"Bush Lied and Thousands Died" is theme for PPRC Friday rally and march, as local peace movement plans for new season of protest and organizing.

Event: PPRC Rally and March for Peace
Date: Friday, July 18th, 2003
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Place: Pioneer Courthouse Square

The Portland Peaceful Response Coalition Friday 5:00 p.m. rally at Pioneer Courthouse Square calls for accountability for the lies that took the US into war and occupation in Iraq. "Each day another US soldier is killed in Iraq, and when confronted with this grim reality George Bush arrogantly bellows 'Bring it on!'," said Will Seaman, a volunteer with PPRC. "As we said before this war, support for US troops means bringing them home safely, not putting them in harms way and then taunting the Iraqi opposition into attacking them." Seaman said that local peace and justice groups have begun work on the next large-scale peace march set for mid-September. "Bush's macho posturing again reveals that they have no plan, and no intentions to allow a democratic government and community to emerge in Iraq," said Seaman, "and so Americans now face the challenge of how we're going to organized to bring an end to this ill-conceived, illegal and deadly occupation."

As Bush's ratings in the polls begin to drop, local peace activists believe that disaffection from what was considered a huge military victory means that more people will be skeptical about future war plans, and about an occupation that for now has no end in sight. "Their own experts, Pentagon advisors, are telling them that they face real chaos if they can't restore civil society, and it's clear that they are failing," said Seaman. "With each young soldier that is killed in the streets of Baghdad, Americans are learning the true price of our failure to stop Bush's criminal war in Iraq." 1

"We've just got word that Representatives Henry Wasman and Ellen Tauscher have introduced legislation calling for an independent investigation into the false statements that were used to defraud this country into war," said Seaman. "We're calling on Oregonians to call their representatives in Washington, D.C., to demand accountability for Bush Administration's lies." PPRC spokespersons say that the Tauscher legislation is stronger, calling for a House Select Committee rather than an independent commission, and targeting a report to be released prior to the election in November.

1. "'Time running out' to secure Iraq", BBC, July 18, 2003, 15:35 GMT, online.

Back to PPRC-news home