04:00USA: 'Diplomacy, not war!' - Hundreds rally in front of WH against US involvement in conflicts after 20 years of war in Iraq
Hundreds of anti-war protesters rallied in front of the White House in Washington DC on Saturday, to protest US involvement in wars and funding of the war in Ukraine, marking 20 years after the start of the US war in Iraq.
Anti-war organizations and veterans organised the protesters, while the social liberal party and communists were seen raising their flags during the protests.
Protesters also were holding dozens of banners and signs, such as 'No to war, no to NATO! Diplomacy, not war!', 'For peace, disband NATO' and 'US capitalism: addicted to war'.
"We are closer to nuclear war now than we ever have been including the Cuban missile crisis. We are on a fast track," a protester said.
"There is no justification for that war at all (Iraq war). You know, we actually, Iraqi soldiers were in trenches, they were told to surrender, and we didn't get them time to make up their mind, we blow those and buried them alive, rather than giving them the opportunity to come out and surrender," a war veteran said.
On March 19, 2003, Washington, along with coalition forces, launched a military offensive on Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein under the pretext of disarming Iraq’s presumed weapons of mass destruction, plunging Iraq into bloodshed and chaos, resulting in the violent deaths of around 200,000 civilians, according to the Iraq Body Count project, although there are other estimations that increase or decrease this figure.
This was preceded by a series of developments that eventually led to the US deploying its army on the Arab country. On January 28, George Bush addressed the nation making it clear that the US military campaign to topple Saddam Hussein was only a matter of time.
04:00Hundreds of anti-war protesters rallied in front of the White House in Washington DC on Saturday, to protest US involvement in wars and funding of the war in Ukraine, marking 20 years after the start of the US war in Iraq.
Anti-war organizations and veterans organised the protesters, while the social liberal party and communists were seen raising their flags during the protests.
Protesters also were holding dozens of banners and signs, such as 'No to war, no to NATO! Diplomacy, not war!', 'For peace, disband NATO' and 'US capitalism: addicted to war'.
"We are closer to nuclear war now than we ever have been including the Cuban missile crisis. We are on a fast track," a protester said.
"There is no justification for that war at all (Iraq war). You know, we actually, Iraqi soldiers were in trenches, they were told to surrender, and we didn't get them time to make up their mind, we blow those and buried them alive, rather than giving them the opportunity to come out and surrender," a war veteran said.
On March 19, 2003, Washington, along with coalition forces, launched a military offensive on Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein under the pretext of disarming Iraq’s presumed weapons of mass destruction, plunging Iraq into bloodshed and chaos, resulting in the violent deaths of around 200,000 civilians, according to the Iraq Body Count project, although there are other estimations that increase or decrease this figure.
This was preceded by a series of developments that eventually led to the US deploying its army on the Arab country. On January 28, George Bush addressed the nation making it clear that the US military campaign to topple Saddam Hussein was only a matter of time.