National Call for Emergency Iraq Protests
We want to alert you to the national call for local emergency actions taking place this Friday through Monday to demand: U.S. Out of Iraq; Bring the Troops Home Now!; Money for jobs, education and healthcare - Not for wars of aggression. In response to the urgent nature of events in Iraq, VoteNoWar members are organizing in force to take to the streets in nationally coordinated emergency actions in the next few days.
See below for details of protests in New York City, Washington DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles, downloadable flyers, and a link to a form to list your city's action on the website and in future emails.
Iraq at the Boiling Point
The Iraqi revolt against occupation is spreading throughout the country as Iraqis are uniting in their opposition to the U.S. and other foreign forces. The Pentagon command is reacting with a murderous iron fist that will only inflame the people of Iraq and the people of the region.
In the last 72 hours the number of casualties has mounted, as Iraqi cities are besieged by 500lb bombs and Hellfire missiles, helicopter gunships that fire thousands of rounds per minute, and tanks. Street fighting is raging throughout the country.
The U.S. is conducting a widespread reign of terror. In fact, the U.S. and its allies are now conducting military operations in Ramadi, Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Sadr, Adamiya, Kufa, Kut, Karabla, Amarah, Kirkuk, Mosul, Nasiriyah, Shula, and other cities and towns. The city of Fallujah has been exceptionally targeted for collective punishment. This is the same city where in the very first weeks of the occupation U.S. troops set the tone when they took over a local school and then killed 15 residents who were protesting the takeover of the facility, and where last month U.S. troops went house to house smashing in doors and terrorizing residents, which only increased the fear and anger that the people feel. In the last day scores of Iraqis have been killed in Fallujah alone, including small children and an entire family of 25 when the U.S. forces bombed their house.
U.S. soldiers who have been sent to Iraq based on lies and deceits perpetrated by the administration are dying in ever increasing numbers as well. Since Sunday the Pentagon has reported at least 35 soldiers have been killed and many more wounded. The foreign occupying forces, including U.S. troops, really just want to go home. They and their families know that contrary to the assertions of Rumsfeld, the U.S. forces are not considered liberators by the people
The words associated with Vietnam - "debacle," "quagmire," etc. - are certainly apt for Bush's war and the occupation of Iraq. Yet, this is not exactly George W. Bush's Vietnam. During Vietnam it took years for the majority of the people and most soldiers to turn against the war. This time, the people of the United States have learned within the span of only one year that the war against Iraq is based on outright fabrications and lies and they are turning in growing numbers against the occupation and the warmakers.
If the analogy with Vietnam has validity, it is this: U.S. political leaders, again emboldened by arrogance and drunk with power, falsely believe that their possession of high tech weapons is sufficient to subdue small Third World countries seeking independence and sovereignty. From Iraq to Palestine to Haiti, the U.S. government is waging and supporting wars of oppression, conquest and occupation using the massive military and financial power of the U.S. to deprive those countries' populations of their right to self-determination.
But there are fundamental differences between the war in Vietnam and Iraq. The most important one being that the United States could, at the end of the day, disengage from Southeast Asia and withdraw from Vietnam. The policy planners and decision makers for the U.S. imperial establishment know full well that the United States military, political and economic structures will never voluntarily withdraw from Western Asia and Northern Africa, also known as the Middle East.
This is where the oil is. Not just in Iraq, but also throughout the Gulf region where two-thirds of the world's known petroleum reserves are located. This region is also the gateway to the rapidly expanding economies of East and Southeast Asia, the northern entrance to the African continent from Europe, and the where several strategic waterways are located: the Suez Canal, Gibraltar Strait, the Red Sea, and the Gulf.
The Bush gang opted to use naked military force as a means of further consolidating an existing U.S. dictatorship over the region. The project in Iraq was designed not only to crush the Iraqi government, it was seen as a means to a larger end. The plan was to build large-scale U.S. military bases in Iraq, establish in Baghdad the largest U.S. embassy (more than 3,000 personnel) in the world, and use Iraq as the launching pad for regime change throughout the region - the imposition of a true Pax Americana.
Even the phony exit strategy is collapsing as the Pentagon brass ponders the current need, like General Westmoreland did 1967, to send thousands of additional troops to crush a rebellion that has its roots in the anti-colonial yearnings of an occupied people. In the face of the revolt, Rumsfeld has said publicly that he is considering sending additional troops as well as keeping the forces already in Iraq from their scheduled rotation home. The Pentagon has relied not only on the 120,000-plus U.S. military forces but, according to Nightline on April 6, an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 "guns for hire" - U.S., British and South African mercenaries - that are now fighting in Iraq under the euphemistic label "private contractors."
The people of the world, including the people of the U.S., created an unprecedented mass movement in the last 18 months opposing Bush's war and subsequent occupation of Iraq. At this critical time it is urgent to take to the streets in emergency mobilizations to demand: U.S. Out of Iraq; Bring the Troops Home Now; Money for jobs, education and healthcare - Not for wars of aggression.
Please support the movement for justice and peace! Your help is urgently needed to keep this important work going, and you can help right now by making a donation online through our secure server by clicking here, where you can also get information for writing a check.
Thanks to all the VoteNoWar members who are working so hard and with great commitment at this critical time.
All of Us at VoteNoWar.org
Emergency Action Information
From Friday April 9 through Monday April 12 there will be nationally-coordinated emergency local demonstrations in cities and towns throughout the country. Organize an action in your local area. To list your local action on the website and in future emails, fill out the easy to use form by clicking here.
New York City: Friday, April 9
4:30 pm - Times Square
212-633-6646
Washington, DC: Saturday, April 10
12 noon - White House (Lafayette Park), march to follow
202-544-3389
Los Angeles: Friday, April 9
5 pm - Westwood Federal Building (Wilshire & Veteran)
213-487-2368
San Francisco: Saturday, April 10
12 noon - UN Plaza (Market St. between 7th St. and Hyde. Civic Center BART)
415-821-6545
New cities are announcing their plans by the hour - the most recent additions include: Binghamton, NY; Kingston, NY; Long Island, NY; Middletown, NY; Augusta, ME, Charlotte, NC; Boston, MA; Ferndale, MI; Grand Rapids, MI. To get information on local actions click here.
List your local action: fill out the easy-to-use form by clicking here to list your city's or campus event!
Downloadable flyers, other literature and more can be found at by clicking here.
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