Plan an action at the LA Bechtel office on June 5th!

Los Angeles, California

707 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 3281

Los Angeles, CA 90017

Tel: (213) 996-1900

Fax: (213) 996-1901

DIRECT ACTION TO STOP THE WAR

FOUR DAYS OF ACTION AGAINST BECHTEL

AND THE CORPORATE INVASION OF IRAQ

June 1 - June 5, 2003

Days of Action:

Sunday, June 1:

Day of Religious Outreach and 7:00pm Teach-In. Gather at places of worship to distribute information on Bechtel's human rights abuses.

7:00pm Teach-in at Unitarian Universalist Church at Geary and Franklin in SF, on Bechtel, the Corporate Invasion of Iraq and the Middle East and the drive for Empire. Co-sponsored by the Forum Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Church.

Tuesday, June 3:

Day of Direct Education and Outreach. Meet at Montgomery BART in SF or at Oakland 12th Street BART at 7:30am, Noon, and/or 5:00pm to distribute materials, engage in conversations, perform street theater, etc.

Wednesday, June 4:

Day of Direct Education and Action at Congressional and Federal Offices. Demand legislation opposing the corrupt rebuilding process and corporate invasion; support real alternatives providing for Iraqi self-determination and humanitarian needs.

Thursday, June 5:

Shut Down Bechtel's World Headquarters, Offices and

Sites! In San Francisco, 7:00am at Bechtel World Headquarters, 50 Beale

Street (Montgomery BART off of Market), a day of nonviolent direct action, rally, music, dancers, art, speakers, and community leaders fighting and winning against Bechtel. In Washington, DC: a protest at Bechtel's corporate offices. In Nevada: a protest at the Nevada Test Site (managed by Bechtel). Other events in the works.

Bechtel Must be Held Accountable, Not Made More Profitable!

Background:

Stop Bechtel's war profiteering. Stop the Bush Administration from taking money from our schools and communities to subsidize Bechtel - leaving desperate human needs unmet in Iraq and the U.S. Lend your voice and activism to on-going community struggles against Bechtel.

Two wars and over a decade of sanctions have crippled Iraq's infrastructure. It is imperative that the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people - particularly the right to self-determination - take precedence in the rebuilding effort.


Unfortunately, the Bush Administration is putting U.S. corporate profits over humanitarian needs, awarding a 0 million 18-month contract to the San Francisco-based Bechtel Corporation - a company with one of the worst human rights and environmental abuse records in the world, far more likely to line its own pockets than meet the needs of the Iraqi people, a company with intimate ties to the Bush Administration, and a company that helped bring us into the war in the first place and is now profiting from it.


This type of crony capitalism underscores the need to remove the control of Iraq's resources and reconstruction from the Pentagon and the Bush Administration and put it into the hands of the Iraqi people, humanitarian relief organizations and the United Nations.

Bechtel's contract includes rebuilding the drinking and wastewater systems in Iraq. A Bush Administration plan for "a broad-based Mass Privatization Program" of state-owned industries in Iraq may also include water -raising the specter of Bechtel seizing Iraq's water to increase profits at the expense of the Iraqi people.

A few samples from Bechtel's record of putting profits over people provide reason for concern:

Just over a year ago, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors canceled a contract with Bechtel for the management of the city's water systems upgrade. Bechtel was doing unnecessary and overpriced work and charged the city for tens of thousands of dollars worth of personal expenses. Many also feared that Bechtel had its eye on privatizing the city's water.

After privatizing the water systems in Cochabamba, Bolivia, a Bechtel subsidiary made the price of water so expensive that many, particularly the poorest users, could no longer afford it. Bechtel then, at best, sat still while the Bolivian government met mass public protests with deadly force. In the end, the people of Cochabamba prevailed and the government canceled Bechtel's contract. In response, Bechtel is suing Bolivia for million in lost profits.

In the 1980's, with the help of then Middle East envoy Donald Rumsfeld, Bechtel aggressively lobbied the Iraqi government to allow Bechtel to build an oil pipeline from Iraq to Jordan, while Hussein was simultaneously bombarding his own people and the people of Iran with chemical weapons. Hussein called off the deal. Now Hussein is out and Bechtel is in - this time, pumping water instead of oil.

Stop the corporate take-over of Iraq. The needs of the people of Iraq and the U.S. must be met. It is time to act. Please join us!

Direct Action to Stop the War

www.actagainstwar.org bechtel@riseup.net 415.820.9649