FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 30, 2010


Bay Area Responds to the Iraq Debacle:
Activists Deliver "Bloody Hands" to Pelosi and Plan Viewing of Obama's Oval Office Speech on Iraq Combat Troop Withdrawal

What:  Delivery of Bloody Hands to Nancy Pelosi
When: Monday, August 30, 3pm
Where: Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco office, New Federal Building, 90 7th Street (@ Mission St), San Francisco, 94103
Compelling visuals:  Bloody Hands

What: Activists watch and respond to President Obama's address to the nation on the Iraq War from the Oval Office
When: Tuesday, August 31, 4:45-6:30pm
Where: The Phoenix Bar, 811 Valencia Street (btwn 19th and 20th Sts.), San Francisco, CA
Visuals: Pink Banners, Obama Bingo Cards

San Francisco, CA -- This week on Monday, August 30th to show their dismay around the Iraq War debacle and counter the Pentagon's spin of a safe and positive withdrawal from Iraq, CODEPINK Women for Peace and allies will deliver bloody hands to Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office in San Francisco to demand that the speaker be a true leader and transfer war funds to rebuild the U.S., prosecute officials who lead us into the Iraq War, offer full support for the returning troops, full withdrawal, and reparations to Iraqis. CODEPINK also calls for Speaker Pelosi to take lessons from this war and end the Afghan quagmire. 

The Speaker was decidedly silent when she chose not to vote in the last war funding bill.  "We SF voters want our Congresswoman to take a stand and have a backbone when it comes to future war funding bills," said constituent Rae Abileah.  "If Cong. Pelosi wants to win seats in November she needs to show true leadership now, by getting us out of costly wars that only make us less safe at home!" 

On Tuesday, August 31st, CODEPINK will gather to watch, review and to respond to President Obama's speech at the Phoenix Bar in the Mission district.  There will be keyword bingo, political commentary, and time to share addresses on the real state of affairs in war-torn Iraq and economically-struggling America.  President Obama has proclaimed an end to combat in Iraq.  Unfortunately, the end to war that President Obama speaks of will mean 50,000 troops remaining in Iraq, along with 75,000 private military contractors. And, there is more and more talk of U.S. troops remaining much longer.

"The current administration has announced that there are 50,000 troops who will be leaving Iraq. We know that the war still continues in Iraq and more than 75,000 contractors are there," said actor Danny Glover when asked for comment by CODEPINK. "The fact is that [this war] is devastating the country with millions of people who have been displaced, more than a million people have been killed. It is devastating the cultures that represent the birthplace of human beings, of human existence.  What is happening has made the region even more unstable... So if this is a victory, if this is called a victory, then shame on us."

To read the join statement released by CODEPINK, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, and many other organizations, please visit http://bit.ly/aZupAS.  These actions are part of a week of dozens of events across the country marking the partial troop withdrawal from Iraq. 

CODEPINK Women for Peace (www.codepink.org), founded in 2002, is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into health care, education and other life-affirming activities.

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