Occupation Watch about Iraq.

Here is a site about the USA and England in Iraq. Should we be there now or leave? I got this from a Democrat web site.

http://www.occupationwatch.org/

Next week they'll have more information about taking volunteers. I think this is laudable, admirable and should be supported/encouraged by all of us!

Hope those who can will donate to this worthy cause because these guys are struggling financially but determined to expose what's really going on!


Peace

On edit: About Us

About Us


Cognizant of the current lack of information about Iraq and knowing that Iraq will receive increasingly less attention as media sources abandon the country for the newest “hot spot,” an international coalition of peace and justice groups is organizing the Baghdad-based International Occupation Watch Center. The Center will function under the auspices of United for Peace and Justice (www.unitedforpeace.org), a U.S. anti-war coalition with more than 600 member groups, with participation from a diversity of international groups including Focus on the Global South, Iraqi Democrats Against Occupation, and members of the World Social Forum.

The Center will:

• Monitor the role of foreign companies in Iraq and advocate for the Iraqis’ right to control their own resources, especially oil;

• Act as a watchdog regarding the military occupation and U.S.-appointed government, including possible violations of human rights, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly;

• Research the dynamics, programs, and composition of the Iraqi movement to resist occupation in order to provide a more comprehensive picture to the international community;

• Support the creation of independent Iraqi organizations, such as media and environmental groups;

• Examine any changes in the rights and freedoms of Iraqi women and support local Iraqi efforts to promote women’s rights;

• Monitor the relationship between U.S. corporations/subcontractors and Iraqi workers and support the formation of independent trade unions;

• Track the international community’s financial commitments to rebuilding Iraq and hold the responsible parties accountable for those commitments;

• Monitor the physical impact of the U.S. invasion, including civilian casualties, the Iraqis’ ability to have access to the basic necessities of food, water and shelter, and the effects of depleted uranium and cluster bombs on the population and the environment;

• Regularly provide reliable information to the outside world.

Advisory Board Members - June 2003

Rev. Patty Ackerman, Fellowship of Reconciliation

Sami AlBanna, writer, systems and knowledge architect

Rafael Alegria, president, Via Campesino

Tariq Ali, author

Sinan Antoon, writer, professor, Dartmouth College

Walden Bello, Director, Focus on the Global South

Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange/United for Peace and Justice

Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies

Gene Bruskin, US Labor Against War

Leslie Cagan, United for Peace and Justice

Bernard Cassen, Director, Le Monde Diplomatique

Nahla Chahal, International Civilian Campaign for the Protection of the Palestinian People

Munir Chalabi, Iraqi Democrats Against Occupation

Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch

Jodie Evans, Code Pink: Women for Peace

Assaf Kfoury, professor, Boston University

Kamil Mahdi, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, England

Rania Masri, Iraq Action Coalition

Maria Luisa Mendonça, Organizing Committee, World Social Forum

Martha Mundy, professor, London School of Economics

Kevin Murray, Grassroots International

Milan Rai, author, War Plan Iraq

Adbul Amir Rakaby, Iraqi Democratic Opposition Current

Omeyya Seddik, Commission for an Arab Gathering of Global Resistance (C-RARG)

Anas Shallal, Iraqi Americans for Peaceful Alternatives USA

http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=4