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For immediate release        December 29, 2005

                   Contact: Dan Handelman, Peace and Justice Works 503-236-3065

January 13 Friday Rally: The "Gulf War" 15 Years Later
Friday, January 13, 2006, 5 PM, Pioneer Courthouse Square

Portland area peace groups will be cosponsoring an expanded weekly Friday Rally on January 13, 2006 at 5 PM in Pioneer Courthouse Square to commemorate 15 years since the onset of the "Gulf War." The Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group is cosponsoring the Portland Peaceful Response Coalition's weekly event, which has been going for over four years since November, 2001. The focus of the event will be to connect the 43-day bombing and ground campaign which began January 16, 1991 to the current U.S. occupation of Iraq.

The event will begin with about 20 minutes of speakers, then a short march which will return to the Square by 6 PM.

The conditions put on Iraq to end the sanctions included their dismantling any weapons of mass destruction. Though it is now known that Iraq did not have any such weapons, the sanctions continued for nearly 13 years until the current conflict broke out. "The U.S. war on Iraq began in 1991, continued in the form of sanctions and bombing throughout the Clinton presidency, and escalated with the invasion in March, 2003," said Dan Handelman of the Iraq Affinity Group. "Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died, and rougly 2500 Americans. By remembering the beginning of the war we hope to bring an end to it, calling for all the troops to come home now."

For more information, to get involved, please contact the Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group at 503-236-3065 or iraq@pjw.info. Information on Portland Peaceful Response can be found at http://www.pprc-news.org, or by emailing pprcnews@yahoo.com or calling (503) 344-5078.

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