ACTION: Portlanders Say NO to More US Bombs in Iraq!
Tuesday, June 17, 2014, 4:30 PM, East End of Burnside Bridge (NE MLK & Couch/Davis)

In order to visibly oppose President Obama's desire to "defend American interests" by sending military hardware and personnel to add to the carnage in Iraq, on Tuesday, June 17, the Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group will be joining an action for peace and justice that takes place every Tuesday at 4:30 PM at the east end of the Burnside Bridge (NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd at Couch/Burnside). The action will last until 5:30 PM.

The US went into Iraq in 1991 in part to "take out" the weapons they'd helped provide to Saddam Hussein's government, and went back again in 2003 to "finish the job." Ironically, the US just this month sent its first shipment of F-36 fighter jets to Iraq. (1)

Now they're in the position of having secretly (or not so) having armed the militant rebels in Syria (the ISIS, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIL), which has captured several of Iraq's major cities to the north of Baghdad-- and taken many of the arms provided to Iraq's army. The US is now pondering the idea of going in to take those weapons out, perhaps with drones and cruise missiles, and, in an unusual turn of events, perhaps with the help of Iran. (2) This is the unintended but should-have-been-obvious outcome of the US invasion, in which they forced out the Sunni minority from all government posts, installed a Shia government friendly to Iran, and created a constitution that emphasized religious/ethnic divides instead of fostering a multicultural nation as Iraq was before.

It is very telling that the US has talked about evacuating 20,000 Americans from the country which, common belief states, the US is no longer occupying. (3) Since Iraq has about 1/10th the population of the US, this would be the equivalent of Iraq having 200,000 diplomats, "contractors" and military personnel in America. The President has ordered an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf, (4) and 50-100 Marines and Army personnel were added to the contingent of US troops still in Baghdad guarding the world's largest embassy. (5)

American hypocrisy was made loud and clear by Sen. Lindsey Graham of the Armed Services Committee: "There is no scenario where we can stop the bleeding in Iraq without American air power" (3) Bombs, missiles, airstrikes, drones and other weapons will only add to the "bleeding in Iraq."

The Tuesday visibility actions are organized by unaffiliated community members, but grew from the Iraq Affinity Group's action held on March 19 this year, marking 11 years since the invasion. For more information contact Peace and Justice Works at 503-236-3065 or iraq@pjw.info .

(1) "Lockheed to deliver first of 36 F-16s to Iraq this week," Reuters, June 3:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/03/usa-lockheed-martin- iraq-idUSL1N0OK2C820140603
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(2) "Kerry: US Open to Talks With Iran Over Iraq," ABC News, June 15:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/security-beefed-us-embassy-baghdad- 24147974
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(3) "Obama weighs evacuating 20,000 Americans from Iraq," World Tribune, June 15:
http://www.worldtribune.com/2014/06/15/u-s-may-evacuate-americans-iraq-amid- threat-adbuctions-isil
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(4) "US sends aircraft carrier to Persian Gulf as Obama considers air strikes in Iraq," Guadian, June 14:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/14/aircraft-carrier-iraq-isis-strike-persian- gulf
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(5) "Terrifying execution images in Iraq; U.S. Embassy relocates some staff," CNN, June 15:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/15/world/meast/iraq-photos-isis
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