Thursday, 4:30 PM
Activists plan to light-up Longfellow with candles to protest Iraq war
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
Local antiwar protesters plan to mark the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war with silence -- and candles. Organizers hope that as many as 300 people will converge on the Longfellow Bridge Monday night for a vigil that will stretch across the 2,125-foot span.
"It's an effort to have a peaceful statement to end this war," said Diane Hendrix of Somerville, an organizer with MoveOn.org. "To support our troops, and bring them back as soon as possible."
The vigil on the Longfellow is one of dozens of small protests scheduled in Massachusetts and 1,100 across the country, activists say. More than 3,200 members of the U.S. military have been killed in Iraq since the war began, including Pfc. John Landry Jr., 20, of Lowell, who died on Saturday.
President Bush today pleaded for more patience with the war effort, saying success is possible but "will take months, not days or weeks." The administration's plan to send 21,500 additional U.S. troops to secure Baghdad and Iraq's troubled Anbar Province "will need more time to take effect," especially since fewer than half of the troop reinforcements have yet arrived in the capital, Bush said.
Democratic lawmakers from Massachusetts blasted Bush's speech.
"Patience is not a strategy," said Senator John F. Kerry in a statement. "As we enter the fifth year of war in Iraq with American soldiers policing a civil war between Iraqis, it is clear we need a new policy and change must come from Congress."
US Representative Martin T. Meehan, who just returned from a fact finding tour of Iraq, said in a statement that the president's escalation strategy is "deeply flawed" and will only lead to a greater loss of life and "billions more dollars wasted."
"By every account, the situation in Iraq is getting worse, not better," Meehan said.
Protests in Massachusetts tonight are planned in Andover, Brookline, Plymouth, Falmouth, Hyannis, Newton, and several other places. This Saturday, activists are planning an anti-war rally on Boston Common. For the Longfellow candlelight vigil, more than 150 people have already promised to participate and organizers expect twice as many could show up.
"People standing together can end the war," Hendrix said.
Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.
