From Mourning to Resistance
3 Years too Many - Stop the War!

March on the Pentagon
March 20, 2006
Washington, D.C.

Join the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance to STOP the WAR NOW!
Marking the end of the 3rd year since the war began.

The United States government has been involved in an illegal and immoral war in Iraq for three years. As a result, over 2,200 Americans and 100,000 Iraqis have been killed and countless others are severely injured and disabled. Over $120 billion is being spent by the U.S.
government this year alone. We are demanding our government end the war NOW!

Schedule - March 20, 2006

9:00 am: Gather at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial  for speakers and music

10:00 am: Begin march to Pentagon

11:00 am: Arrive at Pentagon;   Program of speakers

11:15 am: Ceremony honoring the dead

11:30 am Die-in and other nonviolent actions by those willing to risk arrest

Participants should RSVP to Max Obuszewski at 410-323-7200, ext. 31.

To participate in other actions of nonviolent civil resistance earlier in the morning at the Pentagon on March 20, contact Pete Perry at pete_perry@yahoo.com.

Participants are encouraged to identify their home town and/or state and to carry signs or placards with names and pictures of Americans and Iraqis who have died in the war. Also encouraged are signs with wording MOURN the DEAD, HEAL the WOUNDED, END the WAR, signs about tax dollars spent on the war, or signs confronting the torture of others by the U.S.  government.

This action will provide an opportunity for those willing to risk arrest, as well those who are there in support, to speak out against the war in a powerful way.

The National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance is a part of the Iraq Pledge of Resistance and follows the principles of nonviolent resistance in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. This action is in solidarity with "A Call to Conscience for the U.S.
Congress" appealing to elected leaders to stop funding the war and bring the troops home now. In addition, there are many other antiwar actions taking place during the March 18-20 time frame. Dozens of cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Fayetteville, Hartford, Los Angeles, Mobile to New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Syracuse, have plans to speak out against the war and occupation of Iraq. For more information about this groundswell of resistance around the country and "A Call to Conscience for the U.S. Congress," go to www.iraqpledge.org.

PENTAGON POLICE DENY ACCESS TO ANTIWAR ACTIVISTS SEEKING A MEETING WITH RUMSFELD & ARREST FIFTY-ONE

Max Obuszewski

WHO : The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore, part of a national network formed by national peace groups, engages in nonviolent resistance to protest the occupation of Iraq . The Pledge is part of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR] and a member of United For Peace & Justice.

WHAT : NCNR organized From Mourning to Resistance – March on the Pentagon. At the beginning rally near the Lincoln Memorial, Bruce Gagnon regaled the crowd with a report of actions in Maine challenging federal legislators for voting to fund the war in Iraq . Fr. Joe Mulligan, S.J., came from Nicaragua to promote the Global Call for Nonviolent Resistance.

Then some 200 participants marched with a ceremonial coffin across the Arlington Memorial Bridge to LBJ Grove, near the Pentagon. Four speakers condemned the war: Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son Casey in Iraq in 2004, said "millions of people around the world" are speaking out. Mike Ferner, fasting since February 15, called for more resistance. Laura Costas pointed out the physical and psychological challenges faced by many returning veterans. Michael Berg shared the pain he carries because his son Nick, a civilian, was killed in Iraq .

The activists then carried the coffin, covered with photographs of civilians wounded in Iraq , unto Pentagon property, but were stopped by a five-foot-high steel barrier. A request to open the barrier was ignored. So recognizing the madness of the quagmire in Iraq and seeking the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops,  fifty one  nonviolent peace activists climbed over or ducked under the barrier to seek a meeting with Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld. Instead they were arrested and charged with “failure to obey a lawful order.”

WHERE : Outside The Pentagon

WHY : The Pentagon began the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003 . SO NCNR issued a call for activists to come to Virginia three years later to demand an immediate end to the war. Antiwar activists from more than 25 states, including Alaska , California , Florida , Maine , New Mexico , Ohio , Pennsylvania and Wisconsin , responded.

Those arrested are scheduled to appear on one of the following dates, June 16, July 7 and 21 or August 4, in federal court in Alexandria , Virginia . The Baltimore activists who were arrested are Sue Ackerman, Maria Allwine, Susan Crane, Dr. Terry Fitzgerald, Michael Johnson and Max Obuszewski. They look forward to placing the war on trial.

At a post-arrest gathering, the activists reflected on the powerful emotional tone of the March on the Pentagon and started strategizing about future actions. Many of the actions will take place in local communities, but there was also a sense of urgency to continue coming together for mass resistance. Again an NCNR action was able to bring together a broad number of groups united  in a  call for an immediate end to the war.

As part of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, peace activists in New York City and Syracuse were arrested at recruiting centers, others in Valley Forge , Pennsylvania at Lockheed Martin, and in Tucson at a Raytheon Missile Factory. It is expected more activists and more communities will take the risks of nonviolent resistance.