The US invasion and occupation was based on the knowingly false information presented by the George W. Bush administration alleging that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Members of Congress, including then-Senator Joe Biden, voted to authorize war. After the invasion, no WMDs were found. As part of an agreement by Bush, President Barack Obama withdrew troops in 2011, only to send more back in to fight the Islamic State in 2014. In early 2020, President Trump deeply damaged US-Iraq relations by using a drone to assassinate Iranian General Soleimani and an Iraqi militia leader. The Iraqi parliament voted to demand the US leave their country. In late January, the US killed an Islamic State leader in an airstrike, making Joe Biden the sixth consecutive US President to bomb the country of Iraq.

While there are now only 2500 US Troops in Iraq, the instability caused by 13 years of sanctions and war (1990-2003) and 18 years since the second war and invasion, keep many Iraqis from having even their basic needs met. While greatly reduced, attacks by ISIS, which did not exist before the invasion, continue. The US embassy in Baghdad is the world's largest, despite Iraq being the 36th largest country by population and 58th largest in size. It is clear the US wants to stay in Iraq to control the oil resources not just in Iraq but in the entire region. March 19 also marks 10 years since Barack Obama launched the US war on Libya, which threw that country into turmoil which is only now seeming to come to resolution with a new unity government forming.

On February 26, President Biden ordered an airstrike in Syria to retaliate for rocket attacks on a US military installation in Iraq. A separate rocket attack in Iraq in early March prompted Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to declare that "We demand the right to protect our troops." There seems to be no recognition that if the US had never invaded Iraq, no American troops would be getting attacked.

It is time to end all US wars and bring the troops home!

This event is part of the weekly Friday rally for Peace and Justice, which began shortly after the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Begun by Portland Peaceful Response Coalition, Peace and Justice Works has hosted these rallies since March, 2020.

Event coordinated by Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group, endorsed by the Pacific Green Party.

For more information, or if your group would like to cosponsor or endorse this event, contact Peace and Justice Works at 503-236-3065 or iraq@pjw.info.

(NOTE: The first two presidents to bomb Iraq were George HW Bush 1991-92 and Bill Clinton 1993-2000.)

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