Chicago – A coalition of anti-war groups came together today, Sept. 10, outside the Federal Building here to take a stand against U.S. plans to bomb Syria and intensify its intervention in Iraq. The press conference was timed to take place before President Obama speaks tonight to push the plan for air strikes and another $500 million for the U.S. proxy army trying to overthrow the government of Syria. The groups in Chicago included Voices for Creative Non-Violence, Gay Liberation Network, 8th Day Center for Justice and the Anti-War Committee (AWC) – Chicago.

The following are the remarks by Joe Iosbaker of the Anti-War Committee (AWC)-Chicago:

“We’re here to add our voices in opposition to new wars launched by the U.S. in Iraq and Syria. Like most people in the U.S., we are sick of war after 13 years of it.

“Last summer, I travelled to Syria to witness the elections there. I learned that Obama wasn’t telling the truth about Syria. We’d been told that the people of Syria wanted the U.S. military to intervene there. In truth, I found that the Syrian people – I met and interacted with thousands at polling places in Homs, in Damascus, and even saw refugees at the Syrian consulate in Beirut, Lebanon – what they want is to defeat the U.S.-backed armies.

“When President Obama speaks tonight, there’ll be no debate. Both political parties, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, all support these moves to war. The rise of the Islamic State, IS or ISIS, was the perfect pretext that our rulers here needed to get us into another war.

“They needed something to help them convince people here; because we saw last year that world public opinion wasn’t ready to go to war behind the U.S. in Syria. Even the U.S. lapdog, the United Kingdom, wouldn’t support that plan to attack Syria, also based on a lie that the Syrian government used chemical weapons.

“We have to refuse to go along with Obama’s attacks on Iraq and Syria.

“They say ‘More war! We say, no more!’”

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