2013-03-18 "Living Graveyard and vigil" (Oakland)

Monday, 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Oakland Federal Building [1301 Clay Street, two blocks from 12th Street BART]

Covered with sheets to represent the dead of the war of occupation on Iraq, people lie down on the city sidewalk in front of the Federal Building, This is legal, non-violent witness.  People stop, look and think.
Participants lie at least three feet apart and do not block entry to the building.The names of some of the Californians who have died in Iraq and the names of some of the Iraqi dead will be read.  A gong is sounded after each name.   People will hand out flyers, as we do each week at the Tuesday noon vigil.
Please bring a white sheet to cover yourself with.  A pad to lie on is recommended.
sponsors include:
Berkeley Women in Black • East Bay Coalition to Support Self-Rule for Iraqis • Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace and Justice • Peace & Freedom Party • BFUU Social Justice Committee • Gray Panthers • Mustardseed Affinity Group • Father Bill Social Justice Committee, St Joseph Church • Middle East Children’s Alliance • Trinity United Methodist Church • East Bay Peace Action • Southern Alameda County Peace & Justice Coalition • Ecumenical Peace Institute, www.epicalc.org, (510) 655-1162  
* Iraqi Civilian Deaths: 1,690,816
* U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq: 4,486  
* Coalition Military Deaths in Iraq: 4,804
* Afghan & Pakistani Civilian Deaths: 2 million plus
* U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan: 2,187
* Coalition Military Deaths in Afghanistan: 3,267
"Former UN Weapons Inspector: Don’t Repeat in Iran the ‘Tragic and Terrible’ Mistakes of Iraq; 10 years after Iraq invasion, Hans Blix warns against those pushing false arguments for attacking Iran" article from "Common Dreams":
As the ten year anniversary of the US-led invasion on Iraq approaches, the former UN weapons inspector from Norway Hans Blix said this week that world powers should heed history’s lessons by not repeating the same mistakes with Iran.  “Memories of the failure and tragic mistakes in Iraq are not taken sufficiently seriously,” the 82-year-old Blix told a group of reporters in Dubai.
“In the case of Iraq, there was an attempt made by some states to eradicate weapons of mass destruction that did not exist, and today there is talk of going on Iran to eradicate intentions that may not exist,” he said. “I hope that will not happen.”  Blix was the chief of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission that led the UN weapons inspection team in Iraq from March 2000 to June 2003, charged with finding evidence of Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction. Such weapons, of course, were never found.
 “So far Iran has not violated NPT (the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) and there is no evidence right now that suggests that Iran is producing nuclear weapons,” Blix said about the current events surrounding Iran.