United for Peace of Pierce County, WA - We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy.

Organizers issued a press release this week announcing a G.I. Rights Rally that will be held on the afternoon of Sat., Mar. 22, "on the doorstep of Fort Lewis."[1] -- For information about rally times and locations, see here. -- BACKGROUND: Fort Lewis is a vast U.S. Army base that along with Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Campbell in Kentucky, and Fort Hood in Texas is one of the the U.S. military's domestic megabases. -- Home to three Stryker brigades, Fort Lewis was only marginally involved in the original invasion of Iraq, but is now playing an increasingly prominent role in the war. -- For a review of the recent growth of Fort Lewis, see here....

A GI Rights Rally will be held on Saturday, March 22, 2008 at Harry Todd Park in Lakewood, WA, and later that day, a march. This event will be held from 12:00 noon to 4:30 p.m. The public is welcome, no charge.

After five years, no one disputes that it is service men and women and their families who have paid the overwhelming price of the Iraq War on the American front. Veterans, supported by civilians, are organizing a demonstration on the doorstep of Fort Lewis to support GI Rights and to connect them with relevant resources. The GI Rights Rally will include activities for military families -- children and adults.

The GI Rights Rally will include, along with information about the free speech rights of active-duty soldiers, resources for accessing counseling, basic needs, and separating from the military.

As of March 13, 2008, according to the website Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, there have been since the beginning of the war at least 3,987 U.S. military fatalities in Iraq and nearly 29,314 wounded . . . and counting.

The Iraq War is not popular with the American people, and is draining governmental resources.

Because the military itself is dangerously overstretched, service men and women and are being abused by extended tours, the stop-loss policy, and even forced to deploy or stay in theater with untreated medical and mental conditions. “My friend was kept in a forward area for three months after an IED attack made wearing body armor impossible,” Iraq veteran Seth Manzel explains. “This is not an isolated incident.”

In the past year, extensive media coverage of returning veterans receiving delayed and substandard care has highlighted the disgraceful lack of resources dedicated to those actually fighting the war.

Families, too, are burdened by extended employments, which now last fifteen months instead of twelve. Even between deployments, servicemen and servicewomen are not being given the time with their families promised by the Department of Defense. This unpopular war has taken a heavy toll on military families as well.

Pierce County is home to Fort Lewis, the 4th largest U.S. Army base, and a major platform of the Iraq War. Since nearly everyone in the country is connected to the military somehow, the GI-civilian alliance that formed this coalition has organized the event following the lead of veterans. Tim Goodrich of Iraq Veterans Against the War says, “The single largest of failure of the anti-war movement at this point is the lack of outreach to the troops.” In Pierce County, we are reaching out to our brothers and sisters.

The groups involved in organizing this event include: Iraq Veterans Against the War-Seattle chapter, GI Voice, Veterans For Peace-Tacoma Chapter, Military Families Speak Out-Oregon, Olympia Movement for Justice & Peace, Peace Action Coalition Tacoma, Tacoma Fellowship of Reconciliation, Tacoma Students for a Democratic Society, and United for Peace of Pierce County.

For more information on the event, or to schedule an interview with a veteran or other organizer, call 253-250-9290.