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DESCRIPTION: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       \n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2005/01/27/56453.php
SUMMARY:What’s Really Happening in Iraq
LOCATION:Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar Street (at 
 Bonita), Berkeley 
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2005/01/27/56453.php
DTSTART:20050216T030000Z
DTEND:20050216T050000Z
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