Living
Graveyard and Reading of the Names,
Third
Mondays, 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m.
Living
Graveyard is normally held on 3rd
Mondays, 12:00 noon to 1:00.
Exceptions will be posted at the top
of this page (Tuesday, the 19th
for June.)
Please
join us and let our congress and
president-elect know that we are still
working for peace. this website. And
remember, rain cancels. We gather in
front of the Oakland Federal Building,
1301 Clay Street, two blocks from 12th
Street BART. Rain cancels!
Covered with
sheets to represent the dead of the war
of occupation on Iraq, people lie
down on the city sidewalk in front of the
Federal Building, This is legal,
non-violent witness. People stop, look and
think.
Participants lie
at least three feet apart and do not block
entry to the building.The names of some of
the Californians who have died in Iraq and
the names of some of the Iraqi dead will
be read. People will hand out flyers, as
we do each week at the Monday noon vigil.
Please bring a
white sheet to cover yourself with. A pad
to lie on is recommended.
Contact 510-527-8370.
sponsors include: Ecumenical Peace
Institute,
Berkeley Women in Black,
Women for Peace,
East Bay Coalition to Support
Self-Rule for Iraqis,
Mustardseed
Affinity Group.
Wheelchair accessible.
Background re the
EPI-sponsored Vigil:
The only
legal justification for one country to
attack another is to prevent an attack so
immediate that the United Nations Security
Council cannot be called upon to act.
Some Historical
Background:
Post WWI Iraq
was ruled by a British-selected monarchy
until 1958. In 1968, the Ba’ath party came
to power with CIA assistance. Saddam Hussein
was supported by both the U.S. and Britain
until 1990, throughout the Iran-Iraq war.
In 1990 Iraq invaded
Kuwait. Possibilities to negotiate a
withdrawal were impeded by two false stories
put out by the U.S.
- Allegations that Iraq was poised to invade
Saudi Arabia
- The Incubator Fraud: "Nayirah" claimed
that Iraqi soldiers had taken Kuwaiti babies
from incubators and thrown them on the floor
to die. Later it was discovered that
"Nayirah" was the daughter of the Kuwaiti
ambassador to the U.S.
As the U.S.
moved into Iraq in 1991, Shi’ites and Kurds
were encouraged to rise against the Hussein
government. When they did, the U.S. military
stood aside and allowed the revolt to be
suppressed by the Iraqi government. United
Nations sanctions, imposed in 1990 to bring
about Iraq’s withdrawal from Kuwait, were
continued to bring about Iraq’s disarmament
with respect to weapons of mass destruction.
On May 20, 1991, Secretary of State James
Baker stated, "We are not interested in
seeing a relaxation of sanctions as long as
Saddam Hussein is in power." This remained
the position of the U.S. through two
subsequent administrations.
In January 1991, the U.S.
Defense Intelligence Agency reported on the
widespread epidemic conditions caused by
destruction of the water system under the
sanctions in place since August of 1990.
This analysis proved all too correct in the
ensuing years as 5000 children died each
month from water borne diseases. (UN
figures)
In December
1998 the UN inspectors were withdrawn by
Richard Butler in anticipation of the U.S.
bombing of Iraq. They were not "thrown out".
Hussein did not allow the UNSCOM inspectors
to return without a plan to complete
inspections and end sanctions. The
International Atomic Energy Agency was
allowed to continue inspections regarding
nuclear weapons.
The road to Gulf War II
- After the attack on the World Trade
Center, September 11, 2001, the Bush
administration attempted to find a
connection between the Islamic
fundamentalists and the secular Ba’athist
regime of Saddam Hussein. None was ever
found.
- None of the allegations of current Iraqi
possession of weapons of mass destruction
has been accompanied with supporting data
that holds up under examination. Aluminum
tubes, African uranium experts and
eyewitnesses have debunked all the stories.
UNSCOM inspectors found nothing to indicate
a current weapons program. Independent
observations of alleged sites have turned up
nothing.
End the Occupation Stop the War
Stop Killing Iraqi People
Bring Our Soldiers Home Alive
All Members shall refrain in
their international relations from the
threat or use of force against the
territorial integrity or political
independence of any state ...
United Nations Charter
Article 2, Paragraph 4
Weekly
Vigils
Wednesdays,
noon in front of Boalt Hall on Bancroft Ave.
on UC Berkeley campus. Teach-in against
Torture.
Wednesdays,
5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Castro Valley Peace
& Justice Vigils, Castro Valley Blvd.
& Redwood Rd.
Wednesdays,
6:30-7:30 p.m., El Cerrito vigil for peace,
1st, 3rd, 5th Weds, Del Norte BART, 2nd
& 4th Weds in front of Target sign on
San Pablo Ave.
Thursdays,
noon - one, San Francisco Federal Building,
450 Golden Gate, peace in Iraq, San
Francisco Friends
Thursdays,
4:30 - 5:30, Five Flags Park, Foothill,
Jackson & Mission, Hayward, justice for
Palestinians. South Alameda County Peace and
Justice (SAPJC) & Tri-City Peace and
Justice (TCP)
Fridays, noon
- one, Berkeley, Telegraph & Bancroft,
Berkeley Women in Black
Fridays at
3pm -5pm, at Camino Alto and E. Blithdale,
Mill Valley.
Fridays, from
3:30 to 4:30, corner of Tiburon Blvd. and
San Rafael Avenue, Tiburon. Rain cancels.
Fridays - 4
to 5 pm, Corner of Miller Avenue and Camino
Alto in Mill Valley.
Fridays, 5:30
- 7 p.m., corner of Mowry & Fremont,
Fremont.
Sundays, 3:00
p.m., walk around Lake Merritt for peace.
Meet at the columns at the east end of the
Lake, between Grand & Lakeshore Avenues.
sponsored by Lake Merritt Neighbors
Organized for Peace, LMNOP
Ongoing
Actions
Iraq
Moratorium organizes a public witness for
peace on the Third Friday of each month. To
find one near you, visit http://www.iraqmoratorium.com/
In Berkeley, people gather
at the northwest corner of Acton &
University from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m .
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