Not at Home for the Holidays

Holiday Peace Vigil in Capitola - Saturday Dec 15th

PRESS RELEASE

Event: 'Not at Home for the Holidays'
A Vigil and Action for Peace Now!
When: Saturday, December 15th, from Noon to 2PM
Where: in front of the Military Recruitment Center,
2121 41st Avenue, Capitola


2007 has been the deadliest year to date for American soldiers in Iraq*, a new study shows that 120 veterans commit suicide every week in America**, 58 % of Military Families Want Troops Home Within a Year***, veterans who have been wounded in Iraq are being told to repay their sign-up bonuses****, and an AP story now reveals that there is a plan afoot to leave approximately 50,000 soldiers in Iraq on a permanent basis, a violation of recent laws passed in Congress***** (links below).

On Saturday, Dec 15th, from Noon to 2PM, the Peace Community of Santa Cruz County will gather for a Vigil and Action for Peace Now! in front of the Military Recruiting Center, at 2121 41st Ave, in Capitola - we remember those who are 'NOT AT HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS', both here and in Iraq, and send out our sympathy and concern, to their families and friends.

We call for our all of troops to come home immediately, for all military bases that have been built in Iraq to be disbanded, for a complete return of the resources and sovereignty of Iraq to the Iraqi people themselves, and for full reparations for the devastation that has been wrought in our name.

And we say that we will not let be done to Iran that which has been done to Iraq!

the Raging Grannies of Santa Cruz WILPF will be singing their truthful songs!

NOT AT HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS is cosponsored by nine Santa Cruz Peace Groups:
the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom of Pajaro Valley and of Santa Cruz, the GI Rights Hotline of the Central Coast/Santa Cruz, the Santa Cruz Peace Coalition, Code Pink Santa Cruz, Families Against War of SC, the Peace and Freedom Party of SC, the United Nations Association of SC, and the Buddhist Peace Fellowship of SC

"Funding the war is killing the troops."
Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW)

People United for Peace (PUP) is a local affiliation of peace and social justice advocates and activists, organizing vigils, actions, and other events in the Santa Cruz area on an ad hoc basis.


Announcement Broadcast to the Public:
'Not at Home for the Holidays'
A Vigil and Action for Peace Now!
Saturday, December 15th, from Noon to 2PM
in front of the Military Recruitment Center
2121 41st Avenue, Capitola

dear Friends of Peace

As we enter into this holiday season, let us remember that:

there are over 180,000 American families who will face this season with an ever present fear and anxiety for the safety of their loved ones living in harm's way in Iraq or Afghanistan, loved ones who will NOT be 'home for the holidays',

there are over 3900 American families caught in the terrible, pervasive grief of the loss of a loved one who will NEVER AGAIN be 'home for the holidays', and

there are over 27,000 families of American soldiers who will be spending this season helping their loved ones, who have made it home, deal with the LIFELONG EFFECTS of devastating wounds and trauma suffered in a war that seems to have no end.

Let us also remember that there are hundreds of thousands of families in Afghanistan and Iraq who live with these same daily realities, and over 4 million war refugees from Iraq alone.

Whatever our spiritual tradition, whether we are trimming the tree for Christmas, preparing the menorrah for Hannukah, gathering sage for the Winter Solstice, dancing the Universal Dances of Peace, or....... there are those among us who face a very difficult and aching reality this year.

In the beginning and in the end, it is "we the people" who have and will create the tide that will bring war, occupation, and imperialism to an end, and usher in an Everlasting Peace!

Please express your concern and your caring at this very special time of the year,
and take an hour or two out to join us for:

'Not at Home for the Holidays'
A Vigil and Action for Peace Now!
Saturday December 15th, from Noon to 2PM
in front of the Military Recruitment Center
2121 41st Avenue, Capitola

the Recruiting Center is just two blocks from the main entrance to the Capitola Mall, and so this is a VERY VISIBLE location - it would be wonderful to have enough people there to line both sides of 41st Avenue!!!

to get there, take the 41st Avenue exit off Highway 1, go toward the Capitola Mall, and the Recruiting Center is on the east side of the street, across from Master Car Wash and next to Burger King - there is a large parking lot behind it, accessed from Clares Street, and on-street parking behind the lot as well

we WILL have extra signs, banners, flags, etc.
but please consider taking the time to make your own!!

cosponsored by (a growing list!): the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom of Pajaro Valley and of Santa Cruz, the GI Rights Hotline of the Central Coast/Santa Cruz, the Santa Cruz Peace Coalition, Code Pink Santa Cruz, Families Against War, the Peace and Freedom Party of SC, the United Nations Association of SC, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship of SC, .......

"We have it in our power to begin the world over again."
Thomas Paine


*2007 Is Deadliest Year for US in Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110607C.shtml
Lauren Frayer, reporting for The Associated Press, writes, "The U.S. military on Tuesday announced the deaths of five more soldiers, making 2007 the deadliest year for U.S. troops despite a recent downturn, according to an Associated Press count."

**Penny Coleman | One Hundred Twenty War Vets
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112607B.shtml
Penny Coleman writes on AlterNet: "Earlier this year, using the clout that only major broadcast networks seem capable of mustering, CBS News contacted the governments of all 50 states requesting their official records of death by suicide going back 12 years. They heard back from 45 of the 50. From the mountains of gathered information, they sifted out the suicides of those Americans who had served in the armed forces. What they discovered is that in 2005 alone - and remember, this is just in 45 states - there were at least 6,256 veteran suicides, 120 every week for a year and an average of 17 every day."

***58 Percent of Military Families Want Troops Home Within a Year
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/120707M.shtml
Faye Fiore reports for The Los Angeles Times, "Families with ties to the military, long a reliable source of support for wartime presidents, disapprove of President Bush and his handling of the war in Iraq, with a majority concluding the invasion was not worth it, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found."

****Wounded Vets Told to Repay Bonuses
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112607A.shtml
The Associated Press reports, "Service members seriously wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan after they received a $10,000 bonus for enlisting are being asked by the Pentagon to repay portions of the incentive money, says a U.S. senator who calls the practice an example of military policy gone wrong."

*****Bush-Maliki Agreement Defies US Laws, Iraqi Parliament
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/113007J.shtml
    By Maya Schenwar
    t r u t h o u t | Report

Iraqis may offer US deal to stay longer

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer

Mon Nov 26, 12:44 PM ET


Iraq's government, seeking protection against foreign threats and internal coups, will offer the U.S. a long-term troop presence in Iraq in return for U.S. security guarantees as part of a strategic partnership, two Iraqi officials said Monday.

The proposal, described to The Associated Press by two senior Iraqi officials familiar with the issue, is one of the first indications that the United States and Iraq are beginning to explore what their relationship might look like once the U.S. significantly draws down its troop presence.

In Washington, President Bush's adviser on the Iraqi war, Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, confirmed the proposal, calling it "a set of principles from which to begin formal negotiations."

As part of the package, the Iraqis want an end to the current U.N.-mandated multinational forces mission, and also an end to all U.N.-ordered restrictions on Iraq's sovereignty.

In a televised address Monday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said his government will ask the U.N. to renew the mandate for the multinational force for one final time, with its authorization to end in 2008. He insisted that the U.N. remove all restrictions on Iraqi sovereignty.

Iraq has been living under some form of U.N. restriction since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the officials said.

U.S. troops and other foreign forces operate in Iraq under a U.N. Security Council mandate, which has been renewed annually since 2003. Iraqi officials have said they want that next renewal — which must be approved by the U.N. Security Council by the end of this year — to be the last.

The two senior Iraqi officials said Iraqi authorities had discussed the broad outlines of the proposal with U.S. military and diplomatic representatives. The Americans appeared generally favorable subject to negotiations on the details, which include preferential treatment for American investments, according to the Iraqi officials involved in the discussions.

The two Iraqi officials, who are from two different political parties, spoke on condition of anonymity because the subject is sensitive. Members of parliament were briefed on the plan during a three-hour closed-door meeting Sunday, during which lawmakers loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr objected to the formula.

Preferential treatment for U.S. investors could provide a huge windfall if Iraq can achieve enough stability to exploit its vast oil resources. Such a deal would also enable the United States to maintain leverage against Iranian expansion at a time of growing fears about Tehran's nuclear aspirations.

At the White House, Lute said the new agreement was not binding.

"It's not a treaty, but it's rather a set of principles from which to begin formal negotiations," Lute said. "Think of today's agreement as setting the agenda for the formal bilateral negotiations."

Those negotiations will take place during the course of 2008, with the goal of completion by July, Lute said.

The new agreement on principles spells out what the formal, final document will contain regarding political, economic and security matters.

"We believe, and Iraqis' national leaders believe, that a long-term relationship with the United States is in our mutual interest," Lute said.

From the Iraqi side, Lute said, having the U.S. as a "reliable, enduring partner with Iraq will cause different sects inside the Iraqi political structure not to have to hedge their bets in a go-it-alone-like setting, but rather they'll be able to bet on the reliable partnership with the United States."

When asked about the plan, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo noted that Iraqi officials had expressed a desire for a strategic partnership with the U.S. in a political declaration in August and an end to the U.N.-mandated force.

"Thereafter then, the question becomes one of bilateral relationships between Iraq and the countries of the multinational forces," she said. "At that point we need to be considering long-term bilateral relationships and we're following the Iraqi thinking on this one and we agree with their thinking on this and we'll be looking at setting up a long-term partnership with different aspects to it, political, economic, security and so forth."

She said any detailed discussion of bases and investment preferences was "way, way, way ahead of where we are at the moment."

The Iraqi officials said that under the proposed formula, Iraq would get full responsibility for internal security and U.S. troops would relocate to bases outside the cities. Iraqi officials foresee a long-term presence of about 50,000 U.S. troops, down from the current figure of more than 160,000.

Haidar al-Abadi, a senior Dawa member of al-Maliki's Dawa party, told Alhurra television that the prime minister would write parliament in the next few days to tell lawmakers that his government would seek the renewal of the U.N. mandate for "one last time."

Al-Abadi said the Iraqi government would make the renewal conditional on ending all U.N.-mandated restrictions on Iraq's sovereignty.

The Iraqi target date for a bilateral agreement on the new relationship would be July, when the U.S. intends to finish withdrawing the five combat brigades sent in 2007 by President Bush as part of the troop buildup that has helped curb sectarian violence.

On Sunday, Iraq's Shiite vice president hinted at such a formula, saying the government will link discussions on the next extension of the U.N. mandate to an agreement under which Iraq will gain full sovereignty and "full control over all of its resources and issues."

Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi said Iraq wanted an "equal footing" with the U.S. on security issues as a sovereign country so Iraqi could "have relations with other states with sovereignty and interests."

He said the government would announce within days a "declaration of intent" that would not involve military bases but would raise "issues on organizing the presence of the multinational forces and ending their presence on Iraqi soil."

One official said the Iraqis expect objections from Iraq's neighbors. Iran and Syria will object because they oppose a U.S. presence in the region.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia will not like the idea of any reduction in their roles as Washington's most important Arab partners.