Providence 6th anniversary of the war -- AFSC-SNE

From: Martha Yager Greetings Friends   Unfortunately the 6th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war is March 19th and we are only a bit closer to its end. I think that it is important to keep the pressure on President Obama to end the occupation now – and not shift troops to Afghanistan. There are HUGE vested interests that would like to see this occupation continue. His announcement of a timetable, slower than he had pledged, raises questions. The White House Website contains the information that the 50,000 troops will be withdrawn according to the Status of Forces Agreement in 2012, but there again are rumors of plans to renegotiate that agreement. And no mention is made of the thousands of contractors that are there. If we are going to get everyone home, without permanent bases left behind, we are going to have to keep the pressure on. The anniversary is a good opportunity for that. In the next week I will post some resources on the www.afsc.org/sene website for use at local vigils or other events you might plan to mark the anniversary in your community. Please let me know what you are planning – I will list them on the website. Also please let me know if there are addition resources that would be helpful.    We will be organizing a vigil in Providence at the War Memorial near the intersection of College Ave. and South Main Street at 5pm on Thursday March 19. We plan a simple vigil lasting about an hour. There also will be the regular Declaration of Peace vigil outside the Federal Building (corner of Exchange ST and Kennedy Plaza) at 4:30 pm on March 20th.