Click here for downloadable .pdf flyer for March 19 Vigil

Peace and Justice Works
  Iraq Affinity Group
  PO Box 42456
  Portland, OR 97242
  (503) 236-3065
  pjw@pjw.info
  http://www.pjw.info/Iraq.html

CALENDAR ANNOUNCEMENT              February 24, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

"Counting the Costs: Iraq One Year Later"
Vigil for peace and remembrance planned at Terry Schrunk Plaza, SW 3rd and Madison
Friday, March 19, 2004, 4-6 p.m.

There will be a vigil for peace and remembrance in commemoration of the anniversary of the start of the U.S. attack on Iraq on Friday, March 19 from 4-6 p.m. at Terry Schrunk Plaza, SW 3rd and Madison. The event, organized by the Peace and Justice Works (PJW) Iraq Affinity Group, will be a more somber visibility action than the large-scale peace rally PJW is helping to organize the next day. The event will be called "Counting the Costs: Iraq One Year Later."

According to Peace and Justice Works member Desiree Hellegers: "When we talk about counting the costs, we're talking not only about the 500 plus American servicemen and women who have died, but the thousands of Iraqis, many of them civilians, who have died in this latest conflict. We also remember the hundreds of thousands who died as a result of the 1991 Gulf War and the U.N. sanctions which were only lifted last May after the invasion." The Iraq Affinity Group also counts the costs in terms of the $87 billion allotted for the war and the U.S.' current military budget of over $400 billion taking resources away from basic human needs at home and directing energy away from peaceful negotiations in U.S. foreign policy.

Peace and Justice Works is an educational organization dedicated to non-violent conflict resolution on local, national and international levels. The Iraq Affinity Group was created as a project of PJW when it was founded in 1992. PJW organized an event every year on or around January 16, the date of the beginning of the first war, from 1993-2003.

The event is being cosponsored by the Portland Peaceful Response Coalition, whose weekly Friday rally will join up with the vigil sometime after 5 PM. For more information or to endorse or volunteer for this event, call Peace and Justice Works at 503- 236-3065, email iraq@pjw.info, or visit http://www.pjw.info. Return to Iraq Affinity Group page
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Page updated February 24, 2004