THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2009
March on the Pentagon — Saturday, March 21, 2009 — 12:00 Noon
On the 6th Anniversary of the Iraq War
[The Latin America solidarity contingent is gathering at the North edge of the rally along Constitution between 23rd St. and Henry Bacon Dr. at noon. Email Chuck Kaufman at chuck@AFGJ.org if you or your group will join us! Bring banners and signs.]
The ANSWER Coalition is joining with other coalitions, organizations, and networks in a March 21 National Coalition to bring people from all walks of life and from all cities across the United States to take part in a March on the Pentagon on the sixth anniversary of the Iraq war: Saturday, March 21.
More than 1,000 organizations and individuals have now endorsed the March 21, 2009, March on the Pentagon to say "Bring the Troops Home NOW!" on the sixth anniversary of the criminal invasion of Iraq.
The thousands who march will demand "From Iraq to Afghanistan to Palestine, Occupation is a Crime" and "We Need Jobs and Education, Not Wars and Occupation." They will insist on an end to the war threats and economic sanctions against Iran. They will say no to the illegal U.S. program of detention and torture.
Visit the March on the Pentagon website.
While millions of families are losing their homes, jobs and healthcare, the real military budget next year will top one trillion dollars--that's $1,000,000,000,000. If used to meet people's needs, that amount could create 10 million new jobs at $60,000 per year, provide healthcare for everyone who does not have it now, rebuild New Orleans, and repair much of the damage done in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. The cost for the occupation of Iraq alone is $400 million each day, or about $12 billion each month.
The war in Iraq has killed, wounded or displaced nearly one third of Iraq's 26 million people. Thousands of U.S. soldiers have been killed, and hundreds of thousands more have suffered severe physical and psychological wounds. The U.S. leaders who have initiated and conducted this criminal war should be tried and jailed for war crimes.
The war in Afghanistan is expanding. Robert Gates, Bush's defense secretary, who was kept at his post by President Obama, has announced that the troop levels in Afghanistan may double in the coming months. Both he and Vice President Biden predicted higher casualties--or what they cavalierly call "an uptick" in casualties--in the coming period.
We must also act to end U.S. support for Israel's on-going war against the Palestinian people. The Bush Administration also gave the green light and provided the weapons and the money for Israel's recent war against the Palestinian people in Gaza. More than 5,000 Palestinians were killed or wounded; the majority of casualties were civilians, including hundreds of children, in this high tech massacre. And "We the People" paid the bill, as the U.S. provides $2.5 billion a year for Israel's massive military machine.
In Latin America the bloated military budget funds Plan Colombia and the Merida Initiative which have dramatically increased the killings and kidnappings of labor organizers, farmworker organizers, and journalists while displacing thousands if indigenous and Afro-descended people in Colombia and Mexico. The US continues to build military bases encircling Venezuela. The Fourth Fleet, decommissioned 50 years ago has been reconstituted to threaten Latin America and the Caribbean. The School of the Americas (also known as the School of the Assassins), renamed Western Hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation, continues to train Latin American military officers and the new International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA), in El Salvador, brings that philosophy to police training. We must act to stop the use of our tax money for militarization of Latin America.
The March 21, 2009, March on the Pentagon will be a critical opportunity to let the new administration in Washington hear the voice of the people demanding an immediate end to wars and occupation, and demanding economic justice. Joint actions will take place on the West Coast in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
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