WHAT:
Invest in Peace, Not War
- Peace, Jobs, Health, Environment . . . one agenda
- Rally to mark the 8th Anniversary of Iraq Invasion
WHEN:
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. Sunday
March 20
WHERE:
Court House Square
North East Corner of Main & Limestone
Lexington
Click here for a map to Court House Square.
Click here to view the event flyer. Please spread the word - print & post it.
DETAILS:
Rally with us! Bring your signs. Join us 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. on Saturday Third Street Stuff (257 N Limestone) for a sign making party. Join us Sunday for speakers and music. Help us call for an end to the wars that were a major part of the misguided and cynical policies that have wrecked our economy.
On this, the eighth anniversary of the illegal U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, we will be calling for a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops and contractors from BOTH Iraq and Afghanistan. We call for an end to these counterproductive and seemingly endless wars. According to Nobel prize winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz the cost of these wars will reach an incredible $3 trillion once all the costs are in. The cost in Afghan, American, and Iraqi lives is beyond words.
We call for our nation to reduce it's spending on war. We call for our leaders to stop the current wars AND drastically cut our spending on preparation for war. Why must we spend more on war and preparing for war than all the other nations on earth combined? Why must we have over 400 military bases in 38 countries? Why must we have huge bases and tens of thousands of troops based in Japan and Germany 67 years after the end of World War II and over 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Who is the potential enemy that requires all these troops, all these bases, and all these tanks, planes, and carriers? The simple truth is that we have no enemy who even has a tiny fraction of the military power we possess. When will we find the courage to stand up and say it's time to stop wasting all of this blood and treasure. Who dares say the emperor has no clothes?
The money we will save by ending these wars and reducing the amount we spend preparing for war can be invested in ourselves. If we invest in Peace, there will be promises we can keep:
First we have must keep our promises to to the men and women who we so recklessly sent into harm's way. We must tend to their wounds, both physical and mental.
Second we must invest in ourselves. This next generation that must be better educated. All of us must be in better health. We must fully commit to the basic principle that everyone has health care that both prevents and treats disease. We must re-weave the safety that protects the poor among us. We must repair our damaged planet and build a sustainable economy.
There is work to do. Let's take the money we've been spending on war, use some of it to pay our debts, but let's use the rest of it to invest in our nations. We have work to do. Let's employ one another to do it. Our foremothers gave us a nation that was better than they found it. In order to do the same to our children, we too must invest in ourselves. Peace makes sense for America. By committing ourselves to peace, we will save trillions of dollars, that we can invest in one another.
SPONSOR:
Central Kentucky Council for Peace & Justice
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
(859) 327-6277