Mission Nearly Accomplished!
Party and Victory Parade to Celebrate the Iraq Oil (Theft) Law

Thurs., April 19th 2007

Meet: 11:00 AM, at the Chevron station on Howard and 9th Street in
San Francisco.

Victory Parade: 12noon to the Federal Building at Golden Gate and Polk.

Come join the Bush Administration and the CEO's of Big Oil to celebrate a
new law being pushed on the Iraqi Parliament that will privatize and hand
over control of 2/3 of Iraq's oil (and most of the profits) to U.S. and
multinational oil companies. This will also be a rare opportunity to meet
with our Representative and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi who will
explain the benchmark in the Supplemental War Spending bill requiring the
Iraqis to pass the Oil (Theft) Law.

Appropriate dress required:

Bring a suit, jacket, collared shirt and a tie (on sale now at your local
thrift shop) and we might be able to dress you up as a member of the Bush
Administration or a Big Oil CEO or executive. Bring party favors -streamers,
balloons, confetti and your dancing shoes.

Party planners include, Bay Rising Affinity Group, Peninsula and San
Francisco Raging Grannies, Ronald Reagan Home for the Criminally Insane

For more details on the Iraq Oil (Theft) Law see
great Jim Hightower flash animation "Why we are in Iraq"
http://www.jimhightower.com
and go to http://myspace.com/protestchevron

http://aud1.kpfa.org/data/20070319-Mon1700.mp3

http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=19261

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/us/20vigils.html?_r=2&ref=us&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

By LIBBY SANDER
Published: March 20, 2007

CHICAGO, March 19 — Opponents of the war in Iraq and people paying tribute to Americans and Iraqis who have died in the conflict gathered Monday across the country in cities large and small on the fourth anniversary of the start of the war.

The police arrested dozens of antiwar protesters in San Francisco who staged a "die-in," blocking traffic.

More than 37,000 people in all 50 states took part in some 1,188 vigils, according to the grass-roots organization MoveOn.org, which helped to publicize the events. An unknown number of people joined other protests and rallies not affiliated with MoveOn.org.

The gatherings occurred in city parks and squares and on bridges and university quadrangles. Many, like those publicized on the Web site of MoveOn.org, were simple vigils with candles and quiet readings of the names of the dead. A few gatherings staged "die-ins" intended to represent the human cost of war, and some demonstrators marched on offices of members of Congress and headquarters of oil and military-related companies.

"I just want to show my support for the troops," said Davietta Estep, 53, of the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines, whose son, Michael, 35, a staff sergeant in the Army Reserves, returned from a tour in Iraq eight months ago.

"I don't agree with the war. But I feel for every other mother whose child is over there," Ms. Estep said in Chicago as she waited with dozens of other people who had gathered on the warm evening in Grant Park for a vigil.

Some, like 60-year-old Kay Collins of Chicago, who had a tiny peace pendant pinned to her hat, said they were recalling the last time they protested a war, in 1969.

But Sam Casey, 17, whose mother, Bonnae, organized the vigil, said he was more worried about the future. "If they reinstate the draft," Mr. Casey said, "I'm probably going to go."

Dozens of other evening vigils were scheduled in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington, while Atlanta, Cincinnati, Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, Mo., Miami, Phoenix and Portland, Ore., also had activities planned.

"It's a sad day," said Lisa Fithian, 45, a social justice organizer in Austin, Tex., who helped plan anniversary events in that city, which included a march to the office of Senator John Cornyn, a Republican, followed by a candlelight vigil.

Ms. Fithian said she hoped Monday's events would educate the public about the cost of war and build more momentum for opposing it. "If more and more people took action to stop the war," she said, "we might be able to turn things around."

Along Market Street in downtown San Francisco, groups of 50 to 100 protesters gathered at four heavy-traffic locations to stage die-ins. Demonstrators collapsed simultaneously on the sidewalk like corpses, some holding flowers, others covered in white sheets stained blood-red. By early afternoon, the police had arrested at least 57 people who participated in the die-ins.

Some groups singled out companies they said were profiting from the war. On Wall Street, early morning protesters descended on the New York Stock Exchange Building to draw attention to the escalating stock prices of companies like Lockheed Martin, the Boeing Company and Halliburton. The police arrested 44 people on charges of disorderly conduct.

At the headquarters of the Chevron Corporation in San Ramon, Calif., near Oakland, 100 or so people rallied early Monday at the company's gates, blocking traffic to call attention to what organizers said was the role of oil in the war.

Sean McManus contributed reporting from New York, and Carolyn Marshall from San Francisco.

http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/1226

Chevron Headquarters Blockaded!
Published by Liz Veazey March 19th, 2007 in Act Locally, Dirty Energy, Corruption, Oil, Direct Action

Tchevron blockade picoday, over 150 people gathered outside of San Francisco at Chevron oil's headquarters to rally and pronounce: No Blood or Oil! Climate Justice Now! & End Chevron's Oil Crimes from Richmond to Iraq! ABC news article with video. more photos and info
One of the first in a series of actions and events this year to bring together climate justice and peace demands to fight dirty energy companies and others who in addition to contributing heavily to globlal warming are driving us into wars for oil and other fossil fuel resources. Upcoming actions include Step It Up on April 14, the Nationwide Protest Against Climate Change and a joint "NO WAR, NO WARMING" national mobilization this fall! Check out No War, No Warming to find out more and to get involved.

read on for more on Chevron and their connection to the Iraq War.

For Chevron, the war has meant record profits and an unprecedented opportunity to take control of Iraq's oil. The "smoking gun" that would "win" the war for oil in Iraq is currently making its way through the Iraqi Parliament.The brain-child of the Bush administration and U.S. oil companies, the new Iraqi national oil law (if passed) would radically transform Iraq's oil system and open it to private foreign corporate control. It would give Chevron and others contracts to extract and control Iraqi oil for a generation.

It's simple: Before the war – U.S. and British oil companies were all but shut out of Iraq's oil. After the war, they'll be in control of it.

The Bush administration and the oil companies are trying to get the best deal and the most oil possible out of a war-ravaged and desperate people. They are holding 25 million Iraqis – and 150,000 American troops – hostage to their oil agenda.

Chevron has profited from Iraq's oil for a decade. It sold Iraqi oil throughout the 1990's and it was the first oil company to sell Iraq's oil after the 2003 invasion. It refines that oil in Richmond.

Chevron was at the table when Cheney's Energy Task Force parceled out Iraq's oil back in March 2001. It has kept its seat ever since: remaining in negotiations for contracts with the Iraqi government ever since the invasion. Within a year of the invasion, Chevron's profits nearly doubled, and in every year since then, Chevron has set new record profits, with 2006 the company's most profitable year ever. Chevron is now poised to win the big prize: control of Iraq's oil under the ground for 20 to 35 years.

Literally shepherded through by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, the law passed the Iraqi Cabinet and is expected to pass the Parliament in the coming weeks unless we support Iraqi civil society groups – including the Union of Oil Workers – in their demand to stop the law and its implementation!

Find out more and get involved on the Protest Chevron myspace page.

http://www.nbc11.com/news/11294275/detail.html

SF Anti-War Protest Leads To Arrests

POSTED: 6:15 am PDT March 19, 2007
UPDATED: 6:03 pm PDT March 19, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO -- Activists lying in the street draped in white sheets to symbolize Iraq's war dead halted traffic in the heart of the financial district Monday, leading to several arrests on the fourth anniversary of the war.

SLIDESHOW: Images From Protest

The "die-in" staged by anti-war groups brought streetcars to a standstill for more than a half-hour in one of several protests planned across the city, including a vigil outside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home.

About three dozen protesters blocked entrances to the San Francisco offices of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., before moving into the intersection of Market Street and Montgomery Street.

Students, grandparents and clergy members were among those who gathered to read the names of Iraqis and U.S. troops killed in the war and call for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

"This is what they do in Iraq -- just lay the bodies on the side of the street," said Joey Vaughan, 20, of San Francisco, as he lay on the sidewalk. "I just think it's time people pay attention."

San Francisco police Monday did not have an immediate estimate of the number of protesters arrested at the die-in. About a dozen had been detained by police by the time traffic began moving again at about 1:30 p.m.

Both Feinstein and Pelosi were in Washington on Monday, according to their spokesmen. Last week, Pelosi brushed by protesters and into a waiting vehicle outside her house in San Francisco, and a small group of activists has been camped out there ever since.

Protesters have called on Pelosi and Feinstein to follow the lead of fellow San Francisco Bay area House members and push more aggressively for an end to the war.

U.S. Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, and Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, leaders of the House Progressive Caucus, are co-sponsors of a bill to pull U.S. forces from Iraq in six months.

Calls to the offices of Feinstein and Pelosi seeking comment on the protests were not immediately returned Monday afternoon.

In a meeting earlier this month with activists who had planned to occupy her San Francisco office, a Pelosi aide said that a lack of consensus among Democrats meant any legislation on ending the war would likely not survive a presidential veto.

Anti-war activists across the country have been stepping up protests in lawmakers' home communities and offices in recent weeks, urging them to act more swiftly to end the war.

Another group of protesters targeted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi because, they say, she should help lead the effort against sending more troops to Iraq.

CODEPINK held a die-in outside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home Monday afternoon.

Members laid down on the ground to symbolize the lives lost in the war.

Activists confronted Pelosi at her home early last week as she hurried to a waiting vehicle. The event was one of many that activists have staged in lawmakers' home communities and offices in recent weeks.

Thousands of marchers, angry but energized by a sense of growing support for their cause, closed down a major downtown thoroughfare Sunday in a largely peaceful display of opposition to the Iraq war.

Many anti-war protesters also called on Congress to impeach President George W. Bush.

Sign Up For Breaking News E-mail Alerts

Copyright 2007 by NBC11.com. Bay City News contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.nbc11.com/news/11294275/detail.html

SF Anti-War Protest Leads To Arrests

POSTED: 6:15 am PDT March 19, 2007
UPDATED: 6:03 pm PDT March 19, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO -- Activists lying in the street draped in white sheets to symbolize Iraq's war dead halted traffic in the heart of the financial district Monday, leading to several arrests on the fourth anniversary of the war.

SLIDESHOW: Images From Protest

The "die-in" staged by anti-war groups brought streetcars to a standstill for more than a half-hour in one of several protests planned across the city, including a vigil outside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home.

About three dozen protesters blocked entrances to the San Francisco offices of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., before moving into the intersection of Market Street and Montgomery Street.

Students, grandparents and clergy members were among those who gathered to read the names of Iraqis and U.S. troops killed in the war and call for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

"This is what they do in Iraq -- just lay the bodies on the side of the street," said Joey Vaughan, 20, of San Francisco, as he lay on the sidewalk. "I just think it's time people pay attention."

San Francisco police Monday did not have an immediate estimate of the number of protesters arrested at the die-in. About a dozen had been detained by police by the time traffic began moving again at about 1:30 p.m.

Both Feinstein and Pelosi were in Washington on Monday, according to their spokesmen. Last week, Pelosi brushed by protesters and into a waiting vehicle outside her house in San Francisco, and a small group of activists has been camped out there ever since.

Protesters have called on Pelosi and Feinstein to follow the lead of fellow San Francisco Bay area House members and push more aggressively for an end to the war.

U.S. Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, and Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, leaders of the House Progressive Caucus, are co-sponsors of a bill to pull U.S. forces from Iraq in six months.

Calls to the offices of Feinstein and Pelosi seeking comment on the protests were not immediately returned Monday afternoon.

In a meeting earlier this month with activists who had planned to occupy her San Francisco office, a Pelosi aide said that a lack of consensus among Democrats meant any legislation on ending the war would likely not survive a presidential veto.

Anti-war activists across the country have been stepping up protests in lawmakers' home communities and offices in recent weeks, urging them to act more swiftly to end the war.

Another group of protesters targeted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi because, they say, she should help lead the effort against sending more troops to Iraq.

CODEPINK held a die-in outside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home Monday afternoon.

Members laid down on the ground to symbolize the lives lost in the war.

Activists confronted Pelosi at her home early last week as she hurried to a waiting vehicle. The event was one of many that activists have staged in lawmakers' home communities and offices in recent weeks.

Thousands of marchers, angry but energized by a sense of growing support for their cause, closed down a major downtown thoroughfare Sunday in a largely peaceful display of opposition to the Iraq war.

Many anti-war protesters also called on Congress to impeach President George W. Bush.

Sign Up For Breaking News E-mail Alerts

Copyright 2007 by NBC11.com. Bay City News contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=5133091

Mar. 19 - KGO - Four years ago today, the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq. Some 200,000 American troops are still there.
Related Links

Today, the president issued a plea for patience.

President George W. Bush: "It can be tempting to look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude our best option is to pack up and go home. That may be satisfying in the short run, but I believe the consequences for American security would be devastating."

President Bush contends if American forces were to step back from Baghdad now, violence could spread across the rest of the country, eventually leaving Iraq as a safe haven for terrorists to plan more attacks against the United States.

Of course, many others see the situation differently, and today's anniversary is bringing out war activists on both sides.

A cross-covered hillside in Lafayette has become a flashpoint for the war debate. Tonight, war protesters will gather for a candlelight vigil at the crosses, while right across the street, a "Support the Troops" counter-protest will take place -- and there are others.

In the past four years we've seen a number of demonstrations in the Bay Area. Today's protests, especially the ones in San Francisco, were intended to send a message to California Democrats, especially House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The message is -- we supported you, we elected you, now get us out of this mess.

About 200 people demonstrated against the Iraq War in front of San Francisco's Federal Building. Among the speakers is Daniel Ellsberg, a former military analyst. In 1971, Ellsberg released the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times, documenting the U.S. military's activities in Vietnam.

Ellsberg talked to us about the similarities and differences he sees between Vietnam and Iraq.

Daniel Ellsberg, Former Military Analyst: "It's an un-winnable war. It's a war we were lied into, that's exactly like Vietnam. It's a war of ambushes. The ambushes are in the cities instead of the jungles, that's a difference. There is a civil war going on much more seriously than was true in Vietnam."

Anne Roesler's son fought in Iraq for two years. She wants Congress to vote against the emergency spending bill to cover the cost of the war. President Bush is asking for $93.4 billion dollars.

Anne Roesler, Military Families Speak Out: "They've got to stop funding the war. It's the only power that the Congress has, the power of the purse, they need to use it."

The Democrats' war spending bill includes a troop withdrawal deadline of September 1, 2008.

This afternoon, Anne and other military families took their message to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. They were arrested outside Pelosi's San Francisco office for refusing to leave. Cell phone pictures were given to ABC7 News by one of those being taken away.

There were more arrests. This time in front of the building where Senator Dianne Feinstein has her office.

So far in the last four years, the Pentagon says 3,197 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq. The Defense Department does not release the number of Iraqis killed, but an independent London-based group called Iraq Body Count puts the number of Iraqi civilians killed between 59,000 and 65,000.

>> Click here for a list of war demonstrations taking place around the Bay Area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riLYGa82PA8

http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=chevron+protest&c=av