Tucson demands: Hands off Syria!

Tucson, AZ – About 35 Tucsonans rallied outside the federal building here, Oct. 21, to demand “Hands off Syria.” The protest was organized by the Tucson Anti-War Committee with participation from the Alliance for Global Justice, Veterans for Peace, and members of the local Green Party. As busy traffic passed by, Chuck Kaufman of the Alliance for Global Justice addressed the crowd, “There is no such thing as a humanitarian intervention. Do you think the U.S. can enforce a ‘no fly zone’ on Syria without going head to head with Russia? Of course not. Our leaders are insane.”

U.S. taxpayer money has financed and armed so-called ‘rebels’ in Syria to destabilize the country and create the conditions for yet another regime change in the region. “The bombs falling in Aleppo make me ashamed of every American-made munitions destroying innocent Syrian lives,” said Bob Philips, president of the local Veterans for Peace and a Marine veteran of the war in Viet Nam.

Those in attendance shared their views with Fight Back!. “People are dying every day from poverty and a lack of clean water in the U.S.,” said Amelia Ariel. Looking that the bigger picture, Eduardo Quintana, a veteran and past president of the Machinists Union local strongly stated, “We need peace, we need to bail out student debt, we need money for jobs, healthcare and climate change not for war profiteers and creating chaos in the world while extending the corporate empire.”

Protesters are wary of Hillary Clinton’s campaign talk of ‘no fly zones’ and confrontation with Russia. Naval veteran George Mairs called Clinton, “a hawk!”

All of the action’s participants agreed to continue the fight to end U.S. wars and expressed the need to build the movement for peace.