Wage Peace Campaign
Breaking bread in Kansas City
By Jon Krieg,
AFSC Senior Administrative Associate
The two men shook hands and began sharing stories. They didn’t know each other, but they each knew about the Iraq war.
Iraq War vets meet Iraqis — read more
AFSC statement on President Obama's pledge to end the Iraq War
First Translation of Coalition-Iraq Military Agreement
The Iraqi government plans to sign a new
Status of Forces Agreement with
non-U.S.coalition forces. Iraq recently signed
a similar agreement with the United
States. The current agreement expires at
the end of 2008.
The Iraqi cabinet approved this agreement this week and sent it to the Iraqi parliament, which began debating the agreement yesterday. Parliament is expected to vote on it next week.
This is the first known public English translation of the agreement, provided by Raed Jarrar, AFSC's Iraq consultant.
Download status of forces agreement in English (PDF)
Read the status of forces agreement in Arabic
Other agreements and translations:
U.S./Iraq final agreement:Download the agreement as a PDF >
We cannot risk another air strike
By Aura Kanegis, AFSC Director of Public PolicyWithin a few days of the
U.S. launching air strikes in Syria, we can
already see how violent “solutions” risk the
security of everyone in the Middle East. As a
nation, we need to learn the central lesson of
the Iraq war: military force is costly,
destabilizing, and no substitute for creative
diplomacy. Read
more
Preliminary Status
of Forces Agreement --
AFSC English
Translation
Read the first public English translation of the latest draft agreement between the U.S and Iraqi administrations, an agreement designed to permit U.S. troops to remain in Iraq once the United Nations mandate ends this year and may begin the process of establishing permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq.
A major
Arabic-language newspaper, Al-Sabah
Al-Jadeed, published the Arabic
version on Monday, October 20.
"This
agreement could further entrench the U.S.
military in Iraq," says Raed Jarrar, the AFSC
Iraq consultant who translated the agreement,
based on a leaked Arabic version. "It
cannot be negotiated behind closed doors.
The public, Congress, and the Iraqi Parliament
should be informed and weigh in before we set a
direction for the future."
In September, AFSC posted the translation of the draft agreement, in addition to the Arabic-language original.
Dialogue and Exchange with Iraqi Leaders
AFSC sponsored two elected
members of the Iraqi parliament to travel to
New York and Washington, D.C., to create a
dialogue with U.S. political leaders about how
to find a path to peace and stability in Iraq.
This is the the first visit of Iraqi
parliamentarians with their counterparts in the
U.S. Congress since the beginning of the war in
Iraq. AFSC seeks to foster an open and honest
conversation of the political realities in Iraq
between Iraqi and U.S. political leaders in
Congress.
FROM THE REGION
Tired of Promises: Iraqi Refugees in Syria
"On the outskirts of
Damascus, Syria, a warehouse initially intended
for emergency supplies has been converted into
a center dedicated to registering Iraqi
refugees on a massive scale..."
What you can do:
- Volunteer
to help refugees
- Support
our work in the region
- Read
AFSC's assessment
- Visit
our Blog
RESOURCE
Funding Alternatives
Want to tell your Congressperson what they can do instead of paying for war? Healing the Wounds of War outlines how the U.S. can fund peacebuilding initiatives.