We marched because we are distressed over the continued war in Iraq, an unprovoked, unnecessary war that has cost the lives of tens of thousands of Iraqis and nearly 2,000 US soldiers. We grieve for those families who have already lost loved ones in this war, and we want to stop other families from suffering such painful losses.
We marched because we will hold George Bush accountable for dragging us into this war on false pretenses. The September 11 Commission officially acknowledged that Iraq was not involved in the terrorist attacks on our nation, and the U.S. military gave up its search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction because they don't exist.
We marched because we support our troops, and we are convinced that the best way to show that support is to bring them home now and fully attend to their economic, physical, and psychological needs upon their return.
We marched because we're convinced that we can't afford to continue spending over a billion dollars a week on this unwinnable war, especially in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Our tax dollars should be channeled away from war and destruction and into rebuilding the Gulf Coast, rebuilding Iraq, and investing in our nation's healthcare, schools and infrastructure.
We marched because we're appalled by the war profiteering of companies such as Halliburton and Bechtel. We believe the Iraqis should rebuild their own country. And we want to stop the corrupt practice of awarding lucrative contracts to US companies with close government ties, as we have done in Iraq and are now repeating in the Gulf Coast.
We marched because we want to seriously address our nation's addiction to oil. We see our ruinous policies in the Middle East and the global warming-induced fury of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita as consequences of an oiligarchy that must be replaced by an economy based on conservation, efficiency and clean, renewable sources of energy.
We marched because our government is building 14 permanent bases in Iraq. Our military bases in Saudi Arabia were one of the reasons given by Al Qaeda for the September 11 attacks. We should not provoke new attacks against us by maintaining an ongoing military presence in the Middle East.
We marched because we're convinced that the war in Iraq is endangering our security. It is inflaming anti-American sentiment all over the world, it has turned Iraq into a terrorist training ground and it has actually increased the ranks of terrorist groups. It has also diverted attention and resources from capturing and bringing to justice those, including members of the Bush Administration, who conspired the attack of September 11. As Ralph Nadar said in his speech: "The Bush Administration is the most corrupt administration in the entire history of the United States." And as former Attorney General Ramsey Clark said: "The Bush Administration must be Impeached Now."
We marched because the war in Iraq is undermining the capacity of the US military. The military has been unable to reach its recruiting goals for months now, because young people don't want to be sent off to fight in a war they don't believe in. And as we have seen in the case of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, sending a significant portion of our National Guard troops and heavy equipment to Iraq has undermined our capacity to respond to emergencies here at home.
We marched because our presence in Iraqi is not helping the Iraqis. The US troops are not providing security to Iraqis - in fact more than 200 Iraqis died in the past two weeks alone. The US troops are not preventing a civil war, but provoking the insurgency and increasing the violence. We believe the Iraqi people would have a better chance of encouraging disenfranchised Sunnis to join the government and bring peace to their beleaguered nation if the US troops withdrew.
We marched because there are many indications that the Iraqis want us to leave. Polls taken just before the Iraqi election in January showed that a majority of both Sunnis and Shiites said U.S. forces should leave. In fact, one-third of the elected officials signed a letter calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops, and the Iraqi Sovereignty Committee of the National Assembly recently issued a report saying that Iraqi sovereignty was hampered by foreign forces and calling for a timetable for their withdrawal. And in June of this year, one million Iraqis - mostly Shiites - signed a petition calling for an end to the occupation.
We marched because we don't want to see our nation ever again engage in an unprovoked, pre-emptive war. We want our government to adhere to international law and to use force as an absolute last resort. We want to see our nation embrace the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, including the obligations of the nuclear powers themselves to disarm, since this is the only way we will truly rid the world of the dangers of weapons of mass destruction.
The Americans in Washington on September 24th and across the nation shall continue to speak loud and clear, reflecting the sentiments of our great Nation. It's too bad our government refused to listen to We, the People before invading Iraq. It's time they listen now. Nothing shall stop the Power of the American People until Bush resigns or is Impeached and his administration is held accountable for their crimes against humanity.
