U.S. Peace Activists, Iraqi Parlimentarians Promote Timetable to End America's Occupation of Iraq

Interview with Medea Benjamin, cofounder of Code Pink Women for Peace and Global Exchange, conducted by Scott Harris

Since before the Bush administration invaded Iraq in March 2003, the U.S. peace movement has staged some of the nation's largest anti-war demonstrations. Large and small protests have continued across America throughout the last three years of the war. Last summer, Cindy Sheehan, mother of slain U.S. soldier Casey Sheehan, broke though a virtual media blackout on the peace movement when she camped out in front of President Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch demanding to know, for what noble cause her son died in Iraq.

On July 4th this year, a number of peace activists, including Cindy Sheehan, began a hunger strike in front of the White House demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. After 28 days of fasting, leading members of the Iraqi Parliament invited the fasters to join them in Jordan to discuss their peace and reconciliation plan. In early August, eight hunger strikers traveled to Amman, Jordan to meet with these Iraqi MPs and break their fast.

In Jordan, the group which included Cindy Sheehan, former California state Sen. Tom Hayden and Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink Women for Peace, met with official representatives of the Shiite governing coalition, the minority Sunni bloc, the anti-occupation Muslim Scholars Association, parliamentarians and torture victims from Abu Ghraib prison. The peace activists and the Iraqis agreed at the meeting to promote a specific timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Medea Benjamin, who describes the results of the meeting in Jordan.

Contact Code Pink by calling (310) 827-4320 or visit their website at www.codepinkalert.org

Related links:

* Global Exchange at www.globalexchange.org

* Voters for Peace at www.votersforpeace.us

* United for Peace and Justice at www.unitedforpeace.org

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