The following statement is from Brian Becker, national coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism).
The true state of the union will be demonstrated in a massive outpouring of anti-war protest in the days, weeks and months to come. Bush’s plan to escalate rather than end the war in Iraq is a clear indicator that the President is detached from the real state of the union.
In the coming months millions of people in the United States will be participating in anti-war demonstrations. Thousands of new volunteers and activists have been joining the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) in cities around the country to help organize these protests.
On this Saturday, Jan. 27, there will be a huge demonstration that will literally surround the Capitol building in a sea of protest. On March 17, there will be a March on the Pentagon starting from the Vietnam Memorial. This is the 4th anniversary of the start of the shock and awe invasion of Iraq and the 40th anniversary of the historic 1967 March on the Pentagon. ANSWER Coalition organizing centers are mobilizing buses and car caravans in cities throughout the United States to participate in these demonstrations.
The public mood in the United States in precisely where it was in 1969 during the Vietnam war. The anti-war sentiment is not simply a majority sentiment, it is overwhelming.
There is no light at the end of this tunnel. Unless the people come into the streets in record numbers as happened in Vietnam, the death toll among Iraqis and U.S. soldiers will only grow. The military adventure in Iraq has failed. It is unconscionable that one more Iraqi citizen or one more U.S. soldier should be required to give their life so that President Bush can postpone the perception of having failed in Iraq.
The ANSWER Coalition has organized the largest demonstrations in Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Los Angeles over the past years in opposition to the war and occupation of Iraq. On Jan. 18, 2003, it mobilized 500,000 people in Washington D.C. and on Sept. 24, 2005, it initiated the 350,000 strong demonstration in Washington D.C. demanding the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. and foreign troops from Iraq. For more information, visit AnswerCoalition.org.
