New York, NY – Anti-war activists joined Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Bashar Jaafari, for a press conference at the U.N. on June 18, at 11:00 a.m. Paul Larudee, Joe Iosbaker, Judy Bello, Scott Williams and Jane Stillwater were observers of the presidential elections in Syria on June 3. They joined official governmental delegations from 11 countries, including Venezuela, Bolivia, Iran and Brazil.

The Americans were in four different Syrian cities, but their experiences were largely the same. They witnessed an outpouring of sentiment by 11 million Syrians for an end to the foreign-backed invasion of their land, and national unity to reconstruct a society that is secular and prosperous. They expressed this mainly by a vote for President Bashar al Assad, who has led the country in defeating the extremist, Al Qaeda-linked armies.

The observers are united in returning home to work against the American government’s intervention in Syria, without which this war would have been over long ago.

The following is a statement by Joe Iosbaker at the press conference:

My name is Joe Iosbaker. I’m an activist with the Anti-War Committee-Chicago, and also I’m part of the leadership of the United National Antiwar Coalition.

The Syrian people are an inspiration. They have withstood a terrible war, brought to their country by my government and its allies.

I observed the elections in Homs, where the death toll has been in the thousands, and one week after our visit, a car bomb targeting civilians was exploded by foreign-backed right-wing rebels.

I spoke with a medical student who wants to be an ophthalmologist like her president, Bashar al Assad. She and her young friends were confident that the Syrian people would go forward and rebuild their country.

The U.S. government denounced the election before it was held, and the governments that are behind the war in Syria closed the Syrian embassies in their countries so Syrians abroad could not participate. The Western media was shocked by the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in Beirut, Lebanon who lined up for three days to vote at the embassy there. These things showed me what these elections represent: a defeat for the U.S., NATO, the Zionists and the Gulf States, and a victory for the Syrians.

#NewYorkNY #AntiwarMovement #Elections #Syria #JoeIosbaker #UnitedNations #DrBasharJaafari #MiddleEast