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Medea Benjamin Disrupts Iraqi PM Speech
by messenger
Monday, Jul. 31, 2006 at 9:12 AM
Medea broke into a chant saying:
"Iraqis want the troops to leave,
bring them home now!
Listen to the Iraqis!"
as she was handcuffed, carried out, and arrested during Prime Minister Maliki's speech to Congress last week. It was shown on the popular, politically poignant "Daily Show".
"After witnessing Benjamin’s disruption, Maxine Waters, member of Congress and chair of the Out of Iraq Caucus, stated, “We are going to witness more and more public outrage as the violence in Iraq escalates in this ongoing occupation.”"
"A recent World Public Poll shows that 87% of Iraqis want a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq."
She has been on a hunger strike with Code Pink and several other organizations such as Goldstar Mothers since the 4th of July in front of the White House each day.
"After being rebuffed in our numerous attempts to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, including setting up "Camp Al-Maliki" across from the Iraqi Embassy and publishing an open letter to him in one of the largest Iraqi newspapers, we received an amazing invitation: Five members of the Iraqi Parliament who are working on a Reconciliation Plan to end the violence in their country contacted us. Moved by the commitment of the long-term fasters and dismayed by their prime minister’s refusal to meet with us, these parliamentarians asked us to join them in Amman, Jordan next week to discuss their Reconciliation Plan, on condition that we break our long-term fast with them!"
"This marks a big turning point in the fast, yet we know that we have a long way to go towards bringing the 140,000 US servicemen and women home from Iraq. We strongly encourage our local fasters to continue to do weekly or ongoing fasts, and to make your fasts public by holding actions outside Congressional offices and calling the media."
Also, "Thursday, July 27, two hunger strikers, Gael Murphy and Eve Tetaz, interrupted the long overdue Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on John Bolton’s nomination as US Ambassador to the U.N. They wore t-shirts saying “No Bolton” and urged Senators to reject Bolton as the worst possible choice for the job and for world peace."
These brave and selfless women have been very active of late, and the corporate news giants CBS and CNN even had video of the speech disruption.
Click the link below for more:
http://www.codepinkalert.org//article.php?id=1127
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