Today is Thursday, March 19th 2009. Six years ago today the Bush administration unleashed an illegal, unilateral, Preemptive war of aggression against Iraq. The American people were told that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, that it was only a matter of time before Saddam used his weapons against us. We were told that American forces would be greeted as liberators, that the war would be quick, and that it would practically pay for itself.
Our government was wrong. During the build-up to the Iraq war there was one unified voice that was right, the global anti-war movement. Around the world, with almost no media voice, tens and millions proclaimed that Iraq posed no threat, the war would be long and bloody, it would be expensive, and America would lose credibility in the international community.
Six years later we’ve seen dozens of new excuses to make up for the last bad excuses. No we claim to be in Iraq because we love the Iraqis and just want to protect them from each other.
So the name of this tour is, “Cost of War: Six Years Later”. Since today marks the actual six year anniversary I’m going to list a few measurable costs of this war/occupation.
Estimated Iraqi casualties: 1,000,000.
American troop casualties: 4,260
American Troops Wounded: 31089
Economic cost to US tax payers to date(Not including the additional $75.5 President Obama has asked for): $656.1 billion
The community trade off Americans pay for this war is really mind numbing. This war based economy is the most logical explanation for our economic crisis. One day of war in Iraq could pay for almost 35,000 homes. That’s a powerful figure when one considers how may have lost their homes in the last year.
So we wanted Thursday to be a whole day of action with multiple events to remind Atlanta that this war continues to take our money and our youth and transform them into machines of war.
At 3pm we had a speaking event at GSU. Jason and Raed spoke along with Zack Choate and Chris Raissi(both IVAW members) spoke as well. After the talk we asked everyone to join us in a rally at woodruff park. Once at Woodruff Dozens of veterans led a march to the CNN center to demand that veterans have a voice in the media and that stations like CNN start connecting the dots between economic crisis and war/occupation. After a rally several students participated in a die-in and we all marched backed to Woodruff park.
After all that work it was time to relax and build community. At 8pm we had a HUGE concert at the Fishmarket lofts in the westend. What an awesome turnout! Contaverse, The Wild, The Back Pockets, and Futureshock all donated fabulous music sets to the event. It really couldn’t have been better then it was.
Thanks for everyone who did all the work to make today happen!!!
BIG THANKS TO: Caitlin Barrow, for organizing the speaking tour and making amazing vegan muffins! Diane Mathowitz and the Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition/Atl For organizing the March. Emily Kempf of the Back pockets for making the concert SOOO awesome, and all the veterans that had the courage to come out, support, and speak out!
Our government was wrong. During the build-up to the Iraq war there was one unified voice that was right, the global anti-war movement. Around the world, with almost no media voice, tens and millions proclaimed that Iraq posed no threat, the war would be long and bloody, it would be expensive, and America would lose credibility in the international community.
Six years later we’ve seen dozens of new excuses to make up for the last bad excuses. No we claim to be in Iraq because we love the Iraqis and just want to protect them from each other.
So the name of this tour is, “Cost of War: Six Years Later”. Since today marks the actual six year anniversary I’m going to list a few measurable costs of this war/occupation.
Estimated Iraqi casualties: 1,000,000.
American troop casualties: 4,260
American Troops Wounded: 31089
Economic cost to US tax payers to date(Not including the additional $75.5 President Obama has asked for): $656.1 billion
The community trade off Americans pay for this war is really mind numbing. This war based economy is the most logical explanation for our economic crisis. One day of war in Iraq could pay for almost 35,000 homes. That’s a powerful figure when one considers how may have lost their homes in the last year.
So we wanted Thursday to be a whole day of action with multiple events to remind Atlanta that this war continues to take our money and our youth and transform them into machines of war.
At 3pm we had a speaking event at GSU. Jason and Raed spoke along with Zack Choate and Chris Raissi(both IVAW members) spoke as well. After the talk we asked everyone to join us in a rally at woodruff park. Once at Woodruff Dozens of veterans led a march to the CNN center to demand that veterans have a voice in the media and that stations like CNN start connecting the dots between economic crisis and war/occupation. After a rally several students participated in a die-in and we all marched backed to Woodruff park.
After all that work it was time to relax and build community. At 8pm we had a HUGE concert at the Fishmarket lofts in the westend. What an awesome turnout! Contaverse, The Wild, The Back Pockets, and Futureshock all donated fabulous music sets to the event. It really couldn’t have been better then it was.
Thanks for everyone who did all the work to make today happen!!!
BIG THANKS TO: Caitlin Barrow, for organizing the speaking tour and making amazing vegan muffins! Diane Mathowitz and the Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition/Atl For organizing the March. Emily Kempf of the Back pockets for making the concert SOOO awesome, and all the veterans that had the courage to come out, support, and speak out!
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