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To
donate to the
Let Peace Live Campaign
which helps Lebanese, Iraqi and Israeli peace activists
keep hope alive for peace in the
Middle East
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Dear
CODEPINK
Supporter ,
When
CODEPINK launched our hunger strike,
called Troops
Home Fast on July 4, our goal was to push forward a peace
process in Iraq that included the withdrawal of US troops. Our
efforts were rewarded when Iraqi Parliamentarians, expressing sympathy
for the hunger strikers, invited us to Amman, Jordan, to break
our 30-day fast and discuss how we could work together to promote
a comprehensive Reconciliation Plan.
On
Wednesday, August 2, a 14-person delegation, including "peace
mom" Cindy Sheehan, former Colonel Ann Wright, Iraq
war veteran Geoffrey Millard, writer/politician Tom Hayden, Iraqi
analyst Raed Jarrar and CODEPINK co-founders
Medea Benjamin, Jodie Evans, Gael Murphy and Diane Wilson, traveled
to Jordan to meet with official representatives of the largest Shiite
coalition, the minority Sunni bloc, the secular parliamentary coalition,
the Muslim Scholars Association and torture victims from Abu Ghraib.
The Iraqis were delighted to find Americans who, like them, were
passionate about ending the occupation and the violence that has
wracked their country. "We have found
a voice inside the U.S. that backs us," Salman al-Jumaili,
speaker of the largest Sunni Parliamentary coalition, told reporters
at our closing press conference (click
here for AP story)
The
common thread among this diverse group of Iraqis and Americans was
a desire to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops, ensure
no permanent bases in Iraq, and secure a U.S. commitment to pay
for rebuilding Iraq. Other
issues that emerged in two-days of intensive talks include the need
to dismantle militias, provide amnesty for prisoners and the various
armed groups, compensate victims of the violence, revise the Constitution
and preserve the unity of Iraq, and reverse US-imposed de-Baathification
and economic policies. We left this historic
meeting with a commitment to make sure that the voices of these
Iraqi parliamentarians are heard here in the US, and we will
bring a group of them to the U.S. in the Fall.
On
the heels of these meetings in Jordan, a part of our delegation
traveled on to Lebanon while the fighting was still raging.
After a harrowing ride from Syria over freshly bombed roads and
bridges, we were greeted in Beirut to the booms of Israeli bombardments.
We visited the devastated neighborhoods of Southern Beirut. We provided
aid to traumatized children in improvised refugee camps. We heard
from angry Lebanese residents who condemned the Bush administration
for providing Israel with the green light -- and the weapons --
to kill over 1,000 civilians and destroy their airport, ports, bridges,
roads, factories, and worst of all, entire towns and residential
neighborhoods.
Now
that there is a ceasefire, hundreds of thousands of displaced Lebanese
need help returning home. While our government
has given Israel billions for bombs and guns that have killed and
maimed over 1,000 Lebanese, it has pledged a mere $50 million for
rebuilding. We -- US Citizens -- should push our government to
provide more funds. Now more than ever we should show
the Lebanese people that we care about peace not only by continuing
to oppose our military policies in the Middle East but also by supporting
and joining their peace efforts. With your help we can send delegations
of US women peace activists to Lebanon, we can help fund a peace
walk to the Lebanese-Israeli border and we can support efforts to
clear unexploded cluster bombs in southern Lebanon. We have made
wonderful new friends among the Lebanese peace groups. Let's show
them we want peace as badly as they do. (Click
here to donate now)
If
we in the US show the same compassion for
all victims -- be they Israelis, Iraqis or Lebanese --
and put our efforts into negotiations instead of war, we would have
a greater chance of ending the violence that is consuming the Middle
East as well as the blowback that threatens the security of Americans.
With
hope for peace,
Allison, Anedra, Dana, Erin, Farida, Gael,
Jodie, Katie, Laura, Medea, Meredith, Nancy, Rae, Samantha and Tiffany
- P.S.
Thanks to all of you who sent money for the memorial garden at
Camp Casey 3, we finished
it last week and presented it to Cindy Sheehan and the residents
of the camp on Thursday. Click
here to see the transformation of grief to beauty.
Cindy was very moved and grateful as was all of the camp.
- P.S.S.
CODEPINK Austin and the CODEPINK
gals from Camp Casey let Rove know what they thought
of him on Saturday night. He felt the heat and Tiffany
Burns found herself in prison stripes for a night and
day until Willie Nelson posted her bail. Check
out the story.
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