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Deaths in Iraq Since March 2003
(Last Updated 6/29/2008)
US:
4113
Iraqi Civilians:
Between 420,000-790,000 since 2003
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More Events...
On June 21, about 200 pro-war/pro-military bikers invaded Berkeley to demonstrate in support of the Marine recruiting station in downtown Berkeley. They were met by about 100 demonstrators chanting, "Murder, Rape, Torture, War – That's What They're Recruiting For" and carrying pictures of Iraqi civilians maimed at the hands of U.S. troops.
The Berkeley Marine recruiting station has been a target of anti-war resistance by protesters from World Can't Wait and Code Pink who say that the recruiters are unwelcome in Berkeley and need to be driven out of Berkeley and communities nationwide.
In February, the two sides faced off in the streets of Berkeley with hundreds of high school students courageously going in the face of the pro-Iraq War bikers and goons. These actions sparked protests nationwide against military recruiters.
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Jun 18th: Weekly Code pink vigil in front of the MRS
Previous Berkeley Military Recruitment Protest Coverage
Musicians and artists from the bay area are coming together at the Santa Cruz Vets Hall on Friday, June 27th in order to raise money for Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and to help the brand new Santa Cruz Chapter get off the ground. The event is being sponsored by the Santa Cruz local Veterans for Peace and Veterans of Foreign Wars chapters.
There will be music performances by Ashkon (bay area hip-hop), Cripple Catch and the Midi Mob (SC hip-hop), The Reliques (psychedelic rock and roll), and Anne and The Vets (political folk from San Jose). Artists such as William Muir, Sam Sweeley, and Phil Pflager are coming to share their art with the audience, and guests from the GI Rights Hot-line, Truth in Recruiting, Veterans for Peace, and Students Against War will be coming to share their wisdom and literature.
IVAW has 3 objectives -- 1) Immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, 2) Reparation for the Iraqi peoples, 3) Proper care, treatment and support for Iraqi and Afghani vets. Read More
see also: Veterans for Peace Santa Cruz Half Staff Flags in Honor of Dead/Injured; Iraq/Afghanistan
On June 2nd, the Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP) class at UC Santa Cruz hosted an evening entitled "The University is Unsustainable: militarism, nuclearism, corporatism and the UC." Student researchers Jono and Leah presented on UCSC's Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) while UCSC alumni Will Parrish and Darwin BondGraham focused on the University of California from 1868 to 2008, from the genocide of Indigenous Nations, the Spanish American War and the Manhattan Project, through to the present: a time of renewed nuclear-militarism and increasing corporatization and privatization of the University.
On June 8, at Chai House in San Jose—a mostly Jewish senior housing complex—Jewish and Japanese American survivors of the camps of World War Two and their families met for the second time in three years to tell their stories and reach common understanding. Around two hundred at the event, called "A Gathering of Friends," snacked on bagels and sushi and then talked with each other for a couple of hours. The South Bay Holocaust Survivor Group and the Japanese American Museum of San Jose were sponsors of the meeting, and the group was about evenly mixed between the two communities represented. Said organizer Harvey Gotliffe of San Jose State University, “We are here to share, not compare.” View photos
Armed with bazookas, instruments and colorful posters, residents of Santa Cruz will show their support on Tuesday, June 10th at 3:30pm in favor of a pending city resolution requesting that all US military aid to Colombia be re-directed to domestic drug prevention and rehabilitation programs, which have been shown to be more effective in the “war on drugs.” Bert Muhly of Tres Americas will speak on the issue, as well as Sandra Alvarez, long time Colombia activist and Ph.D candidate at the University of California Santa Cruz.
Monday, May 12, 2008: In Lebanon, armed clashes over the past week have left at least 81 dead. Fighting erupted last week during a general strike called by the General Federation of Labor Unions to protest the high cost of living. On May 8th, Hezbollah leader Nasrallah held a press conference in Beirut and condemned a decision by the Lebanese cabinet to outlaw Hezbollah's telecommunication network and dismiss the head of Airport security for his alleged ties to the party. Nasrallah said their private communication network was critical to their success during the July 2006 war with Israel. Hezbollah-led opposition forces quickly overpowered pro-government militias and took over large parts of the capital city of Beirut before handing over control to the Lebanese army.
The work stoppage at all 29 West Coast ports on May 1, 2008 by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) was an historic turning point for the U.S. labor movement. For the first time in more than seventy years, a major U.S. trade union led marches and a system-wide strike on May Day. And for the first time ever, it was not for economic reasons, but for the political demand to end the disastrous and debilitating U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thirty-eight years ago, on May 4, 2008, at Ohio’s Kent State University, the National Guard opened fire on students protesting the US war in Vietnam. The students were shot from distances of 275 to 400 feet, giving lie to claims that the students posed a threat to the Guardsmen. Four students were murdered and nine were injured. Nobody ever did time for those murders.
On May 1st, the US assassinated Aden Hashi Eyrow, one of senior leaders of Somalia’s Islamist movement, in an air strike that killed at least 10 other people.
Many in Somalia have taken up arms to resist a US backed occupation by Ethiopian troops. Violence has increased in the past year and there have been many well documented cases of war crimes by Ethiopian troops. The upsurge in violence comes as the country is on the brink of a severe drought. The number of people in need of assistance in Somalia has increased to 2.6 million people (35% of the total population), an increase of more than 40% since January 2008.
Direct Action to Stop the War brought its anti-war focus to May Day actions in San Francisco and Oakland on Thursday, May 1st. Starting at 5:45 a.m. at West Oakland BART, DASW lead a community picket to shut down the Union Pacific rail lines at the Port of Oakland. The march proceeded west down 7th Street to the employee entrances, where DASW urged workers from United Transportation Union Local 239 to join with the ILWU dock workers and the anti-war movement and not cross the picket line.
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From 12:30-2:30pm, DASW marched from Justin Herman Plaza to protests at the Armed Forces Recruiting Center (670 Davis St. at Broadway, San Francisco) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (630 Sansome St. at Washington St., San Francisco).
DASW also had a contingent at labor and immigrant rights demonstrations: At 10:30am, DASW joined with dockworkers as they marched from their stop-work meeting to a rally. The march departed from Beach St. at Mason St. in San Francisco along the Embarcadero to a 12pm rally at Justin Herman Plaza. At 2:30pm DASW joined with immigrants and their supporters in San Francisco at the immigrant rights rally and march, starting at Dolores Park (18th St. at Dolores) . DASW statement
Direct Action to Stop the War | Indybay's Coverage of the ILWU protest | Indybay's Coverage of Immigrant Rights Demonstrations around California | Some recent coverage of DASW
On April 22nd, Students Against War organized a counter-recruitment action against the presence of military recruiters at UCSC's "Last Chance Job & Internship Fair." Outside the career fair, students demonstrated with banners, flyers, zines, photos from Iraq, theatre of tortured detainees, juggling and more. Meanwhile on the inside, student protestors were dancing, questioning military and FBI recruiters, chanting and otherwise disrupting the recruiting efforts of the FBI, Army, Marines and Police.
Santa Cruz resident Matt Childers, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, testified at the Winter Soldier hearings held last month in Silver Springs, Maryland. Matt served two deployments to Iraq as an infantryman with the U.S. Marines. Originally from West Virginia, he now makes his home in Santa Cruz and is a student at Cabrillo College. His testimony was given as part of a panel on racism and dehumanization of the enemy in Iraq. Video and audio of that panel is available in its entirety at IVAW.org and warcomeshome.org.  Read and Listen to Matt's Testimony
see also: Cost of the Iraq War
anonymous anarchists write, "A Wells Fargo in downtown Santa Cruz was paintbombed during the night. Wells Fargo invests in the GEO Group, the contractor which runs the gulag in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In addition to running GTMO, the GEO Group is also contracted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to run its immigration detention facilities."
The 4,000th US soldier was killed in Iraq on March 23rd. People United for Peace (PUP) in Santa Cruz County called for a vigil and action at the Military Recruiting Center in Capitola on March 24th to express grief at so many senseless deaths of US soldiers and Iraqis. PUP is a local affiliation of peace and social justice advocates and activists, organizing vigils, actions, and other events in the Santa Cruz County area on an ad hoc basis. The coalition calls for an immediate end to the killing and occupation in Iraq. Report | Photos
CodePink shut down the Marine Recruiting Station in Berkeley by conducting street theater as a direct action inside the building. Photos. In San Francisco, a vigil took place at Civic Center Plaza. There was also a vigil at Windows on the Bay in Monterey.
Five Years Too Many | NoArmy.com, The Truth Recruiters Don't Want You To Know
The Army recruitment site GoArmy.com is one of the most heavily advertised web sites on the planet. It's a slick marketing effort to make enlisting look like the perfect job opportunity: a stable, safe way to make money and serve America. Of course, there's a lot about the Army that isn't mentioned on GoArmy.com. From the Iraq War to human rights abuses to the stop-loss policy, the official recruitment website is strangely silent.
On March 19th, NoArmy.com was launched to clear up confusion about the Army and commemorate the 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. It's an unauthorized remixed version of the recruitment site which presents the facts missing in the Army sales pitch, and shows potential recruits what they can really expect if they enlist.
The battle to shut down the Marine recruiting station in Berkeley continued on March 19th, the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. Hundreds, including many Berkeley High school students, took part in actions during the day to shut down the recruiting station in Berkeley and to stop the war in Iraq. Several students spoke powerfully to why the marine recruiters should be considered "unwelcome intruders" in Berkeley, pointing out that the marine's "freedom" to lie to people and recruit them into an immoral and unjust war is in contradiction to the freedom of the Iraqi people to be free of U.S. occupation.
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Previous Coverage of Berkeley Recruiting Protests
March 19th saw a revival of the direct action movement in the Bay Area. Independent media activists came together to broadcast a radio station and DASW had a webcam broadcasting video. Volunteers provided legal assistance. Affinity groups came back together for another day in the streets, putting their bodies on the line to remind the world that torture has been a way of life for the Bush administration. Bike contingents and snake marches wove in and out of crowds, providing assistance to protesters and facing an equal risk of arrest. The police responded by swiftly arresting approximately 150 people- including protesters and media-- at several sites. Four Codepink protesters were detained after allegedly hanging a banner from the Golden Gate Bridge, while paintballs were anonymously thrown at several corporate targets.
Police had amassed before 7:00am near some key intersections. At 7:09am, it was reported that the Federal Reserve building at 101 Market had been shut down by a lockdown. At UCSF Mission Bay, protesters set out to shut down the UC Regents' meeting with a lockdown and an Alternate Regents' meeting. Police busted the lockdown and started arresting participants by 7:30am. 345 California, home of Chevron Energy Solutions, was another site of a lockdown and some ten arrests. Chevron closed business for the day.
At 10am, a die-in at 3rd and Market street took up all lanes and Market street was completely blocked. Police moved in and 27 people were arrested. Around noon, 100 protesters engaged in a second die-in at Montgomery and Market Streets, stopping all traffic for about two hours. At 3pm, Codepink, Raging Grannies Action League, and some black blockers converged on the recruitment center on Davis.
By 5pm, approximately 165 people had been arrested in various direct actions across the city.
In the evening, there was a rally and march starting from Civic Center. Several thousand people listened to speakers and took to the streets to protest the war.
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M19 Photo Gallery
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Archived Breaking News
Outraged over the undemocratic nature of the University of California Board of Regents and the Regents’ continued management of the national nuclear weapon labs, on March 19th, students from the Coalition to Free the UC took nonviolent direct action at the UC Regents meeting at UCSF Mission Bay campus in an attempt to obstruct their ability to meet. Over 100 students from five UC campuses participated in the day of action as part of March 19th Direct Action to Stop the War.
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On June 17th, 2008, a U.S. military judge dismissed charges against another Marine connected to the massacre of twenty-four unarmed Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha. Of the eight Marines originally charged in the case, only one still faces prosecution. Criminal charges have been dismissed against six of the Marines and a seventh Marine was acquitted.
