Recently Raed Jarrar visited Portland. Raed is an Iraqi
political analyst and a consultant for the American Friends
Service Committee Iraq Program based in Washington D.C.
He was recently in Portland and spoke at the Multnomah
Friends Meetinghouse at 4312 Stark Street.
Jarrar lived in Iraq during the international sanctions and
United States bombing campaigns which preceded the US
invasion and occupation. After the invasion, Jarrar became
the director for CIVIC Worldwide, a unique door-to-door
casualty survey group in post-war Iraq. He then established
Emaar, ("reconstruction" in Arabic), a grassroots organization
that provided humanitarian and political aid to Iraqi internally
displaced persons (IDPs). Emaar delivered medicine and food
as well as helped initiate micro-enterprise projects for IDPs.
Emaar also engaged in
political advocacy on behalf of displaced populations.
(scroll down for balance of article)
Tens of thousands of Sunni and Shiite Iraqis
demonstrated against the US-Iraqi agreement today. The demonstration
took place after a joint Sunni-Shiite Friday prayer.
The Iraqi people want this occupation to be over. They don't trust the
U.S. government, and they don't think signing a bi-lateral agreement
with it is a good idea.
First: respecting the interests of the
Iraqi people in the present and future,
.... you can
read the full text of the long term
occupation agreement here
...
raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/
This speaker at the downtown antiwar
rally this Sunday knows more than most
about Iraq. He lived there, so listen
up.
Like everyone you know, Raed Jarrar
has an opinion on Iraq. Unlike most
everyone else, he grew up there. Jarrar—an
outspoken antiwar activist who will
address the antiwar rally in Portland on
Sunday, March 18 (see page 8 for
details)—was born in Baghdad to a Sunni
father and Shiite mother. Like most of
the people Jarrar knew in Iraq, he left
the country after the U.S. invasion. He
wrote his master's thesis at the
University of Jordan on local methods of
reconstruction in postwar Iraq. A
29-year-old self-identified "secular
Muslim," Jarrar has been living in the
United States for the past two years,
working on a nonprofit venture to
connect Iraqi leadership with members of
the U.S. Congress. Jarrar spoke with
WW by phone from his home in
Washington, D.C.
read more »
and he
spoke here in Portland with Tim
Flanagan, for The Portland Alliance
by Tim Flanagan
Recently Raed Jarrar visited Portland. Raed is an Iraqi
political analyst and a consultant for the American Friends
Service Committee Iraq Program based in Washington D.C.
He was recently in Portland and spoke at the Multnomah
Friends Meetinghouse at 4312 Stark Street.
Jarrar lived in Iraq during the international sanctions and
United States bombing campaigns which preceded the US
invasion and occupation. After the invasion, Jarrar became
the director for CIVIC Worldwide, a unique door-to-door
casualty survey group in post-war Iraq. He then established
Emaar, ("reconstruction" in Arabic), a grassroots organization
that provided humanitarian and political aid to Iraqi internally
displaced persons (IDPs). Emaar delivered medicine and food
as well as helped initiate micro-enterprise projects for IDPs.
Emaar also engaged in
political advocacy on behalf of displaced populations.
When we spoke about what Raed calls the "American war in Iraq," he
wanted to
make it very clear that this is more a political and economic dispute
than it is
any sort of sectarian conflict. Until 2003 there were no
significant sectarian
divisions in Iraq. Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, Christians, and others
had been living
together and working together for centuries. Raed noted that the
US media
claim that this conflict is between Sunni and Shiite, is as ludicrous as
a claim
that the American Civil War involved differences between Protestants and
Catholics.
According to Raed, "There are two groups in Iraq who are in conflict:
Separatists
who seek to partition Iraq and Nationalists who want unity, freedom, and
a central
government. Unfortunately the United States is taking sides in this
dispute, and
they have sided with the Separatist minority. In spite of the
"elections" which
took place, the winners of the elections have been sidelined, while the
losers are
in control."
Raed feels that the primary cause of violence is foreign occupation.
Iraq has
existed as a nation for six to seven thousand years. But the
sectarian divisions
only surfaced in 2003 after the country was occupied. Most Iraqis
feel that an
end to the occupation will end the violence and allow the Iraqi people
to rebuild
and repair their nation which has been so unsettled by political and
economic
forces.
Those who claim that the sky will be falling if the United States
military leaves
Iraq are sadly mistaken. The sky is falling now because of the US
occupation.
One million dead and five million displaced persons are evidence that
this
occupation has no useful consequences and it is time for the US to
leave.
For more information, or to contact Raed, please call the Portland
office of
the American Friends Service Committee, 503-230-9427
or contact Kelly Campbell
Portland Area Peace Director
American Friends Service Committee
2249 E. Burnside
Portland, OR 97214
503-230-9427 kcampbell@afsc.org
http://www.afsc.org/portland
"The spread of evil is the symptom of a
vacuum. whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the
moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be
no compromise on basic principles."
Ayn Rand
Recently Raed Jarrar visited Portland. Raed is an Iraqi 
Willamette Week: Raed Jarrar
