Skip navigation
CODEPINK
    • ACTION ALERT: CODEPINK Statement on White Supremacist Attack on the Capitol, January 6 2021
    • ACTION ALERT: CODEPINK in the News Round-Up: January 2021
  • Codepink Store
  • Donate
  • Get Involved
  • Act Now
    Action Calendar Action Alerts Follow CODEPINK Volunteer: Be a Peacemaker CODEPINK Store Donate to CODEPINK Recommended Movies Recommended Books
  • Issues & Campaigns
  • Pink Updates (current)
    Last Week at CODEPINK Action Alerts PINK Tank ~ Blog CODEPINK Webinars Press Releases In the News Blogs from Iran Local Peace Economy Daily
  • About
    Founders & Staff What is CODEPINK Jobs and Internships Our Allies CODEPINK Advisory Board Contact Us
  • 50 Iran Experts
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Email
  • WhatsApp
  1. HOME
  2. PINK TANK ~ BLOG

Inspiration for Your Friday

Posted by CODEPINK Staff


Tighe+Barry+Ryan+Crocker+Attends+Confirmation+ZSxatME_ZGNl

Tighe Barry makes his position known at the confirmation hearing of Ryan Crocker, US ambassador to both Iraq and Afghanistan.


by Janet Weil

As the US government, once AGAIN, decides whether to bomb Iraq in response to an armed uprising in that oil-rich, war-poor, DU-contaminated country, more than ever we need inspiration, that deep in-breath of hope and determination.

It's like the crazy-tragic version of Groundhog Day.

For me as a military family member as well as a longtime CODEPINK-er (I "joined up" in spring 2003, about 7 months after its beginnings), the beating of war drums on the media, featuring the same-ol', same-ol' bunch of neo-con know-nothings who shilled for war over a decade ago, brings up all too many terrible memories. My colleagues Nancy Mancias and Lisa Savage have asked me to write from that perspective, and I will do so in an upcoming post.

For now, as we gear up for Don't Bomb Iraq rallies all over the country, I'll just make a list of what inspires me today:

My young Iraqi colleague, Farah Muhsin Al Mousawi, and her 2 recent blog posts with info fresh from her friends and family INSIDE Iraq:
http://codepink.org/blog/2014/06/who-is-fighting-in-iraq/
AND
http://codepink.org/blog/2014/06/the-crisis-of-isis/

Messages from Iraqi mothers for last Mother's Day - still relevant today and every day:
http://codepink.org/blog/2014/05/letters-from-iraqi-mothers-on-this-mothers-day/

A quick email from my DC buddy, now back in Phoenix, Arizona Liz:

"called DC. No Troops No Military airstrikes in Iraq! Bring the Troops HOME! plenty of human aid!"


Seeing the notices of hastily organized vigils and marches pouring in to the @codepink twitter account, from around the country. Fresno and Hayward, CA! Portland, ME! And many other places far from "usual suspects" San Francisco, NYC and DC - though those are of course important too.

The people of Iraq need and deserve the world's compassion and assistance, including with cleanup of places contaminated by Depleted Uranium munitions (or as I call them, "Not Depleted Enough Uranium"), which have caused the world's worst rate of birth defects in Fallujah. They do not need, and it gags me to even have to write this, more US munitions falling down on their land, their rivers, their still-mostly-destroyed infrastructure, their homes and their bodies. "Targeted" air/drone strikes always wind up killing civilians. "Smart" bombs aren't smart. "Limited" military "engagements" (and what a pretty euphemism THAT word is) always somehow become less limited and more costly and dragged-out.

And the overdeployed, overmedicated, under-attended-to US troops - soldiers, marines, airmen and sailors - deserve the right to heal, not the order to return to combat.

Do what you can. Bring a friend to a rally tomorrow.

As a woman who mentored (and sometimes hectored) me during the early years of the US criminal occupation of Iraq always used to say: Do something for peace today.

Continue Reading

CODEPINK Statement on White Supremacist Attack on the Capitol, January 6 2021

We stand in complete opposition to both...

The Trump Administration’s Parting Outrage Against Cuba

There Is No Future in War: Youth Rise Up, a Manifesto

Divestment Victory! Ritu Khanna Now Has No Investments in Weapons Companies

Show all posts

Be the first to comment


Sign in with

Facebook Twitter


Or sign in with email

    or Create an account


    Create an account

      or Sign in with email
      Please check your e-mail for a link to activate your account.
      CODEPINK - Women for Peace
      seach
      • ACT NOW
      • ACTION CALENDAR
      • ACTION ALERTS
      • FOLLOW CODEPINK
      • VOLUNTEER: BE A PEACEMAKER
      • CODEPINK STORE
      • DONATE TO CODEPINK
      • RECOMMENDED MOVIES
      • RECOMMENDED BOOKS
      • ISSUES & CAMPAIGNS
      • DIVEST FROM THE WAR MACHINE
      • PALESTINE
      • ACCOUNTABILITY: EXPOSING WAR CRIMES
      • IRAN
      • SAUDI ARABIA
      • PRESIDENT FOR PEACE
      • LATIN AMERICA
      • THE PEACE COLLECTIVE
      • THE FEMINIST FOREIGN POLICY PROJECT
      • PINK UPDATES
      • LAST WEEK AT CODEPINK
      • ACTION ALERTS
      • PINK TANK ~ BLOG
      • CODEPINK WEBINARS
      • PRESS RELEASES
      • IN THE NEWS
      • BLOGS FROM IRAN
      • LOCAL PEACE ECONOMY DAILY
      • ABOUT
      • FOUNDERS & STAFF
      • WHAT IS CODEPINK
      • JOBS AND INTERNSHIPS
      • OUR ALLIES
      • CODEPINK ADVISORY BOARD
      • CONTACT US
      • 50 IRAN EXPERTS
      © 2021 CODEPINK | All Rights Reserved | Created by Code Nation on NationBuilder