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For Immediate Release
Contact: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Iraq Violence and Occupation

WASHINGTON

As violence in Iraq increases, the Washington Post reports: "U.S. troops could be forced by Iraqi voters to withdraw a year ahead of schedule under a referendum the Iraqi government backed Monday."

CHRIS HEDGES
LAILA AL-ARIAN
Hedges and Al-Arian are co-authors of the book Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians. A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, Hedges has written extensively on U.S. policy in Iraq as well as Afghanistan and other critical foreign policy issues. Al-Arian said today: "As the U.S. escalates its war in Afghanistan, let it look no further than Iraq. More than six years after we invaded and destabilized that country, the violence continues unabated, and it's always the civilians who suffer most. Given the latest violence, there are calls for U.S. troops to reverse their withdrawal from major Iraqi towns and cities. But as U.S. troops themselves have said, as long as the occupation continues, so too will these brutal attacks."

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