Stop the U.S. Military Escalation in Iraqi Cities

[alerts@unitedforpeace.org]

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ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
http://www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
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  ** Please read this urgent call to halt the U.S. military escalation in
Iraqi cities. A call for international solidarity from the Baghdad-based
International Occupation Watch Center follows. **

Calls for peace and an end to the occupation of Iraq are rising even as
murderous violence escalates across Iraq.  Hundreds of Iraqis and dozens of
U.S. and international occupation troops are dying in what the Bush
administration calls "liberated" Iraq.  The U.S. military is now using
massive 500-pound bombs against civilians - including on a Fallujah mosque
compound killing at least 62 Iraqis.

Sending in more troops is not the answer.  Military occupation is not
bringing peace, democracy or sovereignty to the people of Iraq who have
already suffered for so long. It is clear that a huge portion of the Iraqi
people want the U.S. out.  The so-called "transfer of power" to Iraqis on
June 30th will be meaningless as long as the U.S. military occupation
continues. The escalation of violence in recent days, and the Pentagon's
even more violent response -- including collective punishment, killings of
civilians and other violations of international law and the Geneva
Conventions -- make a new approach to the crisis even more urgent.  The
entire world has a fundamental interest in ending this war and averting
another life lost.  We must bring the troops home now.

TAKE ACTION
1) Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to speak with your
Congresspersons. Press them to:
  * act immediately to lift the siege of civilian areas. Both military
operations and the cutting off of electricity, water, supplies, and
ambulances should end
  * call for an immediate pull-back of occupation forces from Iraqi cities
and towns to put both Iraqis and occupation troops out of immediate danger
  * reject any calls for the deployment of more U.S. troops to Iraq
  * support the calls for Congressional hearings to determine why—one year
after the fall of Saddam Hussein—the Coalition Provisional Authority has
failed to produce a genuine plan that would allow the Iraqis to determine
their own political future.
  * immediately convene an emergency joint session of Congress to address
the crisis in Iraq and to change the course of U.S. action

2) Organize a vigil at a federal government building or military
recruitment center to mourn the continued loss of life in this unnecessary
war. While Congress is in recess, organize vigils outside Congressional
home district offices or meetings with your Congressperson. Demand that
President Bush take action to halt the killing of the Iraqi people, U.S.
soldiers, and international troops.

Post your events at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/calendar_gxinput.php

The U.S. military occupation must be ended - it is illegal, and it is a
failure.  A true international mobilization of support to assist the people
of Iraq will not happen until the U.S. is out. We join with people and
governments around the world, who recognize the necessity of reclaiming
international support for Iraq and ending military occupation, in calling
on the United Nations and the international organizations of parliaments,
to meet immediately in emergency session to address the Iraq crisis at this
urgent moment.

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EMERGENCY CALL FOR SOLIDARITY WITH THE IRAQI PEOPLE

April 8 2004

Eman Ahmed Khammas
Director, International Occupation Watch Center

Occupied Baghdad

To the peoples of the world and their representatives at the United Nations:

The Iraqi people call for international solidarity as they resist attacks
by US-led Occupation Forces. It is clear that these attacks are designed to
terrorize entire populations of Iraqi towns and neighborhoods.

According to reports, in Falluja alone, over three hundred Iraqis have been
killed and hundreds more injured since attacks began on Sunday, April 4.
There is fighting in Baghdad, particularly in the neighborhoods of Sadr,
Adaamiya, Shula, Yarmok, and the cities and towns of Falluja, Ramadi,
Basrah, Nasiriya, Kerbala, Amarah, Kut, Kufa, Najaf, Diwaniya, Balad, and
Baquba. Residences, hospitals, mosques and ambulances trying to transport
the injured are being bombed and fired at by Occupation Forces’ guns and
tanks.

Falluja and Adaamiya are currently under siege, surrounded by Occupation
Forces, in contravention of the Geneva Convention that prohibits holding
civilian communities under siege. Hospitals do not have access to
sufficient medical aid, essential medicine and equipment or blood supplies.
In Falluja, the hospitals have been surrounded by soldiers forcing doctors
to establish field hospitals in private homes. Blood donors are not allowed
to enter; consequently, mosques in both Baghdad and Falluja are collecting
blood for the injured. Water and electricity have been cut off for the past
several days.

In Sadr City US helicopters have fired rockets into residential areas
destroying homes. Although no curfew has officially been imposed, US
soldiers have made a practice of aiming tank fire on cars they find moving
through the streets after dark. On Tuesday night alone, at least 6 people
were killed in this way. US forces continue to occupy and surround all the
police stations and the Sadr municipal offices.

While these attacks have escalated sharply over the past week, they are in
no way a new phenomenon in occupied Iraq. The indiscriminate killing of
civilians and the refusal to provide people with security, electricity and
decent medical infrastructure have characterized the ‘freedom’ that
Occupation Authorities have brought to Iraq.

We call on the international community, civil society and the
anti-war/anti-occupation movements to respond to this US-led war of terror
with tangible displays of solidarity and support for Iraqi people facing
this gruesome manifestation of the occupation.

Please take to the streets to demand an end to the US-led aggression.
Organize protests in front of US consulates and embassies around the world
and demand: an immediate end to this massacre; an immediate end to the
siege of Iraqi cities and neighborhoods; immediate access to humanitarian
and medical aid organizations seeking to provide assistance to Iraqi people
who are living under attack; and an end to the occupation of our nation.

Cities in which demonstrations have already been organized include Milan,
Montreal, Tokyo, Istanbul, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington
D.C. and New York City.

To contact the International Occupation Watch Center in Baghdad, please
call 001 914 360-9079 or 001 914 360-9080. You can also email
eman@occupationwatch.org

===========================================
ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
http://www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
To subscribe, visit http://www.unitedforpeace.org/email
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