WNC Peace Coalition

We had a meeting of the WNC Peace Coalition tonight. The group felt that we should hold an organizational meeting to plan an event for March 19th - that is the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. We hope to hold this organizational meeting later this month. I hope we have a very big event on March 19th. I would like the theme to be "The True Cost of War", but we'll see what others want.

The group (and the representative from Vets for Peace) agreed to help with an "EYES WIDE OPEN" exhibit in Asheville. This is an exhibit put together by the American Friends Service Committee. I am really interested in bringing it to Asheville. You can read more about this at www.afsc.org They have a petition to sign to ask Mr. Bush to remove the troops from Iraq. Of course, we all know Bush has no plans to do that. But, it is still important to sign the petition, to let the world know (and the Iraqi people know) that not all Americans support this war and occupation.

Also, a reminder that J20 (inauguration day) is also "Not One Dime" day. United for Peace and Justice is asking all peace activists to not spend even one dime on January 20th. Not for food or gas or buses or anything. They are also asking people to come to the counter-inaugural, or stay home from work or school.

I will be in DC the week of the inauguration, to protest Bush's policies and to help the American Friends Service committee on their exhibit "Eyes Wide Open". I will blog from DC.

I read today that over 700 people have been found dead in two sections of Fallujah, due to the recent military action there. Over 550 are reported to be women and children, and a lot of the men are elderly. There are 18 more sections of Fallujah to be "resettled", and fighting still goes on, sadly.