Portlanders to Protest 7 Years
Since Iraq Invasion with Rally, March, and Teach-In
Saturday, March 20, 2010

Student feeder march at 11:00am, PSU Park Blocks
12:00 Noon: Rally at Terry Schrunk Plaza, SW 3^rd and Madison
1:00 pm: Teach-in at First Unitarian Church

Iraq, Seven Years Later:
Change US Foreign Policy-Bring All the Troops Home!

With the uncertain outcome of the March 7 elections continuing to delay the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq, Portlanders are gearing up to protest the ongoing presence of the US military and contractors on the anniversary of the 2003 invasion.

The themes addressed throughout the day will include the expansion of US military presence and US support for military occupations throughout the Middle East:

• End the Occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine
• Stop the Expanding Attacks in the Middle East: No Drone Strikes in Pakistan
• No War on Iran
• US Out of Latin America

Poll: 46% of Israeli high-schoolers don't want equality for Arabs

Some 81% of religious students said they would refuse to evacuate settlements, versus 36% of secular counterparts. Every second student is opposed to granting right to vote to Arabs, and 32% don't want Arab friends

Racism and refusal to evacuate alongside support for a democratic system of government – these are the jumbled sentiment of Israel's high school students, according to a recent poll.
 
They support a democratic form of government, but more than half of them believe that Arabs should not be allowed to vote in Knesset elections. One out of every six students would not want to study in the same class with an Ethiopian or an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, and 21% of them think that "Death to Arabs" is a legitimate expression. 

The Netanyahu insult to Joe Biden is the greatest thing that ever happened. It has woken a lot of people up, maybe including Joe Biden, who is streetsmart, and will allow the mainstream press in the US to finally question the special relationship and what it is doing to the American interest. You say I’m smoking something. Here is Laura Rozen at Politico:

People who heard what Biden said [to Netanyahu behind closed doors] were stunned. “This is starting to get dangerous for us,” Biden castigated his interlocutors. “What you’re doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That endangers us and it endangers regional peace.”

The vice president told his Israeli hosts that since many people in the Muslim world perceived a connection between Israel’s actions and US policy, any decision about construction that undermines Palestinian rights in East Jerusalem could have an impact on the personal safety of American troops fighting against Islamic terrorism.

Fox News gets the story here: Biden trip is filled with snubs, cold shoulders and mishaps. Foxman likens Biden to Mearsheimer and Walt. Exactly. Mearsheimer and Walt were right. This is not in our interest to be supporting ethnic cleansing!