The next two events were different for us as Raed had to attend an event with Friends Committee on National Legislation in DC and the United Fore Peace and Justice steering committee meetings in NY. So we had Peter Lems the Middle East Program Director at American Friends Service Committee to speak on the panel. 
Kevin from the Committee for Conscientious Objectors sponsored the event. I knew him from the national counter recruitment conference On the Front Lines in Berkeley a year back. It was great to see Kevin again and check out CCCO’s office. They are a great organization that has been supporting CO’s since 1948 ! Please check them out as they can help all of us ensure our pacifist beliefs are recognized by the government when the next draft comes knocking…and much more.
Kevin is a photographer so he helped me to hang the exhibit, here are some photos of the event:
Peter spoke first and talked a lot about the humanitarian situation in Iraq. Peter has been with AFSC since 1999 when he was hired to work on the Iraq sanctions, he spent his first 5 years working on Iraq lobbying democrats on the US policy that was killing millions of innocent Iraqi’s.
Peter explained his view of the change of guard in Washington. Saying, “Up until Tuesday Republicans controlled the Executive branch/House/Senate and Judiciary, there were no checks and balances. Democrats complained that they wanted to do something different about Iraq but couldn’t get any bills passed.”
It seems to me from what everyone has been saying that we need to hold the new congress accountable to all of those lost intentions. And demand congress stop funding the war and bring the troops home!
Peter told us about the reality on the ground when the US invaded Iraq in 2003, he said, “Iraq was on its knees because of the years of sanctions. Baghdad fell in two weeks.”
According to John Hopkins study an estimated 655,000 Iraqi’s have been killed since 2003. The World Food Program counts 12 million Iraqi’s are dependant on food rations, and 4 million Iraqi’s are in dire need of aid. This is 45% of the population. “Right now in Iraq 1.6 million people are internally displaced, and there are 3 million refugees who have fled abroad, most are in Syria and Jordan.” These displacements have caused further fragmentation along religious lines, and the capacity of Iraq’s neighbors to keep taking refugees cannot hold. Rostam added that 2,000 Iraqi’s per day are entering Jordan and Syria right now.
I had not read all of these statistics, especially about displacement. Having all of this data helps to see how dire the situation in Iraq is. It gives us a sense of what this occupation has done to the entire nation and people of Iraq and its neighbors. I agree with Peter that peace groups need to support Iraqi’s and Iraqi groups. Peter said people in the peace movement need to listen to Iraqi’s, in January several Iraqi Parliamentarians are visiting the US and US Labor Against the War is sponsoring another tour of Iraqi Labor leaders soon.
