WASHINGTON, 18 March 2007 — This Monday marks four years since the United States attacked Iraq, and anti-war groups are planning to protest the conflict over the next several days, at events in Washington, D.C., and around the country.
Thousands of anti-war demonstrators planned a weekend of protests in Washington.
On Friday evening, anti-war protestors walked through falling snow to the White House, where some were arrested protesting against the war in Iraq. The march to the White House came after almost 3,000 people assembled at Washington National Cathedral — organized by Christian Peace Witness for Iraq — for a rousing, emotional outdoor service that lasted over 90 minutes.
Yesterday, thousands plan a mid-day march to the Pentagon from the National Mall in Washington. War veterans and their families will lead the march starting at 12:30 p.m.
The protest also commemorates the 40th anniversary of the 1967 march on the Pentagon, when demonstrators rallied against the war in Vietnam. Organizers said this weekend’s demonstration represents similar public anger.
“Iraq is like Vietnam in the sense that both wars were based on lies, Brian Becker, the national coordinator for the umbrella pretest group Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, or ANSWER, told reporters Friday.
“Iraq is like the Vietnam War, and the war in Iraq will end only when the American people themselves become militantly opposed to the war and fill up the streets.”
Activists want the Democratic-led Congress to push hard for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, where more than 3,200 American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died since the war began.
Debra Sweet, national coordinator of World Can’t Wait, agreed. “Seventy-seven percent of the people in the country are openly against the war — even voted to change the Congress in order to stop the war,” she told the media. “All avenues are being sought, but they are not listening. So we have this opportunity to go out to the people and say, ‘They’re only going to be able to do this as long as we accept it.’”
The weather, however, has not been cooperative.
Scattered snow and sleet showers caused thousands of flight cancellations on the East Coast yesterday, and driving conditions were poor. Organizers said many contingents from some of the hardest-hit areas, including New England and New York, were scheduled to travel in bus and car caravans.
“They are doing everything possible to continue to come,” said Becker.
Other contingents were scheduled from New Orleans, Louisiana; Tucson, Arizona; Salt Lake City, Utah; and cities in Florida and California, among other locations, organizers said.
The cold rain and snow that drenched the Washington area throughout Friday did not stop protestors gathering on the sodden, muddy ground of the Mall’s Constitution Gardens to preview their countermarch activities. But the anti-war movement, while enjoying broader support than anti-war protests of the Vietnam era, is struggling to reach mainstream America. ANSWER spokesman Bill Hackwell said: “We’re feeling a shift in the general population of the country who are now opposed to the war and are now thinking about doing something about it, not only about voting but becoming active in the anti-war struggle.”
Hackwell said more Americans are demanding change because too much money is being spent on the war rather than on social security.
Other anti-war events are planned in the next few days across the country.
In Los Angeles, thousands of protesters were expected to take the streets of Hollywood yesterday and another Answer demonstration is expected in San Francisco.
United for Peace and Justice, which says it is the largest anti-war coalition in the US, said it was expecting thousands of people to turn up at a protest in New York today.
“The national anti-war movement is planning a unified surge of protest actions calling on Congress to end the occupation and for the immediate withdrawal of US troops,” said the group.
The protests come on the heels of congressional votes on Iraq.
Democrats failed to pass in the Senate a plan to withdraw US troops by March 2008, although a measure calling for a pullout by September 2008 passed a key panel in the House of Representatives on Thursday.
