Palo Alto: Emergency Protest Against Planned Troop Escalation

EMERGENCY PROTEST AGAINST ESCALATION OF IRAQ WAR ~ PALO ALTO

Peninsula Peace and Justice Center will hold an emergency protest demonstration on Thursday, January 11, against White House plans to send more troops to Iraq.

George Bush is expected to give a major policy address on Wednesday, January 10, to outline his new strategy for Iraq; it is increasingly clear that he is likely to announce that he will be sending more troops. Although this action has been euphemistically dubbed a troop "surge" and it will be claimed that the troop increase is only "temporary," it is nothing less than an escalation of the war.

Community members will gather at one of Palo Alto's busiest intersections, El Camino Real and Embarcadero Road, to protest against this outrageous amplification of an outrageous and illegal failed war that has already resulted in the deaths of over three thousand U.S. troops as well as hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. As the U.S. should have learned from the Vietnam experience, escalation does not lead to greater stability, but leads inevitably to increased violence and bloodshed.

The Palo Alto protest will be one of hundreds taking place in cities and towns across the country. PPJC and other local activist groups will also be sending letters and petitions to local members of Congress demanding that they refuse to support or fund any such escalation. While many Congresspeople have made-and will probably continue to make-general statements opposing the war, criticizing policy without meaningful exercise of Congressional lawmaking and budgetary authority is an empty gesture.