FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 9, 2014

Contact: Alli McCracken, CODEPINK National Coordinator, 860 575 5692, Alli@codepink.org

CODEPINK to Stage Protest at White House During President’s Speech Outlining Military Strategy in Iraq

When: 8:30 pm on Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Where: The White House (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, DC)

Washington, DC –– CODEPINK activists will gather at the White House to protest during the President’s speech in which he will outline a proposed 3-year US military involvement in Iraq. They will hold large banners and there will be an Obama impersonator in a large bobblehead and costume.

Activists are staunchly opposed to renewed US military intervention in the region. They maintain that ISIS gained strength because the American-backed sectarian Iraqi government alienated the Sunni population of Iraq. Further involvement would be counterproductive and result in the loss of even more lives.

“We can be a part of the solution this time, not the problem, but that won’t happen with bombs. We’ve been there, done that, and it didn’t work,” said CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin. “The American people are sick of war and the Iraqi people have suffered enough from our military aggression.”

“The US is not the target of ISIS, but if we become involved, we will be,” said CODEPINK National Coordinator Alli McCracken. “We are deeply worried for the safety of the people in Iraq and Syria as ISIS gains traction across the area, but this is a crisis that needs a political solution, not a military one. We can't afford to spend more money on more wars.”

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