What’s Really Happening in Iraq

Global Exchange and CODEPINK present…

What’s Really Happening in Iraq

Report-Back from Humanitarian Aid Mission That Delivered Over $650,000 in Aid to Falluja Refugees

WHEN: 7 pm, Tuesday, February 15

WHERE: Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar Street (at Bonita), Berkeley

WHAT: Hear from military family members whose sons died while fighting in the Iraq and Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange and CODEPINK co-founder, report-back from their unprecedented trip to Jordan and the Iraqi border. The Families for Peace delegation delivered over $650,000 worth of medical and humanitarian aid for the thousands of refugees, mostly women and children, made homeless by the U.S. attack on Falluja in November. While the delegation was not able to enter Iraq because of deteriorating security, they did meet in Jordan with the Iraqi health team in charge of their donations, dozens of human rights, women’s and humanitarian aid organizations based both in Iraq and Jordan and with Iraqis who have been victimized by the war.

During their week-long visit, the delegation heard allegations from Iraqis of US atrocities that made Abu Ghraib seem like childish pranks: a woman raped in full view of other prisoners, who is now seeking permission from religious leaders to kill herself; a seven-year-old girl, left momentarily in the car while her father stopped at the market, screaming and clawing at the window while a US tank crushed the vehicle; a mother watching in horror as the troops raided her home in the middle of the night, shot her son in the chest and then stomped on him as he bled to death.

In Falluja alone, thousands of civilians were killed in one brutal week. The delegates saw gruesome pictures of bodies burned beyond recognition, limbs eaten by dogs because anyone trying to retrieve the dead was shot. A young Iraqi woman who risked her life taking our humanitarian aid to those too old and infirm to flee was still traumatized by devastation she witnessed.

“With all the Iraqis have suffered during this war and occupation, it’s amazing the tolerance and gratitude they have shown us. We’re thrilled that our aid has been able to save lives and help children, but the most important thing is to end this abusive occupation that has brought so much death and suffering to both sides,” said Fernando Suarez of Escondido, CA, whose son Jesus was a marine who died in Iraq on March 27, 2003.

$5 Suggested donation, no one turned away for lack of funds

Sponsors: Global Exchange, CODEPINK: Women for Peace, Middle East Children's Alliance New College Center for Education and Social Action

To get more information, please visit http://www.globalexchange.org or http://www.codepinkalert.org or call Global Exchange at 415.255.7296 x 312