Iraq War Anniversary Brings Forth Many Protests Across The U.S.

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On Wednesday, March 19, over 100 people ended up protesting in front of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building in the nation’s capital of Washington, DC. The building ended up having to be barricaded and the entrances blocked. However, it did not stop a certain number of protesters who crossed through. In turn, they were arrested by police.

In front of the building, the crowd of protesters called it the true crime scene. One would ask: Why focus on the IRS building? But, it would take a few minutes to understand. The protesters in front of the building explain that the IRS gathers taxes. Then they add that the money collected from those taxes fund the war in Iraq.

In a recent study from Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, the war in the near future could cost $3 trillion dollars. He added that Iraq could cost at least $12 billion a month. Most of the reconstruction process in Iraq had come out from the pockets of US taxpayers.

Recently, two US Senators have requested a congressional inquiry of Iraq’s oil revenues to see if they can pay for its own reconstruction. They explain that while Iraq has money in banks across the world, it has not done much to improve the situation such as security.

A recent study from the Pentagon said that corruption is the main problem hurting Iraq’s reconstruction.

Amnesty International and the Red Cross issued separate reports calling Iraq a grave humanitarian crisis.

In Washington DC, there was also another protest in front of the American Petroleum Institute. The building is obvious as it has something to do with oil.

“I’ve watched with horror as Bush has lied about this war,” said 62 year old Craig Etchison, who is a retired college professor and a Vietnam War veteran. He adds: “I’m appalled at the number of civilians we’ve killed just as we did in Vietnam.”

But, Washington DC was not the only city where there were staged protests. Many protested in the East Coast, the Midwest, and the Southeast, and the West Coast. The protests look to be strong. However, there looks to be protests home and abroad.