For Immediate Release
Veterans For Peace:
http://www.veteransforpeace.org
NEWS ADVISORY, July 26, 2005
CONTACT:
Michael T. McPhearson: 973 271-7459
David Cline: 201 876-0430
Veterans Converge on Dallas to Celebrate 20 Years of Waging Peace and to Say,
"No To War."
Who: Veterans For Peace, a national organization of military veterans including
men and women from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, the Iraq War,
other conflicts and peacetime, chartered in 1985.
What: 2005 Veterans For Peace National Convention, at the University of Dallas
in Texas, August 4th -7th
Why: To celebrate 20 Years of Waging Peace and to give Real Support for The
Troops, by demanding Bring Them Home Now and Take Care of Them When They Get
Here. Each year Veterans For Peace holds a national convention to examine
current world conflicts, the U.S. government's role in these conflicts and ways
to address ending war as a means to solve conflicts.
This year Veterans For Peace, founded in 1985, has an ambitious program to
celebrate 20 Years of Waging Peace, to Remember the 60th anniversary of the
bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and the men and women who fought and died in
World War II and to discuss strategies and techniques to counter militarism and
war. There will be a focus on the war in Iraq: what's really happening to our
troops and the people of Iraq, holding the Bush administration accountable for
lying to the nation to take us to war and examining the structural causes of
war.
Featured speakers include: Jim Hightower, Texas native national radio
commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the New York Times best
seller, Thieves In High Places: They've Stolen Our Country And It's Time to Take
It Back. Journalist Dahr Jamail spent several months "un-embedded" reporting on
the war in Iraq. His dispatches are widely recognized as an important resource
for learning the truth about events in Iraq. He is now writing for the Inter
Press Service, The Asia Times and many other out-lets. Professor Satoru Konishi
is a nuclear bomb survivor or hibakusha, from Japan. Born in 1929, he was 16
years old when the A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Coleen Rowley is the
well-known FBI agent and lawyer who in May 2002 criticized the agency for
ignoring evidence before 9-11 that hinted of an impending attack. Cindy Sheehan
a member of Military Families Speak Out <www.mfso.org>, and a founding member of
Gold Star Families for Peace. Her son Casey, a U.S. soldier, was killed in Iraq
on April 4, 2004. Since April, Cindy has traveled all over the country telling
Casey's story. Mike Hoffman, former Marine Corporal and co-founder of Iraq
Veterans Against the War. As a Marine Corporal, Mike deployed with his unit to
Iraq in February 2003. He fought in both Tikrit and Baghdad. Though he had his
doubts about the war from the start, he saw going to Iraq as a matter of
professionalism and loyalty. But it soon became clear to him that the US
occupation was doing more harm than good--to both Iraqis and Americans. Camilo
Mejia was sentenced to a year in military prison in May 2004 for refusing to
return to the war in Iraq after being home on leave. He is the first Iraq war
veteran to file for discharge from the army as a conscientious objector. "By
putting my weapon down, I chose to reassert myself as a human being." Released
in February 2005, he has been speaking out ever since.
Veterans For Peace is a national organization founded in 1985. It is structured
around a national office in Saint Louis, MO and comprised of members across the
country organized in chapters or as at-large members. The organization includes
men and women veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, other
conflicts and "peacetime" veterans. Our collective experience tells us wars are
easy to start and hard to stop and that those hurt are often the innocent. Thus,
other means of problem solving are necessary.
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Veterans For Peace: http://www.veteransforpeace.org/