From: Casey's Mom
To:
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 12:58 PM
Subject: Please send far and wide
Please post and send to your lists...especially media contacts.
I will be in NYC and DC with these women the entire time.
Love and peace
Cindy Sheehan FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT:
March 1, 2006 Andrea Buffa 510-325-3653
Tony Newman 646-335-5384
Medea Benjamin 415-235-6517
Iraqi Women Make Rare Trip to the US for International Women's Day
Will speak with members of Congress, meet with Cindy Sheehan, and deliver an urgent call for peace to the UN and White House
Two delegation members whose families were killed by US troops were denied visas.
New York, NY – Seven Iraqi women will converge in New York on Sunday, March 5th to begin a speaking tour to educate Americans about the reality in Iraq and meet with UN and US officials to call for a peace plan to end the escalating spiral of violence. The delegation is a diverse group, including Shia, Sunni and Kurdish women - some secular, some religious. All have paid a very high price for the war and occupation of their country, and want to tell their stories to the American people. Unfortunately, two Iraqi women whose families were killed by US troops were denied visas to enter the US as part of the delegation.
"These women are not politicians, but ordinary Iraqis who are desperate to see an end to the violence and are taking great personal risk to come to the US," says Medea Benjamin, cofounder of the CODEPINK and Global Exchange, the two groups organizing the delegation. "It's a rare opportunity to hear from Iraqis themselves, and we hope that US officials will listen."
The delegation is promoting a Women's Call for Peace, signed by over 50,000 women from around the world. The Call for Peace requests the withdrawal of all foreign troops and foreign fighters from Iraq, negotiations to reincorporate disenfranchised Iraqis, full representation of women in the peacemaking process, and a commitment to women's equality in the post-war Iraq. This Call is part of a Women Say No to War campaign (
http://www.womensaynotowar.org) designed to bring women together across borders to demand an end to the bloodshed in Iraq.
Below are brief bios of the Iraqi women who'll be visiting the US as well as some highlighted events from their itinerary. To schedule an interview with any of the delegation members, contact Andrea Buffa at 510-325-3653, andrea@globalexchange.org.
HIGHLIGHTED EVENTS
•March 6, 12 Noon: In New York, the women will hold a press conference in front of the UN, and then march to the US Mission to the UN to deliver the Call for Peace.
•March 7, 11 AM: In Washington, DC, the delegation will join with US women, including Iraq veterans and Gold Star mothers Cindy Sheehan and Elaine Johnson, to meet with members of Congress.
•March 8, International Women's Day, 12 Noon: In Washington DC, Iraqi and US women will march from the Iraqi Embassy to the White House to deliver the Women's Call for Peace. On the same day, women in a dozen other countries will deliver the Call for Peace to US embassies around the world.
IRAQI WOMEN'S DELEGATION BIOS
Nadje Al-Ali is a writer/researcher specializing in women in the Middle East. She is a founding member of Act Together: Women's Action on Iraq and mother of a 3-year-old daughter.
Faiza Al-Araji is a civil engineer, blogger (afamilyinbaghdad.blogspot.com), religious Shia with a Sunni husband, and mother of three. After one son was recently held as a political prisoner by the Ministry of the Interior, the family fled to Jordan.
Souad Al-Jazairy is a writer, journalist and TV producer. Souad is a very active member in the Iraqi Women's League.
Eman Ahmad Khamas is a human rights advocate who has documented abuses by the US military in Iraq. She is a member of Women's Will, and is married with two daughters.
Dr Entisar Mohammad Ariabi, a pharmacist at the Yarmook Teaching Hospital in Baghdad, has documented the deteriorating health system. She is married with five children.
Dr. Rashad Zidan, a pharmacist, works in Baghdad and Fallujah with the Women and Knowledge Society to aid victims of war, especially orphans.
Sureya Sayadi, a Kurdish woman born in Kirkuk, is an activist for human rights in the Middle East, particularly for the Kurdish people. She now lives in the United States, but her family is dispersed in Iraq, Iran and Turkey,
THE FOLLOWING WOMEN WERE DENIED VISAS BY THE US STATE DEPARTMENT
Vivian Salim Mati is a widow who lost her husband and three children when they were fired on by U.S. tank fire as they attempted to flee the bombing of their neighborhood in Baghdad in April 2003.
Kadhim Jawad (Anwar) is a widow whose husband and three children were killed by US soldiers at an unmarked checkpoint.
*****************************************************************
After Killing Families, U.S. Bars Iraqi Women from Visiting
by Brendan Coyne
Feb. 17 – Earlier this month, the US State Department denied the visa applications of two Iraqi women who intended to participate in a speaking tour of the United States. Both women say that US troops killed their families. They were slated to travel with other women activists opposed to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
In denying the visas earlier this month, the US Embassy in Amman, Jordan said it could not guarantee that the Iraqi women, Vivian Salim Mati and Anwar Kadhim Jawad, would return to Iraq after their visit, according to the anti-war organizers coordinating the circuit.
In a joint statement, Global Exchange and Code Pink said that according to the embassy, the women's applications were denied because they supposedly do not have enough family members in Iraq to ensure their return. The women were informed of the embassy decision on February 4, after traveling to Amman from Baghdad to apply for the visas, the organizations said.
"It's appalling that the US military killed these women's families and then the US government rejects their visas on the grounds that they have no family to return to in Iraq," Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin said. "These women have no desire to stay in the United States. We had a very hard time convincing them to come, but we told them how important it would be for their stories to be heard by Americans."
The groups were planning to host speaking engagements for the women in New York City and Washington, DC, in addition to helping them meet with legislators and journalists. The groups are urging people to contact the State Department and demand that the visas be granted.
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