[News] Relatives of US soldiers killed in Iraq protest outside US base

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Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 9:55 PM
Subject: [SBM] Relatives of US soldiers killed in Iraq protest outside US base

Relatives of US soldiers killed in Iraq protest outside US base

  Mon Mar 15, 3:03 AM ET

DOVER, United States (AFP) - Some 600 protesters, many of them relatives of 
US soldiers killed in Iraq or currently on duty in the region, marched 
against the war outside Dover Air Force Base in the northeastern state of 
Delaware.

One of the marchers, Fernando Suarez del Solar, said that he was "very 
disillusioned" with the US government of President George W. Bush.

"Bush lies and who dies?" he asked. "My son, Jesus Suarez del Solar Navarro."

The Marine lance corporal was killed in Iraq on March 27, 2003.

For Bush "to get involved in an illegal war and to play with the emotions 
of the American people with 9-11 (September 11, 2001) for politics is 
wrong," he said.

The march was organized by Military Families Speak Out, a group made up of 
people with relatives in the military, as well as the group Veterans for 
Peace.

The bodies of dead US soldiers are flown into Dover, a base that has the 
military's largest mortuary. The government however has been reluctant to 
let cameras record airplanes unloading coffins, and reluctant to let news 
reporters interview personnel wounded in Iraq.

Another marcher, Al McLaine, said he had 10 relatives in Iraq -- including 
his son, an army captain, who he said is "behind us 100 percent."

"What Bush calls the war on terrorism is an impossible war because 
terrorism is a tactic," said McLaine. "You will not end terrorism by 
invading a country."

The Sunday march was a "memorial procession" to "honor our fallen brothers 
and sisters, sons and daughters," as well as "Iraqis and the increasing 
number of people from other countries who have been killed and wounded," 
the group said in a statement.

The protesters marched more than five kilometers (3.5 miles) from a local 
gathering center to the giant Air Force base, but were not allowed entry.

According to the groups, the Bush administration "refuses to acknowledge 
the toll of this war -- including those who are killed and wounded."

"We call on this administration to start telling the truth, and stop hiding 
the toll," Military Families Speak Out said in a statement.

The protesters marched up to the base gates and read one by one the names 
of the US military personnel killed in Iraq.

A similar protest is scheduled for Monday outside the Walter Reed Army 
Hospital in the US capital, to be followed by a protest march outside the 
White House.

The protests are being held to coincide with the one-year anniversary of 
the US-led attack on Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040315/pl_afp/us_iraq_protest_040315080348



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