VETERANS AND SURVIVORS MARCH FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE - FROM THE GULF COAST TO THE PERSIAN GULF

VETERANS AND SURVIVORS MARCH FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE

From Mobile to New Orleans March 14-19, 2006

FROM THE GULF COAST TO THE PERSIAN GULF

EVERY BOMB DROPPED ON IRAQ EXPLODES IN NEW ORLEANS

The shocking images of devastation in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina
and Rita may be fading from television news but the crisis on the Gulf
Coast is still with us. It's like the government's ban on film of
planes unloading flag-draped coffins at Dover Air Force Base--pictures
or no, US troops and Iraqis are still dying, day in and day out.

The corporate media hasn´t done much in depth reporting that shows the
connection between a multi-trillion dollar illegal war abroad and the
shameful failure of our government's moral, economic, and political
response to Katrina. Everyday people in this country, however, sense
that they are connected.

Military families and veterans of Iraq, Vietnam and other military
adventures, together with hurricane survivors, intend to make that
connection crystal clear on an epic march down Gulf Coast Highway 90,
heading into the heart of New Orleans on the third anniversary of the
war. The ongoing crisis on the Gulf Coast and the connection that Dr.
King made between the "giant triplets of racism, militarism and
economic exploitation" will be impossible to ignore.

At the call of the Mobile, Alabama chapter of Veterans For Peace,
members of VFP, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Vietnam Veterans
Against the War, Gold Star Families for Peace and Military Families
Speak Out will conduct, a six-day, 135-mile march from Mobile across
Mississippi to New Orleans. Thousands of hurricane survivors and
community residents along the route are expected to walk with us.

The marching veterans and military families aim to build relationships
with the surviving members of communities devastated by the
Katrina-Rita disaster. Our actions will proclaim our solidarity with
them, not only as acute victims of a "natural" disaster but also of
structural racism in the United States.

As we walk down the coastal highway, veterans who have ourselves been
the instruments of death and destruction abroad and who have become
witnesses against war as a matter of conscience, will speak out and
act as a conscience for the nation in a region of the deep South still
shaped by slavery, segregation and the monumental freedom struggles of
the 1960s.

For veterans this will be both a spiritual pilgrimage and a political action

We will demand real empowerment for Gulf Coast hurricane survivors and
for the Iraqi people.

We will demand the immediate withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq.
Bring Them Home Now! And as they come back, we demand decent health
care, employment, housing and education for them, including Depleted
Uranium testing and post-traumatic stress (PTSD) treatment.

We will demand that the US government provide funds for all Katrina
families to be reunited and returned to their homes. Bring Them Home
Now! And we demand that hurricane survivors have the right to plan
their future free from the dictates of the corporations and their
politician front men in Washington D.C. and on the state and local
level, too.

This march is a reminder to the leadership of the US, regardless of
party affiliation, that the majority of American people now oppose the
war. "Staying the course" while people continue to die and while
resources spent on an unjust and failed policy are desperately needed
on the Gulf Coast of the United States, is simply not acceptable.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN!

While the march itself will be made up mainly of veterans, Gold Star
and other military families, and hurricane survivors, all concerned
citizens are invited and encouraged to attend the final leg, heading
into a mass rally in New Orleans on March 19, the third anniversary of
the invasion of Iraq.

We need financial support to conduct this march, and we need it now.
To donate, go to www.ivaw.net or www.veteransforpeace.org and follow
the donation instructions. Note that your donation is for the "March
in March."