Friday rally joins "Bring Them Home Now!", a campaign by military families, veterans, active duty personnel, reservists opposing the war

Event: PPRC Rally and March for Peace
Date: Friday, August 15th, 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 will focus on the growing movement of military families campaigning to end the occupation of Iraq. From a press release issued last week (August 7th) "Bring Them Home Now!" described their goals:

"Galvanized to action by George W. Bush's inane and reckless "Bring 'em on" challenge to armed Iraqi's resisting occupation, Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace and other organizations based in the military community will launch Bring Them Home Now, a campaign aimed at ending the U.S. occupation of Iraq and returning troops to their home bases, at press conferences on August 13 in Washington, D.C; and on August 14 in Fayetteville, N.C.

"U.S. military casualties from the occupation of Iraq have been more than twice the number most Americans have been led to believe because of an extraordinarily high number of accidents, suicides and other non-combat deaths in the ranks that have gone largely unreported in the media. The other underreported cost of the war for US soldiers is the number of American wounded-827, officially, since Operation Iraqi Freedom began. (Unofficial figures are in the thousands.) About half have been injured since Bush's triumphant claim on board the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln at the beginning of May that major combat was over.

"The mission of the Bring them Home Now campaign is to unite the voices of military families, veterans, and GIs themselves to demanding: an end to the occupation of Iraq and other misguided military adventures and an immediate return of all US troops to their home duty stations. In Washington, D.C., and Fayetteville, N.C., Veterans and Military Families will raise concerns about current conditions in Iraq that their loved ones and other troops are facing such as the lack of planning and support troops are receiving, as well as questions about the justifications used to send troops to Iraq in the first place."1

"We will be taking this message directly to Bush when he visits Portland on August 21st," said Mikel Clayhold, a PPRC volunteer. "Friday�s rally will kick-off the final week of organizing and outreach for the protests targeting the University of Portland Republican fundraiser." Thousands of people from Oregon and Washington protested Bush�s last visit to Portland in August 2002. Locations and times for the August 21st demonstrations will be posted on www.pprc-news.org

1. See http://www.join-snafu.org/ and http://www.bringthemhomenow.com for more information.

Back to PPRC-news home