[Peace-discuss] Re: [Peace] minutes of weekly AWARE meeting 2009-02-08

[Karen Medina]

National March On The Pentagon
March 21 - On the 6th Anniversary of the War on Iraq:
>From Iraq to Afghanistan to Palestine - Occupation Is A Crime!

We are organizing a Mass March on the Pentagon on Saturday, March 21,
and it is important that you and your family, friends, co-workers and
fellow students put on your marching shoes that day. People are coming
from all over the country. Simultaneous demonstrations are taking
place in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Why are we still marching even after the war criminal George W. Bush
has left office? Because the people must speak out for what is right.
More than 1 million Iraqis have died and tens of thousands of U.S.
troops have been wounded or killed.

The Iraq and Afghanistan war will drag on for years unless we act now.
The cost in lives and resources is criminal regardless of whether the
Democrats or Republicans are in charge of the government.

We must also act to end U.S. support for Israel's ongoing war against
the Palestinian people. The Bush Administration 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. "We the
People" pay the bill as the U.S. provides $2.5 billion a year for
Israel's massive military machine.

Why We Say: Bring All the Troops Home Now Not Later!

If Bush's war and occupation of Iraq was an illegal action of
aggression—and it was—how can the new government say that it can only
gradually end the war over a number of years? The Iraqis don't want
foreign military forces running their country. No one would!

The Pentagon has employed 200,000 foreign contractors (mercenaries)
and 150,000 U.S. troops to maintain the occupation of Iraq. They have
no right to be there. A few thousand are being brought out of Iraq
only to be redeployed to occupy Afghanistan, and the fools in the
media proclaim "the war is winding down." That is not true.

President Obama decided to keep the Pentagon just as it was under
Bush. He even selected Bush appointee Robert Gates to keep his
position as chief of the Pentagon. Gates announced that the new
administration would double the number of troops sent to Afghanistan.
That is certainly not the "change" most people thought was coming
following the end of Bush's tenure.

These are wars for domination in the Middle East and Central Asia.

The people of the United States want change. We are sick and tired of
wars of aggression waged abroad under false slogans of "national
security." These are wars that reap massive profits for corporate
weapons-makers with the promise of winning control over the vast oil
and natural gas reserves in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Working people may have another definition for "national security."
What really makes the people "insecure?" Ask the 2.3 million families
who are losing their homes because they are being foreclosed when they
can't pay their steep debts to the banks. Ironically, when these same
parasitic bankers couldn't pay their debts, the federal government
rushed in with a $2.5 trillion bailout using our tax dollars.

Or ask working-class students who are being laid off from their jobs
just as tuition costs soar out of reach. What defines "security" for
millions of young people whose future is at stake? Do they want tax
dollars spent to kill poor people abroad or to finance education?

We will march on Saturday, March 21, the sixth anniversary of the
start of the Iraq invasion, to demand that taxpayer dollars be used to
meet people's needs—here and everywhere. This year's real Pentagon war
budget will top $1 trillion.

This amount could create 10 million jobs, provide healthcare and
education for all, rebuild New Orleans, and repair much of the damage
done in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. We need money for jobs,
housing, health care and education, not for wars of aggression.

The occupation of Iraq alone costs $12 billion each month. This
amounts to $400 million each day, $16.7 million per hour and $278,000
per minute.

The Pentagon war machine does not act in our interests. Its wars
benefit the biggest corporations and banks that seek to control the
markets and riches of the Middle East. The people of Iraq, Afghanistan
and Palestine are not our enemies. They want to live free from
colonial-type domination. Only a people's movement demanding an end to
U.S. wars and militarism can win justice for people here and abroad.

Go to PentagonMarch.org for details about transportation, meetings and
to get involved. Buses will be traveling to Washington, D.C. from
across the country.


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Also, Alton Brown will be at the National Museum of Natural Histroy
for a culinary festival that 2nd day of Spring.
http://washington.dc.eventguide.com/days/90321.htm