Olympia to Ft. Lewis Peace March!

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Olympia to Ft. Lewis Peace March!

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Sat, 09/03/2005 - 10:40pm.

Start: Sep 23 2005 - 1:00am

Welcome visitors from operation-support-our-troops.org! We support the troops, too. We believe this means bringing them out of harm's way. They have been placed in harm's way by bad policies from this administration. Come join us and show that supporting the troops does not mean supporting the war, and that dissent is patriotic!

Okay, so sorry about all the editing and updates! Hopefully there won't be too many more as we near the march day!

An important update: The march has been trimmed to 10 miles, yes that is ten miles. This is for logistical and safety reasons. Thanks for understanding.

Speak out against the Immoral and Illegal war and occupation in Iraq. The participants (and supporters) will gather at 8:00 A.M. on Friday, Sept. 23, at Sylvester Park. The march will begin at 8:30.

[update 9-19]The route:
4th Ave until it turns into Martin Way. Martin Way until it ends in the Nisqually valley. We will get picked up at the Chevron station just before I-5 on ramp 114 at the end of Martin Way.

[update 9-17]
At 6:00 there will be a rally at Iafrati Park in Dupont, with open mike time for people who marched.
Following the rally there will be a vigil at exit 122, the main gates of Ft Lewis. Drivers are needed to help marchers get to this rally and back to Olympia afterward.

Committed walkers, support staff and rally goers wanted: (You need not march in order to participate.) Get involved!

Here are some dates we set for events:
SIGN MAKING PARTY
Olympia Community Center Rm 103 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept 17th
POTLUCK
1515 LANGRIGDE 6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21st

Any help and support is welcome. Contact Nikki Miller by e-mail or telephone at 273-9800, for more details.

[Update]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 14, 2005

The Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace
(360) 273-9800
nikki_mmiller@yahoo.com
http://www.omjp.org

OLYMPIA TO FT. LEWIS PEACE MARCH-A visible plea to end the occupation in Iraq and bring the troops home now

On Friday, September 23, 2005 members of the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace (OMJP) and many other individuals will depart from Sylvester Park at 8:00 am on an 18 mile march ending in a rally at Ft. Lewis later in the day. The rally will be held at Iafrati Park in Dupont off of I-5 exit 119 at 6:00 pm.

The intent of the march is to confront the lies of the Bush administration regarding the war and occupation in Iraq while demonstrating support for the individual soldiers on the ground who have been victimized by the administration. The call is to "Support the Troops by bringing them home". The U.S. military was not created to serve special interests but rather to ensure the safety of its citizenry.

We intend to walk in a peaceful and non-confrontational manner for 18 miles in order to be visible to many communities along the way and to show our commitment to take action against this immoral and illegal war. The walk to Ft. Lewis aims to highlight both the suffering of the U.S. troops and their families as well as the Iraqi people resulting from this war. We will rally at Ft. Lewis because it is an institution directly involved in carrying out the war. We are not going to Ft. Lewis to blame the troops. We are going to Ft. Lewis in a sincere attempt to dialog with the troops about the war, and to make public by our actions and words, that there is a growing anti-war movement that is sympathetic to both U.S. soldiers and the Iraqi people. The anti-war movement understands their situation and wants to support U.S. soldiers by calling for their prompt return home to our country and to their families.

The Oly to Ft. Lewis peace march on Friday, September 23rd is part of an international weekend of actions against the war including a demonstration in Seattle on Saturday, September 24th and a Support the Truth teach-in that night at the Capital Theater in Olympia. There will also be a very large demonstration in Washington, D.C. You can find updates and more information about the Oly to Ft. Lewis march at www.olyblog.net (click on calendar day for the 23rd) or use contact nikki_mmiller@yahoo.com Phone (360) 273-9800

Media can use contact cell phone on September 23, 2005 (during the march)
(360) 320-2873

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Out of curiousity, where does

Submitted by The Fire Inside on Wed, 09/07/2005 - 11:32am.

Out of curiousity, where does the number 100,000 come from? According to iraqbodycount.com, probably the most comprehensive website dealing with the issue of how many Iraqi civilians have died, the maximum number is likely around 30,000 (as of the time of this writing).

The number that Iraq Body Cou

Submitted by tigerlilly on Wed, 09/07/2005 - 1:27pm.

The number that Iraq Body Count is putting out is only based on reported deaths. The number 100,000 refers to a scientific study published in the British Medical Journal The Lancet, that used scientific methods to calculate how much the death rate had risen since the war has begun. Two survey teams gathered detailed info about the date cause circustance of any deaths in the 14.6 months prior to the invasion and 17.8 months agter. The survey was of 988 households containing 7,868 people in 33 neighborhoods-selected to provide a respective sampling. The fatalities were documented with death certificates. Based on the number of Iraqi fatalities agter the war began researchers calculated that the death rate had increased since the invasion from 5% annually to 7.9% resulting in an excess of 100,000 deaths since the war began. Falluja was not included in the study. IF it was the study points to 200,000 deaths.

It is my understanding that t

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Wed, 09/07/2005 - 2:59pm.

It is my understanding that the 30,000 number relates to the number of people who've been killed as a direct consequence of the fighting i.e. being shot in the head, run down by military vehicle, or bombed to smithereens via IED, suicide explosions etc.

The number of people who've been killed as indirect consequences of the war in Iraq is much higher: i.e. many have died as a result of mal-nutrition, poisoning (e.g. water contaminated with sewage b/c of American bombing of waste treatment facilities,) disease, etc. - who would not have died had the invasion and subsequent occupation and guerilla warfare not occurred.

One or even two hundred thousand deaths may in fact be very conservative estimates - due to the potential genetic damage from exposure to radioactive "Depleted" Uranium, which may be destroying the reproductive potential of the Iraqi people (and American Military Service men and women.)

Thank you Rob and tigerlilly

Submitted by The Fire Inside on Sat, 09/10/2005 - 6:50pm.

Thank you Rob and tigerlilly for clarifying the difference between the numbers. Did the study account for civilian deaths during the same period when U.S. forces were not in the country? For instance, if (I'm using arbitrary numbers) 15,000 people died between May and August prior to the invasion and 25,000 people die during the same period during the invasion, that's only a difference of 10,000. It would seem unfair to say all deaths indirectly associated with military actions are the result of U.S. actions (though Rob does seem to address this in his original post). EDIT: I came back and re-read tigerlilly's original post. She answered my question completely the first time.

Today, there was a sign makin

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Sat, 09/17/2005 - 5:15pm.

Today, there was a sign making meeting. A few people showed up and we made quite a few great signs; bearing thought-provoking and witty messages.

Noble Cause?

There will be additional opportunity to make more signs at the upcoming potluck event on Wednesday, the 21^st. Hope to see you there!

Another update to report: The march's length has been significantly reduced due to logistical and safety concerns. Currently, the planned march is 10 miles. We will be riding from there, (around Steilacoom road.)

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