For Immediate Release                                               Contact:
September 20, 2005                                                Dennis Apuan (719) 632-6189
5:00 PM                                                              Pikes Peak Justice and Peace
                                                                        Mark Lewis 719-471-9400
                                                                                      CSAction.org

Colorado Springs residents join the peace march on September 24 in Washington, D.C.

Colorado Springs, September 20
Twenty-four Colorado Springs and Pueblo residents, along with 50 other Coloradoans from Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins, Durango, Telluride, Paonia, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs and Summit County, will be joining millions of people throughout the United States who believe that the Iraq war was a huge mistake. They will join others from every corner of the country to tell Congress and the White House: End the war on Iraq and bring the troops home now.

A press conference will be held at 1PM on Wednesday, September 21, 2005, designated as the United Nations International Day of Peace. The event will be held at the offices of the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission at to announce the participation of Springs residents and the national mobilization happening in Washington, D.C. A banner that reads "Shut the War Down, Colorado Springs Demands Accountability," will accompany the local contingent and will be available for supporters to sign their names and messages of peace.

"It's time for the troops to come home. Every reason President Bush gave to justify the war has proven false; now Iraq is in ruins. How many more have to die before the Bush administration admits it was wrong, and brings our troops home now?" asked former Sgt. Kelly Dougherty, co-founder of Iraq Veterans Against the War and part of the local delegation.

More than two years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a majority of Americans polled believe the war in Iraq never should have happened. 58% disapprove of Bush's handling of the war on Iraq, and more than half say that the war has not made Americans safer from terrorism. 1,904 U.S. soldiers
have been killed in the war and at least 15,000 have been wounded, and by even the most conservative estimates, Iraqi civilian deaths number in the tens of thousands. The war's cost is approaching $200 billion, money that could have been spent on education, housing, healthcare and other basic human needs.

Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters ever to hit the U.S., has dramatically exposed problems of race and class in our nation.

"We have seen how thousands of Americans have already been abandoned by a government infrastructure that fails to provide basic social services," said Dennis Apuan, program director at the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission and co-coordinator of the statewide delegation. "We must loudly and persistently raise the difficult questions with government officials about our national priorities. Along with relief efforts, we must contribute our voices and advocacy efforts on behalf of justice for the most marginalized and vulnerable in our society," he added.

The peace march is part of three historic days of action planned by United For Peace and Justice (UFPJ), a national coalition with more than 1,200 member groups including the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission (http://www.ppjpc.org) and the Colorado Communities for
Justice and Peace (http://www.ccjp.org).
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