By Rae Abileah, CODEPINK Local Group Coordinator
	Here are photos from our excursion to the beach this morning. We watched the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean. Entisar said that the photo of the back of her head looking out at the sea makes her think of hope, a brighter future.

By Rae Abileah, CODEPINK Local Group Coordinator
	Tonight Entisar spoke at St. Maurice Catholic Church in Ft. Lauderdale. This emotional and intimate talk and the question and answer dialogue that followed were excellent. Below is a basic transcript of what Entisar said at this talk. At the end of the event we screened the CODEPINK DVD. Everyone was interested to learn more about getting involved with CODEPINKand taking action in an effective way to stop the war. CODEPINK South Florida brought refreshments served on pink dishes.
	One man in attendance at this event was Mo Dagstani, who heard about our events in Tampa after they happened and was so disappointed that he didn’t get to hear Entisar speak in his town, that he got in his car and drove South 4 hours to hear her speak in Ft. Lauderdale. He is staying in South Florida for the weekend and attending the peace rallies with us. He is an Iraqi from Baghdad and was very grateful to meet and talk with Entisar. Pictured here are Mo, Entisar, and Aseel.
EXCERPT FROM ENTISAR'S TALK: Peace upon you. I came from Baghdad, the heart of the action. The reason I came to the US was because I watched on the TV what President Bush was telling the American people about democracy, freedom, security, and the help that is being given to the Iraqi people, I couldn't believe the lies. So I decided to take the risk to come to the US and share with you what's really going on. A lot of newspapers ask me what my political affiliation is and I tell them that I don't have a political affiliation. I am a human being only. I work at Yamook Hospital. The number of dead and wounded is increasing every day. I walk into the emergency room and I see these beautiful human beings that G-d has created with so much effort, and it took only one shot-women, children, husbands, sons, dead, limbs gone, part of body blown up. I stand there and I feel helpless. In the operation room there isn't anesthesia, sterilizing agents, feeding tubes for babies. Most of the top specialist physicians have left the country because they can be killed. When we have injuries that need a specialist, we have to send the injured person in an ambulance to another hospital. There is a huge risk that while en route to the other hospital, the person will either be shot at or the journey will take too long because of road blocks and the person will die. In my hospital there are two refrigerators for dead bodies and this is not enough anymore. The only contribution that the American troops have made to our hospital is to give us another refrigerator for bodies. In Baghdad alone we receive about 1,600 dead people a month. For each dead person, there are 10 injured people from the same incident, making 16,000 injured a month. For each of these patients, their chances of survival are very slim because we don't have the equipment to help them or the sterilizing agents to keep out infection. No one expected that the American invasion would be this bad. We watch TV and we see the American lifestyle-we admire it, we see how in the court system each person gets a representative, the rights of humans are well protected, that's what we wished for. Just in my own neighborhood, in the middle of the night several Hummers came into the street, shot at the houses, kicked the door in, took the men, put black bags on their heads, and left, leaving screaming women in the doorways. The women were left in a miserable condition with destroyed houses. They were in tears, having no idea why their husbands and sons were taken, especially since in one case the son had just been married the day before. I visited some of the cities that were under heavy air attacks from US troops, like Haditha and Al-Quaem. The hospitals, schools, courthouse, and even the children's playgrounds were all bombed. It looks like a bad earthquake has hit the area-everything is destroyed. In Haditha Hospital all the areas where medicine were kept were blown up. We tried to talk to the doctors but they had been beaten up and refused to talk. Only one doctor dared talk with us. After interviewing him we asked him why he was beat up, and he said that he was accused of treating the resistance. He told them that he was a doctor and treated whoever was in need, they didn't listen. President Bush claims that he wants to liberate Iraqi women. I can tell you from my experience as a woman, and I lived under the awful Saddam regime, which I must stress was horrible, and I am not a political person, I am a doctor and a mother, but I want to tell you what I experienced. Everyone has the right to an education and to college. I have five kids. Every time I had a baby, I had by law a year of paid maternity leave with my child-that was my right as a woman and a mother. I could wear anything I wanted, covered or not as I chose. I had my own pharmacy and I could close up shop as late as I chose. I could take my kids anywhere anytime-shopping, to the institute to learn German, French, English, etc. Two months after the invasion, I had to close down my pharmacy because I saw a person shot in front of my building. I can't take my family anywhere. By 5 pm we have to be home because the militias are everywhere and it is not safe. We only get 1 hour of electricity a day. Random arrests are all over the place with no excuse and no one claiming responsibility-there is no way to find out where people go. In the prisons women are being exposed to rape and assault. One woman I spoke to had been raped so many times that she asked the local religious leader for permission to kill herself because she feels violated every time she walks in the streets. The rape and the assault and the psychological war is terrible. Soldiers go into a house and demand to know where the man is, when the women say they don't know, the soldiers torture the women with dogs. In our society it is very bad for women to be arrested. Men will turn themselves in just to free their women. Please don't believe the new election-it's all phony. This new government doesn't have the right to govern anything. It's the ambassador that has control. Women were encouraged to work and go out. Now we have a fundamentalist government that extremely limits women's rights. There are death squads today in Iraq that come in the middle of the night and round up 60-70 men at night. There are no records of where they are. Months later they are found tortured. When you look at the way these bodies have been treated and abused, you would never believe a human being could do this. It looks like they have drilled into the bodies. They have iron burn marks. One eye witness who left the prison said that there was a 5 kilo weight on a man's private parts for 3 years. This is the democracy that Bush is speaking of today. And he says that this is going to be a model for the Middle East. The democracy among the Iraqis today is defined as the killing, kidnapping, random arrests, theft, opening the borders to all kinds of militias, bombing, unclean water, no electricity. When I came on the plane from DC to Alabama, at the airport I got a special treatment because of my Iraqi passport. I had sadness on my face and Rae said, please don't be sad… I said, no, I think each country should have strict security. I wish that we had such security, and that the US troops did not invade with all their weapons, leaving all our borders open. These are some stories about what is going on in Iraq today-there are so many more to tell. It's so nice that since I've been in this country I can sleep at night, but while I sleep I wake up in the middle of the night screaming or crying because of the effects of the war zone I've been living in. It's also very nice to wake up in the morning to the birds singing and the trees and the wind. I miss that. We've been waking up to the sound of gun shots and airplanes and sirens. Q and A What do you want to happen now? The longer the American troops stay, the more they're going to promote violence. I see no hope unless the Americans leave. For what reason do you feel that this violence has been perpetrated on your country? Before the invasion, there was a government and the government was protecting the borders, there was security, there were police. Now anyone that wants to harm the US or the Iraqis comes to harm us. The longer the US army stays, the more the resistance will intensify. The world knows that Bush created lies to go to Iraq and take over the oil. Everyone in the middle east said that they knew that the interest the US has in Iraq is the oil, but people were so desperate to unseat Saddam, that they welcomed the US with the idea that things would get better. Are there local women's organizations there that promote women's rights? There aren't any specific organizations. If you need medicine, you can go to the hospital, but it's rare that they have anything. As an alternative, you can buy medicine for high prices on the black market. There is a neighborhood treatment center for light injuries. What about nutrition, food? Food is rare as well. We depend on some humanitarian organizations from Spain and Germany. Where do you get the strength to survive, physically and spiritually? Every human being is given this power from G-d. Iraq today has turned into hell. Anyone who goes there will be burned. Since I've been in the US I feel hope-people connecting with me and believing in this cause. My only hope is for people to speak out and get the troops out.

By Rae Abileah, CODEPINK Local Group Coordinator
	Entisar addresses the rally.
	Aseel is wearing a pink motorcycle helmet that was donated to CODEPINK after Entisar’s speaking event in St. Petersburg!
	Entisar's profile, taken by Al Russell.
	South Florida CODEPINK co-organizer Hillary poses with a peace sign.
Rally in West Palm Beach South Florida peace and justice groups organized a march and rally in West Palm Beach, a very affluent community not known for anti-war demonstrations, to highlight the continued violence in Iraq on the third anniversary of the occupation. The rally was held in the median green between two very busy streets. In the heat of midday, the Raging Grannies gathered to sing and cheer, and Entisar spoke about life under occupation, not as a politician, but as a doctor and as a mother. Entisar was interviewed by several newspapers and other media outlets. During the march, some people on the streets cheered and others jeered; it was clear how divided the area was over the issue of a troop withdrawal. One police officer got on the loud speaker of his police car and shouted “The occupation! The terror!” and later said Shokran, thank you, to Entisar and Aseel for being present at the rally. I have never met such a supportive cop. He told us later that as an Arab he feels responsible for educating the police force about Islam, and protecting the rights of Arabs in these times of heightened discrimination and bigotry. The demonstration also featured coffins covered in American flags, graves reading “How many more?” and a variety of pickets and signs.

By Debra Penna-Fredericks

I wanted to send you an update about Dr. Rashad's visit to St. Louis, MO. We wound up having a very busy visit, which is good. Many people heard her speak and I think they listened with their hearts. She is very good and reaches people in ways we could not reach them. Dr. Rashad arrived in St. Louis Saturday evening, which gave us a few hours to get to know one another before we retired for the night. She has been staying with my husband, Mark Fredericks, and myself, while she is here. The first evening, my co-coordinator, Laural was also here visiting. On Sunday morning, Dr. Rashad attended St. Louis Religious Society of Friends Meeting (Quakers) with me. After the meeting, she showed a video presentation about the war during potluck. She was well received by the Quakers who are one of the organizations donating funds to bring her to St. Louis. Immediately after Meeting, we went to events for a peace march and rally commemorating the 3rd anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. First, we went to the History Museum, where Dr. Rashad said some words of inspiration to a group of women who had gathered to march to the main rally. We also collected some food brought by the marchers which was donated for the people whose hunger was caused by the money that has been spent on the war. (There were marches made up of different groups of people gathered in many locations, all heading toward the rally.) After cheering on the women, Dr. Rashad and I went to the location of the main rally so we could unload our car and watch the marchers come in. The rally was located at the World's Fair Pavilion in Forest Park in St. Louis City. Around 2pm, we began to see the women marchers, then the children and family marchers, then the student marchers, then the faith group marchers, then the artists marchers all come pouring into the rally site. By the time everybody gathered, there were over 900 people. Given that it was a very cold day and an outdoor venue, that was a good crowd. There were many talks given that day. The focus of the day was the cost of the war. We looked at the jobs that were lost, the homelessness, the effects on the soldiers, and so on. Dr. Rashad was the feature speaker for the event. The crowd found her to be very moving. Today, we were up very early. Dr. Rashad was supposed to have an interview with a radio station in New York, but when they called, they thought they were going to interview someone else. They did not know about her. We got going a little late and I had to have them call my cell phone. Unfortunately, they also called a little late and so we had to go into the building with the radio station where Dr. Rashad was doing the live interview by the time they called. My cell phone cut off when we entered the building and would not work again. I think it was just the building. They only had her for a couple of minutes. We had a live radio interview at 7am central time on radio station WGNU 920 am. It went very well. The host, Lizz Brown, was very moved by Dr. Rashad, and she wanted to get copies of the pictures for herself. She looked at them during breaks and it really moved her. She is a very dynamic woman and well connected. A good show to have had her on! The show lasted for an hour. Immediately after the show, we went to a class in Edwardsville, IL. This is a class on Modern Middle Eastern History taught by Steve Tamari at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. It was a good class to have attended. There was a real mix of students in the class, including some soldiers. One of the soldiers asked a couple of challenging questions, including whether Dr. Rashad's point of view could be trusted when she was brought here by such a "fringe left wing group like Code Pink". : ) She handled the young man well. A few of us had coffee after the class. That soldier came along. Dr. Rashad put on her video and he watched it carefully. He did not speak about it, but he will think about it now. (Steve, the professor, told me things that make me think the soldier has PTSD. So sad.) After coffee with the students, we went to the main Mosque in St. Louis. Dr. Rashad met with the Amam for a time. This was good because the Muslim community here has made a conscious decision not to get involved in politics, including the peace movement. (I won't go into what happened with them not showing up for her talk, etc.) After she did her afternoon prayers, we showed her video to the school children (I was a little worried about that. Many were so small). Even the adults had tears in their eyes. They did say things like, "we have to limit where we give our charity", etc., when I spoke to them after. I encouraged them to get involved in the peace movement. I told Dr. Rashad I would let her know if they choose to do so. We will continue to reach out to them, anyway. After the Mosque, we went to Plowsharing. I told her about Fair Trade organizations that help women (and men). We copied information on the organizations and I encouraged her to follow up on this. I hoped she might talk to Global Exchange, for example. Next, we went to a class in Theology and Peace at Saint Louis University. The class was taught by Andrew Whimmer. This is the University where I teach. The students had already been learning a fair amount about Iraq and so Dr. Rashad was able to show them the video and Power Point without so much lecture. It was clear to me that the students enjoyed her presentation very much. They asked the same question we heard so many times, "If we get out, will there be a civil war?" She answered it with the same clarity she always did, by explaining that the Iraqi people got along and there is really no difference between Sunni and Shiite, that is misperception. But the American people are causing a civil war by opening the borders and arming the militia. I think the students understood. Finally, we rushed off to our last business of the day. That was a reception offered to the people from organizations that paid to bring Dr. Rashad here. We had threats of very serious weather starting at the same time our reception was starting and so very few people came. But those who came were very glad they did so. We saw the video and the Power Point and Dr. Rashad spoke until after 8pm. I think Dr. Rashad has reached many people while she was here. She changed some minds and she renewed the spirits of many in the peace community. We enjoyed her visit very, very much.   Copies of her radio interview will soon be available at http://www.lizzbrown.com/.

By Rae Abileah, CODEPINK Local Group Coordinator
	Entisar and Aseel speaking to the group.
	A packed audience at the event.
	Lavarice, our event organizer and radio host.
	A Brazilian band at the little Haitian restaurant.
VeYeYo Haitian Meeting Friday night we were invited to a meeting at VeYeYo, a Haitian organization in Miami. VeYeYo means “we’re watching you,” and translates to keeping an eye on the occupiers. When we walked in we felt instantly that we were among friends. Lavarice, a great organizer and host of a radio program, had interviewed Entisar on the radio the night before, and introduced her to the feisty crowd. Entisar spoke with more passion and conviction than I can relate here. She spoke with strong statements in Arabic, Aseel interpreted her words into English, and the English was then translated into French! At the end of the talk, Entisar and Aseel taught everyone how to say END THE OCCUPATION in Arabic, which sounds like La Li Ekt Tilal! Everyone got really into it. Then people started passing me little scraps of paper and pencils so that I could write down in English this phrase and they could remember it. There was a grandmother sitting in the front row who recorded the whole thing on her tape recorder. Her grandson was sleeping in her lap. It was a magnificent meeting, showing that people across continents, across hemispheres, can unite and join hands and rise up against occupation everywhere. After the meeting at VeYeYo, we went to South Beach for a night on the town We went to a great little Haitian restaurant and bar that was entirely covered with murals. There was a Brazilian band playing and when they heard that Entisar was there, they played a Brazilian song that was a prayer for the children affected by war and conflict. We had hoped to meet Father Jean Juste at the meeting, but due to his recent chemotherapy he had to stay home to rest. We are sending our love and prayers to him.

By Rae Abileah, CODEPINK Local Group Coordinator
	The group eats lunch in the cafeteria and discusses military recruitment on campus.
	Entisar poses for a photo with Mark, the international relations teacher at Terra Vella.
	Entisar is interviewed by the school newspaper.
On Friday Morning, Lori Russell, the Broward County CODEPINK Coordinator who has organized the wonderful schedule of events for Entisar in the Ft. Lauderdale area, brought us to Terra Vella High School for a morning presentation that had been organized by Chelsea, a high school CODEPINKer. When we arrived there were already five classes of students in the media center/library. Entisar asked for a volunteer student to stand up and go through a normal day with us—what time she wakes up, what she does in the morning, what she eats, how long it takes to get to school, what she does at school, what she does after school, where she works, how late she gets home, etc. Then Entisar said what a usual day for an Iraqi kid, such as her daughter in high school, would look like, including waking up worried and afraid in the dark because there is no electricity, trying to find school books without light, the journey to school that used to take 15 minutes and now takes 2 hours because of road blocks and altered routes, lack of classes available to medical students because professors have fled the country or been killed, and curfew. Entisar talked about what life is like under the occupation of Iraq, what life was like before, and how she thinks her country can rebuild and return to safety—contingent on the US troops leaving. After the bell rang, more students poured into the library, and this pattern continued all day. We had thought that we would speak to the big group in the morning and maybe to one or two more classes, but we ended up staying in the school for the whole day, speaking to four classes each period. Many students had us sign permission slips so they could stay for two or three periods. At the start of each class Aseel showed a sketch of Iraq that she drew on the chalk board and explained where Baghdad was and a bit of context about Iraq. Entisar spoke and then they spent the majority of the time answering questions. The students were mesmerized and we all agreed that they asked the best questions of anyone we’ve spoken with thus far. They wanted to know about the threat of a civil war, Saddam, the role of the media, the hospitals. Many times Entisar was asked the question, “Who is bombing? Is it really the US doing this?” There was also the question about whether the violence will get worse when the US leaves. To this, Entisar explained how the US troops are not even able to defend themselves, needing the Iraqi military and police to escort them. How, Entisar asked, are the US troops doing anything to protect the civilians? She then explaned how not only are the troops not protecting the Iraqi people, but they continue to abuse and kill innocent people. One very conservative teacher started the day by asking Entisar a barrage of very pointed questions emphasizing the US motives for going into Iraq and the reason for staying. He teaches international relations and he brought all his students. At the end of the day he wanted a CODEPINK for Peace shirt and had great follow-up questions. Many students signed up to continue getting information about Entisar’s life and work and to find out more about creating peace. Students stayed after school to see video and photo footage of the situation in Iraq. By the end of the day, Entisar had spoken to over 1,000 students at Terra Vella.

Nadje: I am not living inside Iraq. I'm living in London; my family lives in Baghdad. I am an academic, writer and researcher working on two projects right now. I think that people can't understand the current situation in Iraq in 2003 if they don't understand the historical context, so I've been interviewing over 200 Iraqis from many different political perspectives and experiences both before and after the occupation. The second project I've been involved with is to document the role of women in Iraq over the course of the past decades, so that people can better understand the trajectory of women's rights in Iraq, and understand their societal role in both an economic and a political context. Entisar: Entisar and Eman I work in a hospital in Baghdad. I want to talk specifically about the bad situation of health in Iraq. The sanctions continued for 15 years in Iraq and made the conditions for Iraqis miserable. The occupation made it worse. We didn't see any kind of development in the medical healthcare system. We suffer from shortage of medicines and emergency supplies, there is no sterilization of the operation rooms and anesthesia is unavailable. There was money given to repair the hospitals and medical system. We suggested that we use this money to buy things that we need but they refused and bought furniture and flowers instead. I am the director of the pharmacy dept in Yarmook hospital, so I refused to sit on a new chair while there were no sterile operating rooms. Many of the Iraqi hospitals were bombed and destroyed in Baghdad and Al-Quaim, and in Fallujah. Many of the doctors in these hospitals were either killed or beaten very badly or arrested by the American troops. Many ambulances were attacked in these areas as well. Many of the diseases that were under control under the regime of Saddam have now returned to haunt the population, especially the children, because there are no vaccines or immunizations. Specifically Hepatitis, meningitis, caused by environmental contamination (water, sewage, etc.) are raging where they used to be under control. Death due to cancer increased because treatment programs stopped and medicines were not available. Many Iraqi doctors, especially specialists, have either been assassinated or have left Iraq, many have been kidnapped or threatened. More than 1,000 have left, and more than 200 kidnapped. 80% of the Iraqi civilians injured are dead. Iraq is now the 36th country in the death of children who die under 5 years of age, before the occupation, Iraq was the 80th country with this statistic. One last thing about women, pregnant women suffer of malnutrition. Women in labor prefer to give birth in the home because of the risk of being shot en route to the hospital. Eman: I am a writer and translator. For the last 3 years I have documented human rights violations in Iraq. There was a news piece about what happened yesterday [on International Women's Day], a picture with three or four lines in the Washington Post that said women protested war on this day. And Bush said that women in Burma, North Korea, and Iran are the focus of his work, supposedly meaning that women in the rest of the world are happy. I bring this up because it is true that there was a demonstration in Washington and that there were demonstrations elsewhere in the world, and it is true that Bush said that about women in those three countries, but this is not the complete truth about the way things are. This kind of incomplete truth is the way that the issues of Iraq are covered, unfortunately. This is what Americans know about Iraq. They hear of a rosy picture that doesn't exist. Again, tens of thousands of detainees are in jail for the last 3-4 years. We don't know the exact number, We hear about terrible stories of torture to death. We have a very big problem of the missing-thousands of Iraqis have disappeared and when we go to the Iraqi authorities to ask about them, we are left with no answer. 100,000 Iraqis have been killed, over 50 percent of them women and children. Whether it be by sectarian violence, thugs, guns, on the street, bombings, sickness, or any number of other daily dangers, death is everywhere in Iraq. It is the thing of the streets in Baghdad. Another big problem is the continuing military operations. Bush said they ended on April 1 2003, but this is not true. All cities were heavily bombed, buried under the rubble. When a city is bombed, all life stops. Bridges, hospitals, homes, public buildings are destroyed. Needless to say the people of Iraq live in very bad conditions. The problem is very big. The last attack was called Steel Cut; in the operation, 8,400 families left the area of the bombing. And you can imagine how big the problem is. Now in America we are talking about civil war, but you must understand that right now we live in fear in Iraq, We are worried, all the time-we havelived in fear about ourselves and our families for years. You can be killed, disappear, or be arrested at any time. We live just to survive our day. I think the occupation is 100% responsible for what is happening in Iraq and that the Bush administration should be held responsible for the destruction. Faiza: Faiza I am a civil engineer, a blogger and mother of three boys. I used to live in Iraq, but now I live in Amman, Jordan. I have started to write about the situation in Iraq, so have changed from a civil engineer and mother to a blogger. The goal of our visit to the United States is to tell the people the real story because the media is not telling this story. At the beginning it was fun to blog, but now it is a big responsibility, a kind of documentation for everything that is happening in Iraq. Blogging is something that I didn't design, but has become a regular part of my life. I write from my personal experience. After 6 months of the war, a man came with a gun in my face and kidnapped my son. For four days my son was in the Interior Ministry with his hands tied. They were the worst four days of my life: I thought that he was killed, thrown somewhere in the garbage. This is the situation for Iraqi women. We are holding pictures of our sons and wondering if they are being killed, thrown in the trash. I went to the US Troops and they said they couldn't help. The police said the same. Who cares about the Iraqi people? The answer we always hear from your government is "We are sorry but it is not my business." Who cares about the Iraqis? The government is sitting in the Green zone, the forces are sitting in their tanks, and the people are being killed. After four days somebody helped my son. A kind person in the jail gave him a cell phone to contact his parents. He called us and told us how much money we would have to pay to get him released. We paid the money and fled to Jordan. This is the familial story of thousands of Iraqis, who face the panic that is Iraq. This is our new government, our great liberation? In terms of reconstruction, the healthcare, education, and infrastructure systems are all in shambles. Year after year it is the same-nothing has been done to help the Iraqi people. If the occupation tells you that they are in Iraq to help the people, where are the facts on the ground? This is what you have to ask your administration-for facts on the ground! I will never ask about policy first. If you really care about Iraq, you must bring witnesses from Iraq, real innocent and independent families to tell the story of Iraq. Your media is telling you everything is going well, but this is not true, and you must hear the truth. This is your responsibility as Americans. I want them to know that you, the American people, are not partners in these crimes with your administration. People are asking about civil war, but from the beginning of the fall of Baghdad, from the beginning of U.S. involvement there, Iraq was divided in Sunni and Shi'a areas by the occupiers. Bremmer divided Iraq into triangles and squares and regions. This is a very nice story, helping Iraqis with their sectarian identities, but now Iraq is torn, destroyed after 3 years. The principles of this new constitution are based on sectarian policies-before the occupation began, we never asked what someone's background was. The occupation created the sectarian story. Before, we were all neighbors, sisters, and now we are separated. How could I trust you to stay for another three years in our country? What is the proof that we will do something better? I have been working with a woman who supports the occupation. I know that some people in Iraq support the occupation, but they do not see the full picture. The occupiers put Iraq in the hands of the militias. They destroyed our cities and now Iraq is full of militias. The key to the end of this violence, the key of Iraq, is in the hands of Iraqis. I want you to hold this responsibility to do something to help the Iraqi people because you are mothers and we are mothers. We accept the risk of coming to the US because there is no option, no alternative, we cannot hide in our homes with locked doors, we must speak out and say that this is wrong. You can understand our suffering. our people are dying. Maybe something will happen, maybe somebody will help, it's risky to come here, but I accept the risk because I have no other options. After three years of destroying Iraq, we Iraqis have to say no. Everything you have created here is violence. It's chaos. It's wrong, and you must stop. What is the solution? We need a national army and government, not a sectarian country. Have Iraqis build a national unified government with no sectarian army and no sectarian divisions. This is the only solution. Q: I am a mother with two sons in their 20s. Part of the administration's rhetoric is that they are saving the Iraqi women. Can you speak to the issue of the condition of Iraqi women before the "great American liberation" and the condition of Iraqi women today? Nadje: One of the lies about why the US went to war was that they would be liberating women. I've heard this several times: now I women can go to University and school! people don't know that under Saddam women could actually could go to school. Obviously there were human rights violations, but Iraq had one of the highest rates of employment for women in the region. In 1978 Iraq issued a law that all adults-male and female-had to undertake a literacy program and go to school. You saw Iraqi women in all professions. Since 1978 there was a very progressive family law in Iraq that made it very difficult for Iraqi men to marry a second wife. The man needed consensus from a judge and a good reason to marry again. Divorce was very difficult for men to obtain without women's input, and women had a right to obtain divorce and custody over their children. One of the first things the Provisional Authority tried to push through was article 137, which actually makes women's rights go backwards, making it easy for a man to marry a second wife and obtain a divorce, while making it very difficult for a woman to do so. In the constitution, there is a provision that says everyone is equal before the law -- but that's not exactly the full story either. Islamic law is not a book of set policies; rather it's open to interpretation. It's now the main source of law, and it's interpreted primarily by men. If interpreted by progressive men, no problem - but in the hands of a Taliban-like man, then it's very dangerous. There's nothing to protect women from very conservative religious interpretations of Islamic law. The current constitution is increasing sectarianism-why? Because now every Iraqi can use specific laws relevant to their particular sect. Women in the north might have different legislation than those living in the south, there is no united law. If you just look at the legal rights, women have lost big time. [Maxine Waters and Faiza get up to leave.] Maxine: We need to look at whatever we can do to make women's lives better in Iraq. Faiza: (Pointing to Lynn Woolsey and everyone in the room) You need to promise me that there will be change on the ground. You have to promise me. Lynn Woolsey: I'd like to give you the pledge and the proof that these women are not alone in this country or the House. First of all, CODEPINK and Peace Action exist; also, the majority of Americans know we're doing the wrong thing in Iraq. Here in the House I was the first voice to say: turn this around, Mr. President, put together a plan to bring the troops home - and that was may more than a year ago. Maxine Waters put together the Out Of Iraq caucus, which has 78 members. We are dedicated to leaving Iraq ASAP. I speak out against the war every time we're in session; I have five minutes on the floor every time we convene to speak, and I always use it to talk about the war. People say "why are you wasting your time? No one is listening," but people are listening all over the country. Besides, it's my 5 minutes and nobody can tell me what to do with it, and I choose to talk about what's happening in Iraq and why we must leave. When this is over, we must do something about how we handle conflict in this world. Are we doing enough? No, we're not. But things are changing. Representative John Murtha, the top democrat on the Defense Appropriations Committee, has come out against the war and proposed a resolution to bring our troops home. That's a big step, when anti-war policy jumps from coming from me to coming from a moderate democrat. My counterpart Mike Thompson put together legislation yesterday that says that no later than September, we're out of Iraq. (It's about time!) I'm not saying we're doing enough here in Congress, but the media isn't helping anything either. I've been there, in the Green Zone, I knew it was some other world. But even from that bubble, I knew that the commanders on the ground fully knew they would be in Iraq for a long time. What have we done? We held an informal hearing here in Congress. We had wonderful witnesses to the hearing on the exit strategy, 20 members of congress. And it was bipartisan; Walter Jones joined us. Talk about brave people! Walter came because he knew that it was important for legitimacy's sake to call the independent hearing bipartisan. Things are changing. We saw this kind of shift later as well, when there was an amendment to the spending bill on the floor. The Republican-controlled Congress let me talk on the floor thinking that they had an opportunity to embarrass the Democrats by allowing me to speak about it. But no one complained and no one looked embarrassed.. The amendment says, "Tell me how we'll bring the troops home," and my own colleague, a Democrat, asked me not to bring it to a vote because it would be embarrassing. But then, one Republican spoke in support of the amendment. 5 voted for it, and 122 Democrats voted for it. No, the amendment didn't pass, but it also didn't embarrass anyone. Members of Congress knew they could speak out against the war from that moment on. But that's all just the backdrop to what really needs to start happening. Talking is not enough - we've got to make it really happen Congress is way behind the public, in knowing this war is a mistake, so the public has to remind Congress that we represent you, and so we need to bring the troops home now. It's also a matter of constituency. The radicals in this room have radicals representing them, like me. You have to go to the places that don't have radicals or radical representatives, and change Congress from the ground up. Do outreach all over the country. Q: What do you expect will be the breakdown in terms of how much money will be appropriated for the war? Lynn: We don't have a sense, but I think that more people will vote against it, but it will pass. Members are so afraid of being labeled anti-troop and unpatriotic. They forget to hear the people who are saying that it's not unpatriotic to dissent when the government is taking away your civil rights and civil liberties. There's so much fear of losing the job that they don't do what is in my opinion the right thing. With the media as it is, you can get labeled so quickly - and once the label is there, it's very hard to rip off. Q: What's happening on the ground amongst women to overcome the sectarian divisions? Have the troops been oppressive in your actions to overcoming these divisions? Nadje: It's not just women who are working to overcome these divisions. Many Iraqi religious men get on TV and call on people to be wise and not be driven by anger. They say that we are collectively Iraqis and that these divisions are a conspiracy against the Iraqi people. The situation in Iraq is extremely difficult, but still women are working, like my group Women's World, who are trying to help the people. Eman and Entisar go to the refugee camps to help with whatever they have. There are basically too many Iraqi women's organizations. The only thing they have in common are the word "democracy'. These women's organizations were created here in the US 6 months before the invasion-these women by the 2nd day of the invasion they were in the palace talking about women's liberation. I was naïve and went to talk with them but they never contacted me again. I then realized that they are a part of the political agenda of the occupation, working on the constitution as well. For example, last year there was a very big conference in Jordan where 100 women were invited and 500k was spent, airplanes, hotel, etc. I asked one of the woman who was part of this conference what they discussed and she said that we did not say anything and were instead given lectures and workshops on federalism and the new constitution. These women are being brainwashed. Lynn: One of the things we're going to have is another Out of Iraq hearing, and we will definitely ask one of you [the Iraqi women] to be on the panels. Your voices and faces mean everything, and the panel will have press.

By Rae Abileah, CODEPINK Local Group Coordinator
	Sunrise over Tampa, from the car’s windshield.
	Dr. Ariabi speaks at Nova University.
	With Nova University Staff.
	“Harvey” the mock human whose chest simulates different heart palpitations for cardiology students.
	Dr. Ariabi listens to Harvey’s heartbeat.
	Discovering a Sumerian prescription tablet.
Today we left Tampa at sunrise and drove south through pine trees, the Everglades, and emerging into palm trees and a city of highways. At midday, Entisar spoke at Nova University to a class of over 120 medical students. The class is also broadcast by satellite, and students in neighboring counties and also in Ponce, Puerto Rico, took part in the presentation. Please check back here soon for the transcribed talk. After the talk Entisar received a tour of the university, including the pharmacy classes, the physical therapy practice room, and “Harvey” the mock human whose chest simulates different heart palpitations for cardiology students. Harvey is a pricey guy, but he does have an on and off button! Entisar also got to see the labs and the University’s museum of medical artifacts, where she and Aseel discovered a prescription tablet written in Sumeria. This was an absolutely wonderful afternoon.

By Rae Abileah, CODEPINK Local Group Coordinator
	Press conference at the Federal Building.
	Press conference with Entisar and Ahmed Bedier, director of C.A.I.R. (Center for Arab Islamic Relations) in Tampa.
	Q and A session.
	Entisar speaking at the College of Public Health.
	The audience at the College of Public Health.
	Entisar and Ahmed Bedier, director of C.A.I.R. (Center for Arab Islamic Relations) in Tampa.
	John Arnaldi and his wife
	Exchanging notes.
Entisar's Trip to Tampa Wednesday was a very full day, starting with a press conference at the Federal Building in the morning. Aseel, an Iraqi-American, interpreter, architect, activist extraordinaire, joined us from DC and will be traveling with us through the rest of the Florida tour. The press conference was well-attended, including CBS and Fox news. The press had the burning questions—will there be a civil war and was life better under Saddam. John Arnaldi did an excellent job organizing the day, from the press conference, to two separate meetings with aides from the offices of Senator Martinez (R) and Senator Nelson (D). Both offices spent a lot of time listening to Entisar. An interesting side note is that the rep from Martinez’s office closed by saying that she knows that Martinez understands the suffering the Iraqi people underwent under Saddam because Martinez grew up in Cuba under Fidel Castro. Conversely, the representative for Nelson’s office said at the end of the meeting that she understands what the Iraqi people went through under sanctions because her family is Cuban and she grew up there. In the afternoon Entisar was interviewed by the Sun Sentinel newspaper for a story that will be printed on Sunday. We ate lunch at a Middle Eastern restaurant and dinner at an Indian restaurant and we felt very well fed by the end of the day. In the evening, Entisar spoke at the College of Public Health to a packed audience eager to hear about her experiences. More about the questions that were asked during these events and other substantive details coming soon.   Letter from John Arnaldi: Dear friends: Rae and Entisar and Aseel: Great thanks to each of you for your courageous journeys! You inspire us and touch our hearts. Yesterday's CODEPINK events in Tampa were a great success. I have received thanks from many people on behalf of each of you and the work you are doing. MJ and I agree that spending yesterday with all of you was a precious gift to us that we will treasure through the remaining years of our lives. May God bless each of you and bring peace to us all, --John

By Rae Abileah, CODEPINK Local Group Coordinator
	Entisar conversing with supporters.
	Entisar's talk, organized by the Quaker community and local peace and justice groups.
	Conversation at a cafe.
	Homecooked meal of couscoous and homegrown vegetables with supporters.
	Florida speaks out!
Event in St. Petersburg We arrived in St. Petersburg--after crossing a very long bridge over the bay and sitting in a lot of traffic—just in time for a homecooked meal of couscoous and homegrown vegetables at a lovely home. Then we were off to the community center where this evening’s event was held. Activists from the Quaker community and local peace and justice groups organized an excellent event tonight. The room was filled with easily over 80 people. Entisar showed photos with a projector depicting the situation in Baghdad and she was assisted in her talk by a wonderful translator named Husan. Husan is originally from Palestine and has traveled in Iraq, so he filled in some useful information about the geography of the area and really emphasized certain points about Entisar’s lecture that he knew would need to sink in for Americans. For example, when asked during the Q and A session about the issue of rape during war, Entisar told the story of a female detainee who was raped in jail. After she was released, she felt that everywhere she went she was violated, and she wished to die. She asked religious advisors about getting permission to kill herself, since this is strictly forbidden by Muslim ethics. Husan emphasized this point about suicide and addressed the too-common American misconception that Muslims condone, even wish for, suicide as a viable tactic for power, terrorism, etc. After the talk there were so many questions that the group decided to move to a café nearby to continue the conversation. On the way, the caravan of cars stopped at the pier to see the Gulf of Mexico. Entisar said that the hot, humid air and the palm trees reminded her of Iraq in the summertime. I cannot imagine how hard it would be to be so far away from family and a country that is constantly in a state of unrest. At the café the conversation and the espressos continued for quite a while. There was a man there who has made clear address label stickers with the number of dead soldiers. There was a woman, Samm, who is running for Congress against the local Republican warmonger, and she filmed everything. After the event, she gave me the most amazing pink motorcycle helmet. Now I just need a pink Vespa! Everyone wanted to talk late into the night, wanted to offer us a meal or a place to stay, wanted to apologize for the wrongdoings of the American government and military, wanted to buy us a piece of banana bread or a slice of cake, wanted to ask us to attend another event.... Finally we were on the road to the place where we would stay the night. What can we do to help? In the car I asked Entisar what she felt about being asked over and over again what the American people should/can do to help. She told me she felt two things: one, the American people should raise their voices to be heard by Congress and the people making the decisions so that the occupation can end, and two, that she sees now that the American people are very sympathetic to her and to the Iraqi people and want to help. I told her that to me it is very frustrating that people ask this question. Entisar is saying repeatedly in response to the question about what will happen with the troops leave that the Iraqi people can best govern themselves, rebuild their society, and decide what they need. And then people ask this question about how to help. Well, I think it is our responsibility as Americans to know best how to change our own country’s behavior. I think this is a question that comes with a feeling of powerlessness. But we are not powerless and we must make our voices heard and demand an end to the occupation of Iraq as the majority of the citizens. When people ask about how they can help, I think about a big strong man strangling a helpless man and asking him at the same time how he can help him. Until we stop being part of the problem (occupying Iraq, continuing our lives status quo, using oil and other resources at unreasonable rates, etc.), we cannot begin to be a part of the solution. We continue to slice wounds and then when we see the blood, we rush to find enough bandages... I also see how this question is important because it implies a certain humility and honesty—rather than deciding what’s best to do, people are reaching out to Entisar, an Iraqi woman, and asking her what she wants us to do to be in solidarity with her and assist her work and vision of peace When I asked Entisar more about this question, she told me this story: There was a hospital where there were many sick children, some with cancer and other severe ailments. The hospital had no adequate medicines or provisions, especially because it was not guarded by anyone, and so because Iraq’s borders are open and there is no real police or army force protecting the people, there are thieves that steal all the time. Looters had come into this hospital and taken most of the provisions for healthcare. The US soldiers came to this hospital and said to the doctors that they should take the patients out of the hospital because it was not safe and there were no supplies. But then where would the patients go? The doctor turned to the wall and started banging his head against the wall. Entisar said that she sees that some Americans feel like this doctor: entirely helpless, hopeless. Entisar said that life needs hope; without hope, there is no life.

By Rae Abileah, CODEPINK Local Group Coordinator
	Dr. Entisar met with the doctors and staff of the Tallahassee medical clinic.
	Touring the pharmacy.
	Outside the medical clinic.
Dr. Entisar met with the doctors and staff of the Tallahassee medical clinic this morning. She shared with them the devastating stories of the deteriorating healthcare system in Iraq. Pharmacist Susan McLeod, who worked at the clinic for many years, gave Entisar a tour of the clinic's prescription filling area. Entisar asked whether staff of the clinic were able to give medicines to their friends, and Susan replied that no, there is a strict process for getting medicine, requiring a prescription from a doctor and medical records. Then Entisar talked about how sometimes the men guarding the hospitals come to the doctors and demand prescriptions for ointments and medications. Because these men are like the police, the doctors feel obliged to write the prescriptions. Then the pharmacists must fill them. Entisar said that this a big problem because then the medicines are given away to people who do not need them and may be selling them outside the hospital. Lydia and Susan explained how this medical clinic is for people who don’t have insurance and would otherwise have no where to go. Susan talked about how over 30% of the people in the area have no health insurance, and how thousands of people come to this small facility that used to be a school to get treatments. Entisar asked about whether there were x-rays and other specialized testing on site, and Susan said that people have to go elsewhere for those services, but that there is a network of doctors who volunteer their time to help with such services. After the visit to the clinic, we said our goodbyes and began our journey south to the Tampa area. The drive was mostly along a highway lined with tall pines and greenery. The sky changed from pouring rain to sunshine and puffy clouds, and it felt as if we came out of a long tunnel and emerged somewhere brighter.

By Rae Abileah, CODEPINK Local Group Coordinator
	Entisar tells Anwar's story to the audience.
	Entisar reads a statement at the Equal Rights Ammendment Press Conference at the Capitol.
	Entisar tells Congressman Curtis Richardson what's really going on in Baghdad.
	Entisar with Florida's Congressman Curtis Richardson.
	Entisar speaking with Dr. Schlenoff, Director of Muslim Studies at Florida State University.
	CODEPINKers and other supporters join us for a meal.
	Lydia, Entisar and Rae outside the Florida State University.
	Lydia being interviewd by the local newspaper.
	Rae, Entisar and Lydia in front of the old Capitol.
	Entisar, Rae and Lydia outside the College of Pharmacy, FL.
	Lydia created a peace ribbon made of cloth streamers tied to rope. Each streamer has the name of a US soldier or an Iraqi civilian who has died in the war.
	Lydia, David, and Entisar outside Lydia's home with their two dogs, Charlie and Chuck, and the pink peace sign Lydia made out of x-mas lights.
SUNDAY, March 12 On Sunday we went to Panama City where Entisar spoke at the Capstone House to a mixed crowd of people, some of whom were eager to hear what she had to say, and some of whom were solely interested in their own opinions. This event was a risk—Entisar spoke in an area where many people are very supportive of the US government’s occupation of Iraq. She spoke fearlessly, with great patience and dignity, and with brilliant eloquence, even through the lens of a young translator who had never met her before the talk began. Brenda, the event coordinator, did an excellent job reaching out to the city and pulling together an event in less than a week. She had an Indian lunch and after lunch the event began in the packed meeting hall. Two news stations filmed the talk. Though at first the environment was very tense, and the organization hosting the event was very concerned that the talk might be “political,” by the end of the afternoon they were inviting CODEPINK back for future events. Without a moment to spare in Panama City, spring breaker destination and land of beautiful white sand beaches, we zoomed off to Tallahassee with Lydia and David. Lydia coordinates the Tallahassee CODEPINK group and her enthusiasm, experience, innovation, and sincerity never fail to astound me. She and her partner David drove all the way from Tallahassee to meet us in Panama City, and then all the way back to the city just in time for dinner and a speaking event at the Tallahassee Progressive Center. The dinner was primarily for the major donors who so generously supported Entisar’s tour through the South. After dinner, Entisar spoke at the Florida NOW meeting. For this meeting, Lydia had made pink name tags and a big pink donation box. Indeed, all of the events that Lydia organized over these two days in Tallahassee had so much thoughtfulness and hard work. These little details (and the big ones) made everyone feel good and grateful to be a part of the events. MONDAY, March 13 At 10:00 am Entisar spoke in Dr. Schlenoff’s Arabic class at Florida State University. Dr. Schlenoff is the Director of Muslim studies at the University. At 12:30 we attended a press conference for the Equal Rights Amendment at the Capitol. Lydia made the connection between the promise of women’s rights in the new Iraqi constitution and the apparent disregard for women at home, as evident by the exclusion of the ERA thusfar. Entisar spoke about how this promise of women’s rights has been false. We met with Florida's Congressman Curtis Richardson and Entisar spoke about the situation in Baghdad. We asked what he could do to help. He said he felt rather powerless as a minority Democrat. We went to a Middle Eastern restaurant for lunch and we all shared Turkish coffee. In the afternoon Entisar spoke at Florida A&M Univeristy to a very intergenerational crowd that had great questions about the status of women’s rights, the availability of medical supplies, and of course what will happen in Iraq if the troops leave. Entisar showed her slideshow with graphic images of what war really looks like. Students stayed afterwards to talk about military recruitment on campus and what they could do to get more involved in the peace movement. In the evening, Entisar did a one hour interview with the St. Petersburg Times over the phone with an interpreter. She said that the journalist was very attentive to her narrative, wanting to know all the details of her daily life in Baghdad. We look forward to seeing the story in St. Pete on Wednesday. We spent some time at Lydia’s house, where Lydia showed us her peace ribbon. At night, we returned to Florida State University to speak to the Amnesty International group. The students had excellent questions and the lively discussion didn’t end until almost 9 pm. We returned home to see ourselves on two news stations, footage from FAMU and the ERA press conference. Then we heard about the news of the street violence in Sadr City. It is impossible to describe this feeling of desperation and sadness that Entisar tries to explain. At every event we go to, someone always stands up and tearfully apologizes to Entisar for the US occupation. While it will take a lot more than an apology to make things right again, this important first step is very untraditional for America—The US did not apologize for the brutal murder of Native Americans, for the enslavement of Africans, for racism and discrimination, for building a colonial empire, for creating treaties that leave countries in grave poverty, for dropping bombs.... So there is something very moving to see these apologies happen. Always Entisar replies that she knows that there is a difference between the American people and our government, and that she has experienced so much kindness here during her travels. But, she says, while the Iraqi people used to revere America, desiring to travel and study here, since the occupation there is a growing hatred of Americans. She promises always to return to Iraq and share her stories of the people she has met here.

By Rae Abileah, CODEPINK Local Group Coordinator Straight Talk from Iraq
	The Capstone House announced the event in traditional Southern style on their marquee board.
	Entisar speaks with a retired Air Force vet and others at the Capstone House in Panama City.
	Entisar is interviewed by the regional news station.
	Rae Abileah, Entisar Ariabi, and Cheryl Sabel.

By Jodie Evans, CODEPINK Coofounder Thousands of us stood together at the Santa Monica Beach, north of the pier next to the Arlington West Memorial to represent the world uniting to say NO to war. Artist John Quigley created this powerful aerial image for us on a canvas so big it took a helicopter to capture it all; each time we have done this it has made the front page of the paper! Please circulate this beautiful image around the world, something to touch hearts, and an experience full of magic and community. (Click on images for enlarged view).

(Click on images for enlarged view)

Excerpt from Trish O'Kane's Speech in Montgomery, Alabama Today is a great day for women of the world and for all who believe in justice. Today, in Chile, Michelle Bachelet, a socialist, will become that country's first female president. This is a victory for all who love justice because on September 11, 1973, we installed the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, and that dictatorship tortured Michelle Bachelet's father to death. Thirty-three years later, the dictator is under house arrest, and the daughter of the victim is the democratically-elected leader of that nation. Bachelet has already named her cabinet--half her ministers are women and half are men. She is pushing legislation that will give all working women free childcare and set a quota of 40% for all political candidates--this means that 40% of all politicians in Chile will be women. I teach journalism at Loyola University in New Orleans and I speak of Chile today, because it is a story of hope. I heard this story yesterday on the radio as I drove out of New Orleans. It is a drive that I've made many weekends since I returned in January, and yet it is a drive that still makes me feel sick. The mile upon mile of empty rotting homes and communities that line the I-10 is not something one can, or should, get used to. And so I was filled with joy as I heard this news, and if you live in New Orleans today, you need a little hope and joy. In the midst of the muck, people are rebuilding. Some destroyed neighborhoods are now dotted with white trailers. Those who have the resources to rebuild are working very hard. Many do not have the resources, and are scattered across the nation, exiles in their own country. Some of my colleagues at work live in trailers now. Six months after the storm, in the richest nation on earth, some still do not have electricity. But they are at Loyola every day, doing the best they can. I am surrounded by fiercely proud and resilient people. But this stoic, muscular, roll-up--your--sleeves spirit cannot change one terrible truth: hurricane season begins in 82 days. The army corps says the levees will be ready. The independent commission of scientists and civil engineers says that they probably will not be, and that, in fact, in its haste, the army corps is making the same mistakes that led to the levee failures during Katrina. What we are living in New Orleans today is the result of our choices as a nation. We have chosen to destroy the infrastructure of other countries rather than to maintain and rebuild our own. We have allowed torture to become our official foreign policy. We have abdicated our responsibility to take care of our land and natural resources, and handed it over to oil companies and their cronies in power. We have put the wolves in charge of the henhouse. So I look South towards Chile today because I see that there are other choices. If Chileans can kick the war criminals out of their White House and put them under house arrest--so can we. If Chileans can elect a leader with vision who puts her people and the children first--so can we. We can, and we must. We must because Monday morning I once again will stand in front of 50 young faces, the faces of my 18, 19 and 20-year-old students, and in their eyes I see one question: --Do we have a future? Over 25,000 college students returned to New Orleans in January. Many were born and raised on the Gulf Coast. I'd like to end with their words. This was an assignment called "163 Words for President Bush." When Bush gave his State of the Union address, he dedicated exactly 163 words of a 6,000 word speech to the Gulf Coast, and many students were very angry about this. So Loyola gave this assignment: write to the President. Tell him in exactly 163 words how you feel. These letters are from freshman, or should I say freshwomen.

By Rae Abileah, CODEPINK Local Group Coordinator Montgomery, ALABAMA Departing Today Entisar and I begin our travels to the South. When we go through the security checkpoint at the airport, the woman checking ID takes one look at Entisar’s Iraqi passport and puts a big neon X on her ticket, singling her out for a special search. I calmly asked why Entisar is being asked to do this. The woman looks up with a blank face and says that this is just a routine, “random” search. Random? I want to shake this woman, to mouth off to her about the absurdity of homeland security which doesn’t protect us from terrorist attacks that we knew were coming or hurricanes that we knew would break the levies. Instead I walk through the x-ray machine area; I firmly tell the guard to get a female assist, and I wait on the other side of the glass as Entisar is patted down and her bags are searched. Usually I am overtly loud about my disagreement with the Bush administration when I am in the process of getting to the boarding gate at the airport. Now, I am silent, wanting only to feel the comfort of being safely on the plane, knowing that to miss this flight would make our visit to Alabama meaningless. Entisar is through the checkpoint and we are once again walking arm in arm to the terminal. I tell Entisar that I am frustrated by this security process, that it is ineffective, and that I am ashamed that she was singled out. She says that security is not such a bad idea, that it may be necessary, but that it doesn’t make sense that security should be so strict here, while the US soldiers can come into her country without a passport or a visa or an x-ray, can bring all their tanks and weapons in without asking anyone. Entisar has a way of cutting through everything peripheral and getting to the point. She takes the frustration and the challenges and makes them at once so painfully real with such frank honesty that everything around us here in America becomes an illusion. In Flight On the airplane we discuss women’s reproductive rights since Entisar will be speaking at a National Organization for Women (NOW) rally and because my ears are popped in I talk loud so that when I get up the retired couple sitting behind us ask me what the NOW position is on “partial birth” abortion. I explain the misnomer in the terminology and talk about the circumstances in which second trimester abortion would occur, and I think that these people must be very conservative. But a little more conversation reveals that they are ardently anti-war, but afraid of an immediate exit strategy. By the end of the conversation, the woman, who tells us that she is a nurse and a healthcare instructor, is eager to hear more of Entisar’s story and takes numerous flyers so that she can tell her family in other parts of the country about the women’s tour. Montgomery, Alabama We land in Birmingham, AL where we are met by Reverend Jack Zylman and Alabama NOW president Kim Adams. We load our cumbersome luggage into one car and ourselves into another. We go to the Montgomery NOW meeting at the Montgomery library. This is only the second meeting of the new Montgomery NOW chapter, and yet it draws about 50 people! There are door prizes, spoken word about sexual assault, an African cane dance, a full lunch catered with food donated by local businesses, and compelling speeches. Entisar is the key speaker and her words are translated by Dr. Hussein Latif. Here are some highlights of what Entisar talked about: The situation for women in Iraq has severely worsened since the occupation. The abuse of women occurs in three areas: sexual abuse (example: female detainees are violated. One former detainee told Entisar that all she wants is to die by suicide, even though she knows that this is forbidden by Muslim law. When she walks in the streets, she feels as if everyone has violated her.); physical abuse (example: soldiers searching for men in private houses take women and taunt/torture them with violent dogs); psychological abuse (example: shooting children in front of their mothers). This is the situation of Iraqi women under the occupation of the US military. Here are some words from the question and answer time: Q: Was there anything the US soldiers did that was good? A: Yes, they brought a new refrigerator to keep dead bodies in the hospital Q: Has the US killed more people than Saddam? A: Saddam was a dictator who practiced his own atrocities like other dictators in the region. Now there is no government, no safety, no army, and so there are more random deaths. Saddam targeted those who were against him; now everyone is being killed. Q: Why would American soldiers shoot children? A: I don’t know. Ask the soldiers. Q: How should the US leave Iraq? A: The US should announce their intent to leave and then leave gradually, over several months (not years). There should be an international peacekeeping group not composed of American or coalition troops. Q: How have women’s rights changed? A: Now there are rules that women cannot go certain places, such as colleges, without being covered. The old law under Saddam around polygamy stated that a man must have his wife’s permission before marrying a second wife The new law states that a man does not need his wife’s permission. After the meeting we drive to the Alabama state capitol, a tall Southern white building with long columns and an even longer staircase leading up to the entrance. About 75-80 people gather on the capitol steps, a commendable showing for Montgomery NOW’s first major event and for Alabama in general. Sam Joi, Berkeley CODEPINK coordinator, joins us at the rally with her big CODEPINK truck! Women at the International Women’s Day Speak Out talked about harassment, immigration, women prisoners, fetal homicide legislation, hurricane Katrina, racism, sexual assault, domestic violence, mother’s and children’s rights, equal marriage, and more Entisar is the first speaker. Entisar looks out over the people and tall stone staircase and the wide avenue, the trees lining the streets, the modern government offices, the shiny cars, the blue sky and puffy white clouds, and her voice cracks and she asks why it is that we have all that we could want and are free to dream and live in this beautiful city, while her beautiful city, Baghdad, has been destroyed, totally crushed, the rivers polluted, the buildings bombed. The word that comes to mind for me is superimposition. In my mind the white capitol building become a canvas on which to project the images of hospitals turned into rubble, roofs caved in on bedrooms, shattered glass and mangled metal, putting these photos of destruction I have seen over and over during this past week on top of this clean and perfect place. Superimposing occupation on the occupier. America is a super imposition in Iraq. It is time for the reality of Iraq to be imposed on us.

By Rae Abileah, CODEPINK Local Group Coordinator Here are photos of our first day of actions in Montgomery, Alabama!
	Dr. Entesar Mohammad Ariabi speaks at the Alabama NOW rally on the capitol steps of Montgomery, Alabama. Dr. Hussein Latif translated for Dr. Ariabi.
	Entesar in front of the civil rights center.
	Cheryl Sabel, president of the Montgomery NOW chapter and event coordinator, speaks out about reproductive rights.
	The capitol of Alabama and the moon.
NOW: Get out of Iraq By Crystal Bonvillian, Montgomery Advertiser Entisar Mohammad Ariabi spoke tearfully in her native tongue to a crowd of about 50 people gathered on the steps of the Alabama Capitol on Saturday. A moment later, the physician's words were translated into English. "Thank you, Mr. Bush. You have done a lot to the Iraqi people," Hussein Latif of Birmingham said. "Why don't you leave now, so we can live in peace?" Ariabi's visit to Montgomery was the highlight of a rally the Montgomery chapter of the National Organization for Women sponsored to celebrate International Women's Day. Brought to the United States by Code Pink, a national women's anti-war organization, Ariabi is one of several Iraqi women who travel and speak about life in her war-torn country. She spoke of bombings in her home city that destroyed hospitals, pregnant women with no medical care and children born with congenital defects. Latif translated to a hushed crowd that each time Ariabi tells her five children goodbye, the family prays it is not for the last time. Then they pray that if they do die, they do so before they are taken hostage and tortured, he said. "This is part of what it is like in my country, and this is a gift from your Mr. Bush," Ariabi said through Latif. The topic of the Iraq war was just one of many at the two-hour long rally that also touched on women's issues such as harassment of immigrant women, racism, domestic violence, sexual assault and equal marriage rights. Cheryl Sabel, acting president of Montgomery NOW, discussed a proposed bill by Sen. Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo, that would make abortion illegal except when the mother's life is in jeopardy. Sabel called the bill an "open attack" on women and said legalized abortion is a right that should not be taken away. "Anti-choice forces are not 'pro-life,'" Sabel said. "Without access to safe and legal abortion, women die." Sabel also condemned a House bill that would include a fetus as a person when it comes to criminal homicide and assault. She argued that it would give rights to a potential life while taking rights away from an existing one. She also said the law would be a backdoor way for lawmakers to get abortion banned. "Do not be fooled," Sabel told the crowd. "To have a law that defines a fetus as a person in one case and not in another is patently absurd." Attendees of the rally praised all of the women who spoke. "It was very informative," said Katherine Story of Birmingham. "I learned a lot." Tripp Holman, also of Birmingham, agreed. "I thought it was great," Holman said. "It was good to hear their stories, but sad that they had them to tell."

By Todd Smyth Brief Report on Dr. Entisar's Talk at Adams Mosque in Northern Virginia: We've turned Iraq into a slaughterhouse.Each week they are overwhelmed by hundreds of severely wounded women and children and they have run out of capacity for the many orphans created everyday. Diseases like polio have returned. Birth defects from depleted uranium are widespread. There is little clean water. They are living in a sewer. The divisions between Shiites and Sunnis is exaggerated. The civil war is being manufactured. The reason most of the US soldiers still think there is a link between Iraq and 9/11 is because they were led to believe this, and they were let loose in Iraq to take revenge for 9/11.This has led to the random and abusive treatment of Iraqis, which in turn has led to the overwhelming resistance. The US is completely distrusted and for the most part hated, and are only making the situation worse by also attracting the Jihadists. The Iraqis know Bush has said "we fight them in Iraq so we don't have to fight them in America," and we've turned their country into hell on earth.
	Dr. Entisar Mohammad Ariabi.
	Audience members asking questions.

Dear friends of the Pink Code: Just as we announced some days ago, the Federation of Cuban Women (FCW) summed itself to the Call of women for peace, which you lead. We have also conveyed the call to all the women’s organizations with which we have relations. In Cuba this year, we had a one-week celebration in commemoration of International Women’s Day from the 1st to the 8th of March. Our organization drafted a message which denounces terrorism, and the imperial wars waged in any part of the world; recalls the special sensitivity of our people concerning this issue because it has been victim of aggressions perpetrated by successive governments of the U.S. for more than four decades. It also explicitly mentions our solidarity with the Call of women for peace. This message of the Federation of Cuban Women was read amidst the groups of the organization at the grassroots. We also realized activities at the 169 municipalities of the country and have already gathered more than 300, 000 signatures that adhere to the Call, in representation of the more than 4 million members of the organization. We should have much more signatures because the activities organized in the 14 provinces of Cuba are still today taking place. Then tomorrow, we will make a statement in the national rally which will take place at the Anti-imperialist Tribune “Jose Marti”, located in Havana, facing the US Interest Section of the Government of the United States. Prominent women scientists, artists, parliament members, Olympic and world championship medal winners, farmers, workers, students, housewives and leaders wrote down their names under the slogan “Cuban women against war and terrorism”. We have elaborated an album comprised of pages of signatures collected and a video, which depict some images of those moments that took place in different parts of the country. We will soon send you both documents and the total amount of signatures. They will serve as a testimony of the joint effort in which the woman of Cuba, join hands with the women of the United States and worldwide, to firmly pronounce ourselves against the imperial policy of the Bush Administration, with the cry of NO to war and NO to terrorism. Affectionately, FEDERATION OF CUBAN WOMEN

By Cynthia Boaz, Ph.D. Department of Political Science & International Studies, State University of New York, CODEPINK Coordinator
	We had about 75 people at the March 8 event, including supporters from NOW, the Raging Grannies, Veterans for Peace, the Green Party, and MoveOn.