Atlanta protesters demand U.S. back off in latest Middle East skirmish

ATLANTA — More than 100 people at a rally Saturday in Atlanta protested America’s involvement in the Middle East and what they see as the potential for war in the fallout over the Trump administration’s Thursday drone strike that killed Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani.

Chanting “1,2,3,4, we don’t want your racist war” and “Trump says more war, we say no more,” the protesters said America needs to focus on helping citizens struggling with homelessness or the financial devastation left by exorbitant hospital bills, not Middle East affairs.

Representing a coalition of different anti-war groups and those who think the president should be removed from office, the protesters further said two decades of war have exhausted both sides with nothing to show for it than more conflict.“

We are here to ask the question, ‘Why is there always money for war, but there’s not money for jobs, education or health care,’” Claudia Andrade of the Answer Coalition told protesters who gathered in a pocket park at the intersection of Euclid and Moreland avenues in Little Five Points.

“Where is the money for housing as more and more people are displaced from their homes as their rents skyrocket?” she asked. “We have a homeless crisis. We have a health care crisis.”

The demonstration — which was among several scheduled Saturday in cities across the U.S. — follows rising tensions between the Trump administration and Iran after Iranian-backed protesters stormed the U.S.’s embassy in Baghdad in late December and Soleimani’s killing shortly after the new year. The U.S. is planning to deploy close to 3,000 more troops to the Middle East in response to the friction, but President Donald Trump said he is not looking to go to war with Iran.

In earlier comments, backers of the president praised his latest military action. U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, said Trump’s order sent an unmistakable message: “Don’t mess with America.” U.S. Sen. David Perdue said Trump showed that when “American lives are threatened, he will not hesitate to act with strength.”

But protesters said support for a battle is coming from the same people who beat the drum for war but never have to fight.“

We have no business in Iraq in the first place,” Answer Coalition’s Estevan Hernandez told the crowd. “This is an occupation and we demand that the United States leave immediately.”

Nabilah Islam, a Democratic candidate for Georgia’s 7th Congressional District attending the rally, said the U.S needs to stop the endless wars and concentrate on healthcare and schools.“

Thousands of people die every year because they can’t afford health insurance,” she said. “It’s an outrage.”

Tee Stern, a member of the Atlanta chapter of refusefascism.org, said one day of protest is not enough, that Americans need to take to the streets every day like protesters in Hong Kong and Puerto Rico to get the change the demand.“

We can’t go home because when we do what they’ve done because normalized and then it becomes too late,” she said. “We have to have a sustained in the streets presence that won’t leave until they leave.”

The article was written by Lean Stafford with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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