News
Release
IRAQ WAR THIRD ANNIVERSARY PROMPTS RALLIES
ACROSS THE U.S.
Quaker Peace Group Joins Organizations Worldwide Calling for End of War in Iraq
Philadelphia, March 20 — Four hundred and sixty communities across the country held vigils to recognize the third anniversary of the Iraq war this weekend. The vigils were organized by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), in coalition with other mainstream peace organizations nationwide to highlight a call to end the war and bring troops home now.
About twice as many communities held vigils this year compared with protests organized over the second Iraq war anniversary last year.
Approximately 300 protestors rallied on Philadelphia’s Independence Mall. In Frederick, Maryland, protesters dressed in black held a silent candlelight vigil at the town square while displaying signs mourning war casualties. In Walnut Creek, California, about 2,000 attended the vigil and were serenaded by folk music’s Country Joe McDonald, along with other blue grass and rap artists. A group of Quakers in San Jose, California, held a large Peace Now! banner over the freeway overpass.
The American Friends Service Committee contacted thousands of supporters worldwide encouraging them to support a week-long call for local peace events around the third anniversary of the Iraq war. The vigils were supported by United for Peace & Justice, a coalition with more than 800 affiliate organizations, and other groups.
The Service Committee believes that there is no military solution to the Iraq war. The U.S. is spending over $5.6 billion a month to fight this war — over $200 billion total to date.
“Three years of war and occupation have failed to bring stability, freedom or sovereignty to Iraq,” states Peter Lems, coordinator of the American Friends Service Committee Iraq Program. “More war, more troops and continued occupation will not change this stark reality. Continued occupation, costing U.S. taxpayers $6 billion a month, only increases the cycle of despair and loss of life.”
“The U.S. government has a military budget of almost half a trillion dollars,” Lems adds. “Yet Congress is poised to commit another $67.6 billion dollars to war in Iraq -- part of the largest emergency supplemental bill in history.”
The devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the hard truths it brought home about who does and doesn’t have access to the American Dream tells us all how desperately these resources are needed in other areas.
Continued fighting and occupation promises only further deaths and injuries, more widows and orphans, more separated families. The Iraq war has already committed us to aiding a generation of veterans and their families and to rebuilding Iraq. We need to meet these just obligations and stop the funding for further destruction so that our resources can be used to strengthen our communities and help those in need.
“Three years after the Iraqi invasion, are we any safer as a nation?” asks Mary Lord, AFSC assistant general secretary for peace & conflict resolution. “Let us renew our commitment to building a positive world – a world of reason and of hope for our children.”
“Working solutions for Iraq will be political solutions,” Lems states. “Diplomacy and dialogue in close cooperation with the Iraqi government and broad sectors of Iraqi society are the way forward to peace and to rebuilding the U.S.’s strained relationship with the international community.”
Founded in 1917 to provide conscientious objectors with an opportunity to aid civilian victims during World War I, the American Friends Service Committee is grounded in Quaker beliefs respecting the dignity and worth of every person. AFSC has programs in the United States and in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East that focus on issues related to economic justice, peace-building and demilitarization, social justice, and youth. In 1947, the AFSC and the British Friends Service Council accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Religious Society of Friends for humanitarian service, work for reconciliation, and the spirit in which these were carried out.
A list of vigils may be found at:
http://www.afsc.org/3years/all_locations.php
# # #
The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace and humanitarian service. Its work is based on the belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.
^ Top of page |
Email this page