Anti-War Demonstrations in US Cities to Protest Bush’s ’Major Victory’

The United States witnessed on Wednesday and Thursday a series of anti-war demonstrations o protest the US war in Iraq marking the fifth anniversary of the US invasion.
 
Anti-war activists managed to rally huge numbers of people to organize these demonstrations in US major cities like Washington , New York , Miami and Chicago , Los Angeles and San Francisco , while politicians and the public opinion are still divided over a pullout timetable for withdrawing 155 thousand US troops from Iraq .
 
Moveon organization expected on its website that more than 850 persons will take part in a candlelight vigil near the White House “to mark anniversary of sacrifices offered by US families and the billions of dollars spent in Iraq although they should have been invested in The United States”.
 
In New York, anti-war grandmothers of soldiers will stage a sit-in in front of a US army recruiting in the Times Square and will show socks of soldiers whose legs were amputated and gather sheets and covers for Iraqi children .
 
Meanwhile, US president George Bush marked on Wednesday the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq through defending his controversial decisions and refused to backpedal despite the high price stressing that “a major strategic victory” against terrorism is looming.
 
Bush confirmed in a speech that he delivered on Wednesday in the US Department of Defense “Pentagon” that victory can be attained in Iraq and he warned against a rash US troop pullout.
The US Democratic presidential candidates promise a withdrawal if elected next November.
 
Bush acknowledged that during the war there were victory moments and tragic moments and that the human and financial losses of the war were high.
 
Bush criticized those who “are still calling for withdrawal” from Iraq . War and economy are key factors in the presidential campaign as Americans hope for a coming decision of US troop cuts.
 
The US president said that” Those opposing the war have lost their credibility when they said that we lost the war”, referring to threats from terrorists and Iran .
 
 
Anti-war activists from the US Democratic Party said that the war in Iraq has topped the US administration”s priorities instead of Afghanistan which is more important for the United States according to them.
 
It is worth mentioning that the war cost has reached more than 500 billion dollars and cause deaths of four thousand US soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis in addition to displacing several millions of Iraqis inside and outside Iraq .
 
Although the war in Iraq is a top issue in the US presidential elections scheduled to be held later in 2008, but the deteriorating US economy is now on top of cares of the US voters.
 
Mohamed Ghanem, a Muslim Brotherhood leader in Britain , confirmed to Ikhwanweb that the US administration”s current problem is in the economic side. The US dollar is facing its worst days. The US–controlled international monetary system is mainly based on the US dollar. To support its economic system and political position, the US administration uses its military force, he said.
 
And the American administration saw that the mechanism is moving its armies from America to Iraq , and the origin that The United States shows its military muscles for the imposition of an economic and political domination as Ghanem mentioned .
 
This also proves, Ghanem points out, that the political and even the general conditions in Arab and Muslim World has reached its weakest stages in human history, luring the US administration to intervene in order to reform under claims of democratization.
 
The US-adopted war strategy is a major strategy that mainly aims to protect the Israeli entity, to hedge divisions among Islamic and Arab states one, and aims also to maintain a political hegemony that secure interests coming from its control over oil resources, he said.
 
Asked about the effect of the worldwide anti-war activities and demonstrations against the war in Iraq , Ghanem said:” The US political machine has regulations. It doesn”t change with the departure of an administration like what happens in the Middle East countries. The US decision cares in the first place for US interests. Even if a change happened in the US decision, it will take place in a phased process to be in line with existing strategies”.