Antiwar protest in.... Orange County

[question everything]

The ultimate protest resort

The antiwar protest that takes place every Friday across from South Coast Plaza might get a little bigger this week. Aliso Viejo activist Julie Colombero plans to bring a group to join protesters against the Iraq war from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the corner of Bristol Street and Anton Boulevard. She solicited volunteers for her "Wake Up, America" demonstration through the website of Orange County Grassroots, a progressive voters' organization. For information, visit www.ocgrassroots.com.

From http://www.dailypilot.com/politics/story/21162p-30035c.html

[Oerdin]

1. The truth is...

Troop levels in Iraq will be reduced by 50% with in the next year due to the 2006 Congressional elections along with the fact that we'll run out of Reserve and National Guard forces by next summer. Without your protest will still see 50% cuts.

Sadly, Iraq will be more unstable then ever but Bush will still order the withdrawal because Congressional Republicans want to get reelected and that is the only thing which matters to them. Currently, Iraq is in the worst shape it has been since the invasion and it is likely to get worse before and after the draw down. As someone who has been to Iraq I can tell you that between 2003-2004 we actually had nearly all of the Iraqis on our side but Bush's failure to get meaningful amounts of electricity and water working meant that most Iraqis turned against us. When I was stationed in Tikrit it took over two years before they ordered the repairs over the Euphrates Bridge and another six months before the repairs were done. Money was paid to contractors but for some reason a million and one reasons were found as to why the work couldn't be done and more money would be needed.

That is what caused this war to be a lost caused. Now all we can hope for is to pump up the Iraqi forces and withdraw as gracefully as possible. The problem is Bush can't even do that correctly. Instead after three years of "training" the new Iraqi Army has less then 40,000 soldiers compared to 500,000 before the war. The only conclusion I can reach is that Bush & Rumsfield don't give a shit about building up the Iraqis because if they did they'd be making orders of magnitude better head way.

[K8-EEE]

2. Good For You Guys!!

My dad's involved in the Studio City Peace & Justice vigils in the SF Valley -- the proGWB counter protest has dwindled down to 2 or 3 freep types while the P&J corner grows and grows. It's great!!