Biggest Christian antiwar protest expected at White House

Iraq war protesters to converge at White House

by Nadia Teskrat 2 hours, 1 minute ago

Thousands of people are expected to converge at the White House Friday in the first of several demonstrations marking the fourth anniversary of the increasingly unpopular Iraq war, organizers said.

Christian Peace Witness for Iraq has organized a worship for Friday night at Washington's National Cathedral to be attended by 4,000 people who will then hold a candlelight procession to the White House, the anti-war group said.

A vigil will take place in front of US President George W. Bush's official residence and 700 people have indicated their readiness to be arrested in an act of civil disobedience, the group said.

The group has billed the event as the biggest Christian peace demonstration since the March 20, 2003, US-led invasion of Iraq, but rain and possible snow forecast for Washington could dampen attendance.

Anti-war activists have heavily mobilized since Democrats took control of Congress from Bush's Republicans in November elections marked by voter anger at the war.

Activists want the Democratic-led Congress to push hard for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, where more than 3,200 American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died since the war began.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to demonstrate Saturday in a march from downtown Washington to the Defense Department's Pentagon headquarters, said protest organizer Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER).

"We're feeling a shift in the general population of the country who are now opposed to the war and are now thinking about doing something about it, not only about voting but becoming active in the anti-war struggle," ANSWER spokesman Bill Hackwell told AFP.

The war has grown increasingly unpopular, with recent polls showing that a majority of Americans now say the invasion was a mistake and want the US government to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

Hackwell said more Americans are demanding change because too much money is being spent on the war rather than social needs like health care, education and employment.

"It is not an exaggeration to make this connection about the funding that gets cut for needed social programs and the money going to the Pentagon," he said.

War veterans and their families will lead the march starting at 12:30 pm (1630 GMT) Saturday.

Other anti-war events are planned in the next few days across the country.

In Los Angeles, thousands of protesters are expected to take the streets of Hollywood Saturday and another ANSWER demonstration is expected in San Francisco.

United for Peace and Justice, which describes itself as the largest anti-war coalition in the United States, said it was expecting thousands of people to turn up at a protest in New York on Sunday.

"The national anti-war movement is planning a unified surge of protest actions calling on Congress to end the occupation and for the immediate withdrawal of US troops," the group said in a statement.

The leftist group MoveOn.org is also organizing candlelight vigils for Monday in Washington and across the country, spokesman Steve Hoffman said.

The protests come on the heels of congressional votes on Iraq.

Democrats failed to pass in the Senate a plan to withdraw US troops by March 2008, although a measure calling for a pullout by September 2008 passed a key panel in the House of Representatives Thursday.