WASHINGTON - January 24 - While President Bush urged the nation to give his most recent plan for the Iraq war a chance, the response from the nation’s largest grassroots peace movement was an emphatic “no.”

“Mr. Bush wants us to give his plan a chance?” asked Kevin Martin, Executive Director of Peace Action. “He wants us to give a chance to a plan that directly ignores the advice of his generals, the suggestions of the Iraq Study Group, and the will of the American people? Would he also like us to give a chance for him to start a war with Iran, which seems more and more likely each time he speaks?”

“The answer to the President’s request will come this Saturday, in the form of a massive anti-war protest in Washington, D.C. and coordinated protests around the country, to be followed by a mass lobby day on Monday. The answer is ‘no!’ and if this Congress knows what is good for it as well as the country, they will tell the President ‘no’ as well.”

Martin also noted a few of the many hypocritical aspects of the President’s plan to escalate his war in Iraq, and his domestic agenda. “He talks about what the Iraqi people want, yet ignores their oft-expressed desire for our troops to leave. He talks about health care for Americans, yet sends troops with post-traumatic stress syndrome back to Iraq. He claims to want to balance the budget, but how is that possible with a war that analysts say will cost us over a trillion dollars by the time it’s done? Clearly this President is less tethered to reality with each passing day.”

Martin noted again that the message the peace movement will be giving to Congress is quite simple. “Congress must fulfill the mandate for peace that the voters gave this past fall. If they continue to fund this reckless, deadly and catastrophic war, it will not just be Bush’s war any more, it will be their war as well. And the electorate will not look kindly on this war in 2008.”

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