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CALENDAR LISTING/NEWS ITEM
For immediate release March 15, 2019
"War of Lies: Why Are US Troops Still in Iraq?"
Visibility action marking 16 years since the US Invasion*Tuesday, March 19, 2019*
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
East end of the Burnside Bridge (Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd at Burnside)
On Tuesday, March 19 the Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group is teaming up with the weekly Stand for Peace and Justice event for a special visibility action marking 16 years since the US invaded Iraq in 2003. The action will be held from 4:00 until 5:30 PM* and will feature the "Tower of Peace," a 12-foot-tall display which has been seen many times around town since 2012. The recent Senate vote against US participation in the Saudi-led war in Yemen, and actions suggesting the US would like to conduct a similar war to access the vast oil reserves in Venezuela, make this action particularly timely.
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. After the invasion, no such weapons were found. Similar lies about the alleged attack on a US naval destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin helped justify the Viet Nam war. The current President is pushing a false narrative about migrants coming across the Mexican border to try justifying spending some of the military's $700 billion plus budget to build an unnecessary wall.
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis lost their lives both in the invasion and the ensuing chaos, including under the Obama administration both prior to most US troops being withdrawn in 2011 and in the war against ISIS waged from 2014 until late last year. Airstrikes continue and the US has indicated it will move the 2000 ground troops currently in Syria into Iraq, which would bring the total close to 7500 in a country the US supposedly left over seven years ago. Members of the Iraqi parliament have asked the US to leave, particularly in the wake of President Trump's surprise Christmas visit in which he did not meet with any Iraqi officials.
Event co-sponsored by Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group and Stand for Peace and Justice, with Women's International League for Peace and Freedom-Portland, Portland Peaceful Response Coalition and War Resisters League-Portland.
For more information or to get involved contact the Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group at 503-236-3065 (voice or text), or email iraq@pjw.info .
*- note: Stand for Peace and Justice usually runs from 4:30 to 5:30 PM, this will be a special extended action.