice groups, Peace Action is sponsoring a teach-in on Iraq this Sunday, August 29. Here is the “411″ as they say, and a good article from Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin on Op-Ed News:

Iraq: The Legacy of the 7-Year U.S. Occupation

When: Sunday, August 29th 2010

Time: 5pm-9pm

Location:

Busboys and Poets

5th and K NW, Washington, DC

Description:

Is the U.S. military really leaving Iraq or just rebranding? What is the toll of seven years of occupation on Iraqis, U.S. soldiers and our economies? What is the status of Iraqi refugees around the world?  Is it still possible to hold accountable those who dragged us into the war or committed crimes such as torture? What role did Congress and the media play in facilitating the invasion/occupation? We’ll also look at the role of the peace movement–its strengths and weaknesses–and draw key lessons to make our work for peace, including in Afghanistan, more effective.

Speakers/fperformances include:

Kymone Tecumseh Freeman, playwright, performer, reading Letters from Iraq

Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies

Raed Jarrar, Peace Action

BIll Fletcher, labor leader, scholar

Josh Stieber, Iraq Veterans Against the War

Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK and Global Exchange

Andy Shallal, Iraqi artist, owner Busboys and Poets

David Swanson, author

Cynthia Benjamin, Military Families Speak Out

Sponsored by: CODEPINK, Peace Action, Institute for Policy Studies, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Global Exchange, Just Foreign Policy, Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, ANSWER, World Can’t Wait, Voices for Creative Nonviolence and War is a Crime.

the Real news: Lawrence Wilkerson on Iran

An Interveiw with Lawrence Wilkerson who argues that Vice President Cheney blocked talks with Iran and promotes an administrative diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran.

Lawrence Wilkerson was the Chief of Staff of Collen Powell and is currently an adjunct professor at the College of William and Mary on National Security issues.

Iraq Toll

Those who died in Iraq from Dec 2 to 8:

Sgt Kyle Dayton  22  El Dorado Hills CA

Pvt Dewayne White  27  Country Club Hills IL

Sgt Eric Hernandez  26  Waldwick NJ

Cap Adam Snyder  26  Fort Pierce FL

13 were seriously wounded and maimed.

34 were returned to occupation.

294 Iraqi sisters and brothers were killed.

Cf:  www.icasualties.org

Iraq Toll

Those killed in Iraq from Nov 25 to Dec 1

Spc Benjamin Garrison  25  Houston TX

Pvt Isaac Cortes  26  Bronx NY

Cpl Allen Roberts  21  Arcola IL

Sgt John Tobiason  42  Wichita KS

Cpl Blair Emery  24  Lee ME

Spc Matthew Reece  24  Harrison AR

248 Iraqi sisters and brothers were killed.

Cf:   www.icasualties.org

The Song plays on…from Vietnam to Iraq

Fighting Terrorism at Home & Abroad

When we talk about “Real Security through International Cooperation and the Funding of Human Needs” it is sometimes hard to understand what that means in terms of our daily lives. 

On my way home I often pass a family saying hello and usually exchanging brief pleasantries. Normally, the father and sometimes the mother sit on the front stoop watching the baby play.  Last night, however, as I rounded the corner something was very different.  All the contents of their house had been dumped haphazardly onto the sidewalk; they were not sitting on the porch but rather on the street near their clothes.  They had been “put out of their house.”  They could not make the rent for this month and so this family of three (with a toddler) was homeless, sitting in the dark and cold with no place to go.  They had left that morning for work and daycare with a small sense of security, only to arrive that night vulnerable and in genuine danger.  How is it, in the richest democracy in the world, we can put a family out?  

My neighborhood is known for gang activity.  I myself, have witnessed 3 shootings; none of which, thankfully, resulted in death or injury; but they were scary. I can’t imagine being a toddler on the street hearing those booming noises echo only feet away from me.  I have lots of Libertarian friends who don’t believe the government could solve these problems even if it did have a billion dollars.  I might agree if we ever had a chance to test the theory.  The money spent on militarism represents more than 70% of our Federal budget.  The money for social programs is less than 5%.  Where are our priorities?  Why have we, for decades, chosen bombs over people?

Again, I turn to my Libertarian friends who claim the ONLY function of a Federal government is the protection of national boarders from foreign invaders.  I would like to see a more comprehensive idea of ‘foreign invaders.’ I think hunger and frost bite should be counted among the terrorists affecting our world.

It strikes me that these terrorists are potently killing people all over the world on a daily basis – and U.S. investment in militarism only compounds the problem.  I lived in Kosova for a time about a year ago.  The people there are so grateful to the U.S. for ending the genocide perpetuated by Milosevic.  They have a picture of Bill Clinton or Gen. Wesley Clark on nearly every street; including a giant mural on Bill Clinton bvld in downtown Prishtina.  Of course there is another side to this gratitude.  On Bill Clinton blvd there are still apartment buildings bombed out from U.S. strikes in 1999.  People are still living in homes exposed to the elements with no water or electricity.  The unemployment rate is staggering and the thousands of ‘missing’ are still unaccounted for.  The political status of Kosova is still in flux between a Serbian territory and an independent state.  Neither Europe nor the U.S. has invested enough money and time into the rebuilding of Kosova.  We saved them from genocide and then condemned them to poverty through our inaction. 

There is a similar story happening all over the world:  in Ethiopia & Eutria; in Pakistan & Afghanistan; in Burma & S. Korea; in Sudan, in Sri Lanka, in Palestine, in Columbia, in Morocco, in every continent.   Real security, internationally, means investing in the health and well being of all humans; knowing that persons whose security needs are met will never strap a bomb to their back and then board a train.

Terrorism, both the Islamic kind and the gang kind, can only be stopped by meeting our human needs as a global community.  The U.S. is in a unique position to take leadership in this endeavor, and we have historically.  Although now contentious, the IMF and World Bank served their original purpose after WWII.  The funding provided by these international organizations rebuilt Europe after the devastation and renewed the historic cities to their former glory.  We have lost the philanthropy which launched us into a global super power.  Now we face our challenges with bombs and empty promises.  Ours is a path of destruction and destitution.  We must regain our conscious and expand our sense of community if we are ever to realize a peaceful world.

Iraq Toll

Those who died in Iraq from November 4 to 10:

Pvt Adam Muller  21  Underhill VT

Sgt Derek Stenroos  24  North Pole AK

Sgt John Linde  30  New York NY

Sgt Carletta Davis  34  Anchorage AK

PO Kevin Bewley  27  Hector AR

Sgt Daniel Shaw  23  West Seneca NY

Spc Christine Ndururi  21  Dracut MA

Sgt Lui Tumanuvao  29  Fagaalu Samoa

Cap  Benjamin Tiffner  31  West Virginia

Spc Jermaine Franklin  22  Arlington TX

251 Iraqi sisters and brothers were killed.

Cf:  www.icasualties.org

How Can We Stop this Madness

If this video tears at your insides as much as it does mine please consider taking action to stop this war.  Take part in regional demonstrations happening in areas near you on Sat., OCTOBER 27th.  Check out this website for more information.

Iraq

Those who died in Iraq from Oct 14 to 20:

Spc Jason Koutroubas 21 Dunnellon FL

Sgt Justin Monschke 28 Krum TX

Pvt Kenneth Iwasinski 22 W Springfield MA

Ltn Thomas Martin 27 Ward AR

Cpl Sarah Holmes 26 Wantage UK

Spc Michael Brown 20 Williamsburg KS

Spc Vincent Madero 22 Port Hueneme CA

Sgt Jared Fontenot 35 Fontenot LA

Spc Wayne Geiger 23 Lone Pine CA

Cpl Erik Garoutte 22 Santee CA

50 were seriously wounded and maimed.

55 were returned to kill fields.

249 Iraqi brothers and sisters were killed.

Cf: www.icasualties.org

Iraq Toll

Those who died in Iraq from Oct 7 to 13:

Cpl Gilberto Meza  21  Oxnard CA

Cpl Zurab Choghosvili  26  (Soviet) Georgia

Cpl Benjamin Dillon  22  Rootstown OH

Cpl Jeremy Burris  22   Tacoma WA

Frank Cady III  20  Sacramento CA

Sgt Jason Lantieri  25  Killingworth CT

Sgt Lillian Clemens  35  Lawton OK

Spc Samuel Pearson  28  Westerville OH

Sgt Eric Duckworth  26  Plano TX

Sgt Donaid Munn II  22  St Clairs Shores MI

Pvt Nathan Thacker  18  Greenbrier AR

22 were seriously wounded and maimed.

56 wounded were returned to occupation.

328 Iraqi brothers and sisters were killed.

Cf:  www.icasualties.org

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