Thousands march to Pentagon to protest Iraq war
Washington,
Mar
18:
Thousands
of
anti-war
demonstrators,
some
carrying
yellow
and
black
signs
reading
''US
out
of
Iraq
now!''
marched
toward
the
Pentagon
today,
one
of
a
number
of
protests
held
or
planned
around
the
country
and
the
world.
The
march,
on
a
cold
and
cloudy
St.
Patrick's
Day,
comes
just
before
the
fourth
anniversary
of
the
start
of
the
Iraq
war
on
Tuesday
and
40
years
after
a
similar
protest
at
the
Pentagon
over
the
Vietnam
Var.
The
march
began
near
the
Vietnam
War
Memorial,
just
a
few
blocks
from
the
White
House,
and
proceeded
across
the
Potomac
River
toward
the
Pentagon.
One
sign
near
the
front
read,
''The
worst
tyrants
ever:
Napoleon,
Hitler
and
Bush.''
Frustration
over
the
Iraq
war
cost
President
George
W
Bush's
Republicans
control
of
Congress
in
elections
last
year
and
is
the
main
reason
his
poll
numbers
are
stuck
near
30
percent,
the
lowest
of
his
presidency.
Bush
also
faces
other
problems,
including
complaints
of
poor
health
care
for
US
veterans,
the
perjury
conviction
of
a
former
top
aide
to
Vice
President
Dick
Cheney
and
an
uproar
over
the
firing
of
US
prosecutors
that
has
prompted
calls
for
the
ouster
of
Attorney
General
Alberto
Gonzales.
Bush
unveiled
a
plan
in
January
to
send
21,500
additional
troops
to
Iraq,
further
stoking
anger
over
the
war.
The
number
of
extra
troops
being
sent
has
climbed
to
around
30,000
with
the
addition
of
support
troops.
His
plan
aims
to
quell
violence
in
Baghdad
and
the
western
province
of
Anbar.
The
march
marked
the
latest
protest
in
Washington
against
the
war
in
which
more
than
3,200
US
troops
have
died.
On
January
27,
tens
of
thousands
of
protesters
gathered
in
front
of
the
US
Capitol
to
pressure
the
US
government
to
get
out
of
Iraq.
Police
reported
that
about
two
dozen
protesters
had
been
arrested
late
last
night
in
front
of
the
White
House.
Bush
had
already
left
for
the
Camp
David
presidential
retreat
in
Maryland,
where
he
is
spending
the
weekend.
Several
hundred
supporters
of
the
war
held
their
own
nearby
counter-demonstration
and
carried
signs
stating:
''Win
the
war
or
lose
to
jihad,''
''Our
troops
are
shedding
their
blood
to
keep
terrorists
from
America,''
and
''St.
Patrick:
Drive
the
Democrats
from
our
land.''
Organizers
of
the
protest
march
said
the
turnout
had
been
hurt
by
a
winter
snow
storm
yesterday
that
moved
up
the
East
Coast
from
Washington
into
New
England,
disrupting
travel.
Police
in
Los
Angeles
said
they
were
expecting
5,000-10,000
protesters
to
turn
out
for
an
anti-war
rally
there,
while
other
demonstrations
were
planned
in
Austin,
Texas.
Protests
were
also
staged
or
planned
in
Australia,
Britain,
and
Canada.
Democrats
in
Congress
are
wrestling
with
legislation
to
set
deadlines
on
the
US
military
presence
in
Iraq.
A
proposal
to
be
debated
soon
in
the
House
of
Representatives
would
tie
approval
of
124
billion
dollars
in
emergency
war
funds
to
a
troop
pullout
by
September
2008.
Warning
that
a
US
withdrawal
would
worsen
the
violence
in
Iraq,
Bush
has
labeled
such
proposals
an
attempt
by
lawmakers
to
''micromanage''
the
war
and
has
threatened
a
veto.
''The
consequences
of
imposing
such
an
artificial
timetable
would
be
disastrous,''
Bush
said
in
his
weekly
radio
address
today.
Reuters