===========================================
ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
http://www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
To subscribe, visit
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/email===========================================
** Please read this urgent call to halt the U.S. military escalation
in
Iraqi cities. A call for international solidarity from the Baghdad-based
International Occupation Watch Center follows. **
Calls for peace and an end to the occupation of Iraq are rising even as
murderous violence escalates across Iraq. Hundreds of Iraqis and
dozens of
U.S. and international occupation troops are dying in what the Bush
administration calls "liberated" Iraq. The U.S. military is now using
massive 500-pound bombs against civilians - including on a Fallujah
mosque
compound killing at least 62 Iraqis.
Sending in more troops is not the answer. Military occupation is not
bringing peace, democracy or sovereignty to the people of Iraq who have
already suffered for so long. It is clear that a huge portion of the
Iraqi
people want the U.S. out. The so-called "transfer of power" to Iraqis
on
June 30th will be meaningless as long as the U.S. military occupation
continues. The escalation of violence in recent days, and the Pentagon's
even more violent response -- including collective punishment, killings
of
civilians and other violations of international law and the Geneva
Conventions -- make a new approach to the crisis even more urgent. The
entire world has a fundamental interest in ending this war and averting
another life lost. We must bring the troops home now.
TAKE ACTION
1) Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to speak with
your
Congresspersons. Press them to:
* act immediately to lift the siege of civilian areas. Both military
operations and the cutting off of electricity, water, supplies, and
ambulances should end
* call for an immediate pull-back of occupation forces from Iraqi
cities
and towns to put both Iraqis and occupation troops out of immediate
danger
* reject any calls for the deployment of more U.S. troops to Iraq
* support the calls for Congressional hearings to determine why-one
year
after the fall of Saddam Hussein-the Coalition Provisional Authority has
failed to produce a genuine plan that would allow the Iraqis to
determine
their own political future.
* immediately convene an emergency joint session of Congress to
address
the crisis in Iraq and to change the course of U.S. action
2) Organize a vigil at a federal government building or military
recruitment
center to mourn the continued loss of life in this unnecessary war.
While
Congress is in recess, organize vigils outside Congressional home
district
offices or meetings with your Congressperson. Demand that President Bush
take action to halt the killing of the Iraqi people, U.S. soldiers, and
international troops.
Post your events at
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/calendar_gxinput.phpThe U.S. military occupation must be ended - it is illegal, and it is a
failure. A true international mobilization of support to assist the
people
of Iraq will not happen until the U.S. is out. We join with people and
governments around the world, who recognize the necessity of reclaiming
international support for Iraq and ending military occupation, in
calling on
the United Nations and the international organizations of parliaments,
to
meet immediately in emergency session to address the Iraq crisis at this
urgent moment.
*************************************************
EMERGENCY CALL FOR SOLIDARITY WITH THE IRAQI PEOPLE
April 8 2004
Eman Ahmed Khammas
Director, International Occupation Watch Center
Occupied Baghdad
To the peoples of the world and their representatives at the United
Nations:
The Iraqi people call for international solidarity as they resist
attacks by
US-led Occupation Forces. It is clear that these attacks are designed to
terrorize entire populations of Iraqi towns and neighborhoods.
According to reports, in Falluja alone, over three hundred Iraqis have
been
killed and hundreds more injured since attacks began on Sunday, April 4.
There is fighting in Baghdad, particularly in the neighborhoods of Sadr,
Adaamiya, Shula, Yarmok, and the cities and towns of Falluja, Ramadi,
Basrah, Nasiriya, Kerbala, Amarah, Kut, Kufa, Najaf, Diwaniya, Balad,
and
Baquba. Residences, hospitals, mosques and ambulances trying to
transport
the injured are being bombed and fired at by Occupation Forces' guns and
tanks.
Falluja and Adaamiya are currently under siege, surrounded by Occupation
Forces, in contravention of the Geneva Convention that prohibits holding
civilian communities under siege. Hospitals do not have access to
sufficient
medical aid, essential medicine and equipment or blood supplies. In
Falluja,
the hospitals have been surrounded by soldiers forcing doctors to
establish
field hospitals in private homes. Blood donors are not allowed to enter;
consequently, mosques in both Baghdad and Falluja are collecting blood
for
the injured. Water and electricity have been cut off for the past
several
days.
In Sadr City US helicopters have fired rockets into residential areas
destroying homes. Although no curfew has officially been imposed, US
soldiers have made a practice of aiming tank fire on cars they find
moving
through the streets after dark. On Tuesday night alone, at least 6
people
were killed in this way. US forces continue to occupy and surround all
the
police stations and the Sadr municipal offices.
While these attacks have escalated sharply over the past week, they are
in
no way a new phenomenon in occupied Iraq. The indiscriminate killing of
civilians and the refusal to provide people with security, electricity
and
decent medical infrastructure have characterized the 'freedom' that
Occupation Authorities have brought to Iraq.
We call on the international community, civil society and the
anti-war/anti-occupation movements to respond to this US-led war of
terror
with tangible displays of solidarity and support for Iraqi people facing
this gruesome manifestation of the occupation.
Please take to the streets to demand an end to the US-led aggression.
Organize protests in front of US consulates and embassies around the
world
and demand: an immediate end to this massacre; an immediate end to the
siege
of Iraqi cities and neighborhoods; immediate access to humanitarian and
medical aid organizations seeking to provide assistance to Iraqi people
who
are living under attack; and an end to the occupation of our nation.
Cities in which demonstrations have already been organized include
Milan,
Montreal, Tokyo, Istanbul, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Washington
D.C. and New York City.
To contact the International Occupation Watch Center in Baghdad, please
call
001 914 360-9079 or 001 914 360-9080. You can also email
eman@occupationwatch.org
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