[Peace-discuss] DI: Protesters condemn troop increase in Iraq

[Ricky Baldwin]

By the way, shouldn't we write to Tim Johnson and
praise and stroke him for this?  And remind him what
we want him to do next ;-) ?

More letters to the editor would be good now, too... 
There have been some good ones lately ...
Ricky
--- Robert Naiman  <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com> wrote:

> Protesters condemn troop increase in Iraq
> Ill. Representative Tim Johnson expresses disdain
> for Bush's plan
> Sky Opila, Daily Illini, 1/12/07
>
http://www.dailyillini.com/media/storage/paper736/news/2007/01/12/News/Protesters.Condemn.Troop.Increase.In.Iraq-2628474.shtml
> 
> [If you go to the web site there is a nice
> slideshow.]
> 
> President Bush's public address Wednesday night
> launched protests
> across the country, including more than 487 protests
> sponsored by the
> activist organization MoveOn.org, which aimed to
> demonstrate
> displeasure with Bush's plan to escalate the efforts
> in Iraq.
> 
> One such protest took place at the Champaign County
> Courthouse
> Veterans Memorial, 101 E. Main St., in Urbana
> Thursday night. Roughly
> 30 people, many of whom are residents of the
> Champaign-Urbana area,
> assembled and held signs protesting Bush's public
> announcement of his
> plans to send more troops in support of efforts in
> Iraq.
> 
> "There are hundreds of events happening across the
> country like this
> event today," said Robert Naiman, national
> coordinator for Just
> Foreign Policy, an independent and non-partisan
> mass-membership
> organization dedicated to U.S. foreign policy.
> 
> Naiman said these events are trying to call on
> Congress to stop this
> decision by Bush.
> ...
> On Thursday, Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Ill., sent out a
> press release that
> expressed his opposition to the effort being put
> forth by Bush with
> regards to the war in Iraq.
> 
> "I do not support a build-up of 21,500 American
> troops in Iraq
> because, in my view, it is not in the best interest
> of our country to
> contribute additional troops to this war," Johnson
> said in the
> release. "The people of America and, most
> importantly, the 15th
> District made their collective voices heard Nov. 7."
> 
> Protesters were outraged over Bush's speech because
> of the clear cut
> opposition in a majority of polls across the nation
> and a local
> referendum in Champaign County that voted on Nov. 7
> to remove troops
> from Iraq.
> 
> Tim Grider, employee of the Veterans Administration
> for five years,
> drove 60 miles from his home in Indiana to attend
> the protest in
> Urbana.
> 
> "It's the one small thing that I can do to voice and
> show my
> opposition," said Grider. "For every one person
> that's standing here,
> there is probably another 1,000 that want to be
> here."
> 
> Naiman said he put the protest together in hopes of
> raising awareness
> with community members and pleading with them to
> contact their
> representative about stopping the escalation in
> Iraq.
> 
> "Our goal is to remind our representative and our
> senators that we are
> deeply and passionately opposed to the President's
> policy, deeply and
> passionatly opposed to the war ... and we want
> Congress to take
> responsibility to stop the escalation," Naiman said.
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>
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> 



 
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