Whitworth University is bringing Condoleezza Rice as part of their President’s Leadership Forum on Thursday, October 9th at the Convention Center. PJALS is working with Vets for Peace, IWW and Occupy Spokane to organize a nonviolent protest outside of her event. Gather at 11:00 am at the Community Building, 35 W. Main, to march together to the Convention Center. Our plans include giant heads, street theater, leafletting, and more.
Invite your friends on fb to join PJALS, Veterans for Peace, Occupy Spokane, and IWW to protest and tell the truth about Condi’s record here. Invite your friends to our Peacekeeper Training on Wed 10/1, 5:30 – 8p, here. Invite your friends to our sign-making party on Thurs 10/2, 5:30 – 7p, here.
Download a pdf turnout flier here!
There are so many reasons to oppose Rice’s visit to Spokane and with military escalations in Iraq it has become very timely. While current military decisions are Obama’s, we must not forget the lies from the Bush administration used to justify the illegal Iraq war. Among the 935 false statements from the Bush administration following 9/11, 56 came directly from Rice.
Here are a few links regarding these false statements and the many costs of the Iraq war:
Costs of the Iraq War, human, economic, social, and political: http://costsofwar.org/
False statements: http://www.publicintegrity.org/2008/01/23/5641/false-pretenses
Searchable database: http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/06/24/14969/search-935-iraq-war-false-statements
Misguided honor: http://consortiumnews.com/2014/04/03/misguided-honor-for-condi-rice/
More resources on Condoleezza Rice’s false statements and record:
On Torture:
In Consortium News April 2014
Coleen Rowley is a retired FBI agent and former Minneapolis Division legal counsel who writes on ethical and legal issues. Todd E. Pierce retired as a Major in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps in 2012. http://consortiumnews.com/2014/04/03/misguided-honor-for-condi-rice/
“By extending this invitation, Michigan University has condoned Dr. Rice’s authorization of so-called ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ and her using the threat of a mushroom cloud to push the United States into war with Iraq”
“Condoleezza Rice convened dozens of top secret meetings of the National Security Council’s ‘Principals Committee’ (whose members also included Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, George Tenet and John Ashcroft). The ‘Principals’ planned and approved the use of various tortures, even choreographing some, to include near drowning (waterboarding), sleep deprivation, physical assault, subjection to extremely cold temperatures to cause hypothermia and use of stress positions.”
Rice, speaking at the University of Cairo, June, 2005:
“For 60 years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region, here in the Middle East, and we achieved neither.” Condoleezza Rice
May, 2008 at briefing with Icelandic Foreign Minister Ingibjorg Gisladottir, from Reuters News:
After revelations of waterboarding, sleep depravation, prolonged exposure to cold, stress positions and other forms of torture, Rice said to Icelandic Foreign Minister Ingibjorg Gisladottir in Reykajavik,
“I strongly object to the notion that there are human rights violations at Guantanamo.”
The Telegraph, UK Condoleezza Rice approved ‘torture’ techniques
Condoleezza Rice, President George W. Bush’s Secretary of State, personally approved a CIA request to use “waterboarding” and other harsh interrogation techniques.
Personally approved waterboarding in Guantanamo, specifically against Abu Zubaydah in 2002.
In interview with Michael Wilkerson, April 2009
Wilkerson: We tortured [prisoners] in Guantanamo Bay.
Rice: “…You’re wrong. We did not torture anyone.”
At Stanford University: When asked whether waterboarding is torture – if the president does it, it isn’t illegal:
“I just said — the United States was told, we were told, nothing that violates our obligations under the Convention Against Torture. And so, by definition, if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the Conventions Against Torture.”
At Stanford University, April 2009, deflecting blame:
“I didn’t authorize anything. I conveyed the authorization of the administration to the agency, that they had policy authorization, subject to the Justice Department’s clearance. That’s what I did.”
On Iraq:
Impact on Iraqis: Civilians Killed
There have been at least 133,000 civilians killed by direct violence since the invasion. The actual number is unknown but likely much higher.
Impact on Iraqis: Refugees
Approximately 2.8 million Iraqis, out of a population of 34 million, are displaced internally or into neighboring states.
Impact on US troops:
Over 6,800 US troops have died, as have at least 6,780 contractors. 875,000 disability claims have been approved with the VA through 2013.
From Juan Cole, May, 2014
Dr. Rice is a war criminal in international law. She played a key role in launching a war that contravenes the United Nations charter, which requires that use of force against another country come either in self-defense after an attack or be authorized by the United Nations Security Council (as was the case with the Gulf War, Afghanistan and Libya)
The Daily Texan March 2013
Two days before the 10th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, a conflict that resulted in the deaths of 4,488 U.S. soldiers and thousands of civilians, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed her support for the war and the ouster of former President Saddam Hussein.
Representative Robert Wexler, Feb 2008
During my questioning, Secretary Rice falsely stated that she never saw intelligence casting doubt on the Bush Administration claims that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction. This unbelievable statement is flatly contradicted by numerous government reports and CIA testimonials.