Antiwar organizers plan major D.C. protest
WASHINGTON -- Organizers are planning what they say will be the largest antiwar demonstration in the nation's capital since the Iraq war began in March 2003.
The ANSWER Coalition, along with United for Peace and Justice, detailed the plans yesterday for the Sept. 24 protest. They plan to bus in people from across the country for a march past the White House. Other major protests are scheduled that day in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Cindy Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son, Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed last year in Iraq, is on a 25-state bus tour that will end at the protest in Washington. The antiwar groups will coordinate with planned protests against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which are holding their annual meetings the same weekend.
Organizers believe the presence of Sheehan -- whose protest outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, has energized the antiwar movement -- and growing public sentiment against the war will produce a turnout of at least 100,000.
Brian Becker, national coordinator for ANSWER, said the protest will ''mark a turning point for the antiwar movement" and put pressure on the administration to withdraw US troops.
The groups FreeRepublic.com and Protest Warrior are organizing a smaller counterdemonstration. Karl Singer of Protest Warrior said the antiwar movement receives too much media coverage.
''Anti-Bush and anti-America and antiwar -- they get all the media attention," Singer said.
Public dissatisfaction with the war has been growing. The latest AP/ Ipsos poll found just over half of Americans surveyed said the country made a mistake by invading Iraq and disapprove of the way Bush is handling the war. But respondents seemed hesitant to say the troops should leave immediately. Almost 6 in 10 said troops should stay until Iraq is stable.
The organization Democracy Rising, meanwhile, has kicked off an antiwar effort in which church bells will toll weekly to honor soldiers killed in Iraq.
''The idea is to deepen the discussion about the human cost of the war and alternatives to it," said the group's director, Kevin Zeese.
