U.S. Citizens for Peace & Justice - Rome Italy anti-war demonstration in Rome

Past Events


Solidarity with Bradley Manning
December 17, 2011

No to "war as usual"
March 19, 2010

Winter Soldier Europe
March 14, 2009

Palestinian Flags Flutter
Alongside Peace Banners

January 17, 2009

Close Guantanamo Now!
January 17, 1009

10-Day Vigil for Gaza
January 8-18, 2009

Supporting La'Onf
October 29, 2008

Free the Cuban 5
Sept 13, 2008

Cheney in Chains
Sept 8, 2008

No Bush, No War
June 11, 2008

May Day ILWU Solidarity Action
May 1, 2008

War Tax Day
April 15, 2008

World Social Forum Global Day of Action
Jan 26, 2008

Shut Down Guantánamo Now!
Jan 11, 2008

No U.S. Military Base in Vicenza
Dec 15, 2007

Meeting Iranian Artists
Dec 05, 2007

End the War in Iraq, No War on Iran
Oct 27, 2007

Report on Final Days of No Dal Molin Festival in Vicenza, Italy
Sept 16, 2007

Camping for Peace in Vicenza, Italy
Sept 12, 2007

Impeach Them Both +
Judiciary Fax Blast

July 23, 2007

I-M-P-E-A-C-H !
April 28, 2007

4th Anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq
March 20, 2007

No Dal Molin, Vicenza, Italy
Feb 17, 2007

Congress: Act Now to End the War
Jan 27, 2007

No Military Bases, Vicenza, Italy
Dec 2, 2006

No War, No Cluster Bombs
Sept 23, 2006

Protest Calling for Cease-fire in Lebanon
July 26, 2006

Military Spending
Bean Poll

July 18, 2006

Stop the Escalation
in the Middle East

July 17, 2006

Refusing to Kill
July 06, 2006

Shailja Patel:
Poetry in Times
of War

July 05, 2006

Troops Home Fast
July 04, 2006

Italian Vote on
Military Missions

June 27, 2006

Peace Parade
June 02, 2006

Michael Uhl of
Veterans for Peace

April 29, 2006

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Hidden in Plain Sight

April 26, 2006

War Tax Day
April 15, 2006

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Hotel Palestine: Killing the Witness

April 12, 2006

National Anti-war Protest in Rome
March 18, 2006

Soldiers Against War
March 18, 2006

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Aristide and the Endless Revolution

March 15, 2006

Women (and men!) Say No To War
March 8, 2006

An Eyewitness Account of Post Katrina New Orleans
March 2, 2006

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Life and Debt

February 09, 2006

Vote to Renew Italian Mission in Iraq
February 09, 2006

Cindy Sheehan
February 06, 2006

NBC Today
Show Blitz

February 06, 2006

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
The Revolution Will
Not Be Televised

January 26, 2006

Cindy Sheehan
In Rome

January 18, 2006

Crimes & Lies:
with Dave Lindorff
and Maurizio Torrealta

January 13, 2006

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Peace Propaganda and
the Promised Land

January 12, 2006

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
The Oil Factor

December 15, 2005

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Plan Colombia

December 01, 2005

Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre
November 30, 2005

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Wal-Mart

November 17, 2005

Protest at U.S. Embassy: White Phosphorus in Fallujah
November 14, 2005

Control Arms Petition
at Piazza Chiesa Nuova

November 12, 2005

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Invisible Ballots

November 10, 2005

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
The Corporation

October 27, 2005

Movie Night:
Viva Zapatero

October 25, 2005

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Hidden Wars of
Desert Storm

October 13, 2005

Anti-war rally
at U.S. Embassy

Sept 24, 2005

USC4P&J Social
at the Beehive

June 22, 2005

Die-In with
Articolo 11
at Palazzo Chigi

June 21, 2005

Collecting Photos
with Control Arms

June 18, 2005

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Unconstitutional

June 16, 2005

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Outfoxed

June 09, 2005

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Weapons of
Mass Deception

May 19, 2005

Vigil at Palazzo Chigi with Articolo 11
May 05, 2005

Vigil at Palazzo Chigi with Articolo 11
April 28, 2005

Vigil at Palazzo Chigi with Articolo 11
April 21, 2005

International Day of Protest
March 19, 2005

 

Eyes Wide Open Film Series, Part II
The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror

December 15, 2005

As our final film in the series before the holiday break, we screened The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror by Gerard Ungerman and Audrey Brohy. The film provides a wealth of information on the lead up to the invasion of Iraq, long before we were even aware of a lead up. (See the handout distributed at the screening)

The film gives us background information on the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), the DC based think tank promoting U.S. economic and military dominance. This organization, whose founding members include Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, has been pushing for removal of Saddam from office since it was founded in 1997, and wrote an open letter to then President Bill Clinton expressing their views.

The film includes interviews with a member of PNAC who makes some interesting statements. He claims that Iraq's huge oil reserves had nothing to do with the invasion. "We have plenty of oil." Though he admits it was quite fortunate that we happened to invade an oil rich country.

He also went on to say that increasing funding for things such as education and health care in the United States was "penny-wise and pound-foolish. Our schools have plenty of money."

In contrast we heard from retired USAF Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski who was working at the Pentagon in the lead up to the invasion. She talks about some of the underlying reasons for the urgency to take out Saddam, such as Saddam's decision to switch from the dollar to the Euro.

She also talked about the push to lift sanctions, a move which would have flooded Iraq with European and Asian contractors. Aside from the fact the U.S. would have been cut out of any contracts since they'd been bombing the country for years, there was also the issue of no longer being in a position to attack Iraq. They couldn't very well bomb the country if there were Europeans living and working there.

The maps superimposing locations of U.S. foreign military bases on the world's largest oil and gas producing regions were quite telling. As were the maps of proposed pipeline construction, with forethought given to keeping the oil out of the hands of competing nations such as China, Russia and India.

The film also includes an interview with Michael C. Ruppert, editor of From the Wilderness, who talks about how oil has become an indispensable part of our everyday lives. He gives the example of agriculture in which oil driven machines or petroleum or gas based chemicals are a fundamental part of the process so that for every calorie of food we eat, about 10 calories of hydrocarbon energy are consumed (note: this is an average, the rate is much higher for some foods. For beef it is 35 to 1, pork 68 to 1. See the article The SUV in the Pantry on Solar Today).

As this was our final film before the holiday break, we decided to have a brindisi with wine and food rather than our usual post film discussion. In hindsight, perhaps this wasn't the best idea. Though it is always nice to chat and get to know each better, this particular film brought up a number of interesting issues that warranted further discussion.

We did, of course, talk about the film and the consensus was a very definite "thumbs up."

If you haven't seen this film, we highly recommend it. See the official site to purchase the DVD: www.theoilfactor.com.

Stephanie Westbrook


Special thanks to Linux Club for their hospitality.

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Ongoing/Future Events


Our Eyes Wide Open Film Series is suspended; for further information click here.


Upshot of our Nov. 9th group discussion on current politics:

It wasn't the Russians that got us Trump. Or Comey. Or even the massive GOP election fraud. It was the DNC.*
*Dem National Committee

To learn how to stop the DNC from delivering us another Trump, read Autopsy: the Democratic Party in Crisis.


Photo of a school in Yemen bombed by Saudi Arabian jets supplied by the U.S. and fueled in the air by the U.S. Air Force. Tell Trump to STOP THIS CARNAGE, not fuel it! Click here.

Also participate in the CodePink email and/or phone initiative:




Click here to sign a petition, to put an end to the sanctions against Syria - their only effect is to take a terrible toll on the population, causing them to migrate! And click here to see the video by the Italian Committee to lift sanctions against Syria.



Iraq Deaths Estimator
Did someone tell you that U.S. military intervention in Iraq was over? Not true: we're at it again. This time the pretext to drop bombs is "curbing ISIS" (which was created by the U.S. in the first place, to overturn al-Malaki in Iraq and then Assad in Syria, and is now out of hand. Like what happened to "our" creature al Qaeda in Afghanistan). And the death toll continues to rise...
Write your senators and tell them: "Enough! U.S. out!! Iraq has shown it can curb ISIS by itself!"

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Copyright © 2005 Stephanie Westbrook  All rights reserved.
U.S. Citizens for Peace & Justice - Rome, Italy