Mitchell




 * The Anti-Iraq War Protests**

In March 20, 2003, Iraq was invaded because of the belief they possessed weapons of mass destruction and were linked to terrorism. The invasion, led by the United States and president George W. Bush, was devastating for Iraq, some people believe more than 1 million people were killed and over 4.5 million people became refugees. And after the fall of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, no weapons of mass destruction were found.

** Contents ** Intro (Top). Why did people protest? Who protested? About the protests. What were the effects of the protests. Bibliography.

** Why did people protest?** There had been many protests before the invasion began to stop it, and after it had begun, there were many more protests for the countries involved to withdraw their troops. People protested because they believed that the war on Iraq was all about oil and that the U.S. government were making an excuse to get the oil. Others just wanted peace, they believed the war was pointless and people were fighting and dying for no reason. Also because people believe other countries shouldn’t have the right to interfere in Iraq, that the war wasn’t approved by the United Nations and because they didn’t think there was any threat from Iraq. The organizers of the protests were mainly anti-war groups such as the // Iraq Peace Action Coalition // and the // Troops Out Now Coalition //, from all over the world.

** Who protested? ** People from many different countries, races, ages and religions all over the world, came together in thousands of rally protests, big and small, to try and persuade the American government. Protests were mostly in Europe, however there were many protests in U.S.A. of people opposing their own government.

** About the protests. ** The protests mostly started in 2002 and thousands have been happening ever since, the latest march on March 19 2008, was on the fifth anniversary of the invasion. The protests gained a lot of publicity about the war, and have had some effect on governments around the world. People carried signs and banners saying things like “End the War Now“ and “Out of Iraq“, they also carried photos of victims and chanted things such as “No war for oil”. One protest in Rome became the biggest anti-war rally after 3 million people took part.

 After over 4,000 U.S. troops have been named or reported dead during the war and over 30,000 injured, more than half of Americans now believe the war was a mistake and increasing pressure is put on the American government. I believe the protests were of no harm and gave the issue a lot of publicity, if people had not shown their dislike of the invasion, it would have allowed this to happen again in the future, which would probably have far worse results. Governments will now have to give a lot more thought into issues like this, before resorting to invasion and war, so they will have to use more peaceful methods to deal with them.
 * What were the effects of the protests?**

 ** Bibliography  ** [|http://history.searchbeat.com] [|http://en.wikipedia.org] [|http://news.bbc.co.uk] [|http://www.globalsecurity.org]

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