Current News in Context
March 08, 2005
It has been a very busy week. Horrific guerilla attacks against Iraqi police and national guard continued, the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First launched a federal lawsuit charging Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld with direct responsibility for the torture of detainees being held by US forces in Iraq and Cuba, and it was announced that the Ukraine would begin withdrawing its troops from Iraq this month.
The most inspiring news came from organizers in Vermont who brought an Iraq war resolution to 58 communities across the state for the March 1 Town Meeting Day. Fifty communities passed the resolution. Visit their web page below.
You may ask what you can do.
Before the week in review, you should visit our Stand for Peace calendar listing of events and activities around the second year anniversary. The response has been terrific. Take a moment to make sure that the activities or events you are involved with are listed.
Help us make sure that the major story of the war's second anniversary is a peace story.
*****
Monday 28 February
A car bomb attack outside a government building in the southern city of Hilla kills 120 people and wounds 130. The attack targeted young Shiite men standing in line to get physicals for service in the police or national guards.
Tuesday 1 March:
ACLU and Human Rights First lawsuit against Defence Secretary Rumsfeld.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld bears direct responsibility for the torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. military custody. This is the first federal court lawsuit charging a top U.S. official in the torture and deaths in detention scandal in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ukraine to Withdraw Troops
Ukraine on Tuesday approved the pullout of its 1,650-strong contingent in a phased withdrawal between March 15 and October. The National Security and Defense Council, headed by President Viktor Yushchenko, made the widely expected decision.
Wednesday 2 March: Vermont Network on War Resolutions
More than 50 cities in Vermont brought a resolution to their communities on Town Meeting Day (March 1). The experience showed that "The Iraq War is a quintessentially local issue." This excellent web page offers sample resolutions, a scorecard with results - 50 approved, 4 rejections, 4 pass-overs - oral histories and a host of newspaper articles including major features in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe and The Nation. The resolution is centered on the belief that the war in Iraq is illegal, is a danger to the inhabitants of Iraq and to world peace, and has swept members of state National Guards into the maelstrom of a war they never bargained for.
Thursday 3 March: US Military deaths reach 1,500
Friday 4 March: Giuliana Sgrena, who works for Il Manifesto newspaper is released after being held for one month. On Saturday, Reporters Without Borders calls for a UN investigation to shed light on the circumstances in which the US military fired on a vehicle carrying the newly freed Italian journalist and killing Nicola Calipari, an Italian secret service agent who helped rescue Ms. Sgrena.
Monday 7 March: Guerrillas attacks kill 31 people as the country takes its first major step toward forming a government.
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