Washington, DC- a leading advocate against President Bush’s Iraq Policy, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma) today addressed a diverse coalition of activists gathered on the National Mall.  Woolsey, the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, blasted the continued occupation of Iraq, and pointed out that recent attempts by the Administration to compare it to the US efforts in World War Two show just how out of touch Administration officials are.

“In a few months, our troops will have been in Iraq for as long as their grandfathers fought World War II,” Woolsey remarked, “But unlike the struggle against Nazism, this has been an unmitigated disaster, a national tragedy, a moral outrage “More than 2,500 soldiers of our own are dead,” Woolsey said, adding that “nearly 20,000 wounded by the Pentagon’s own count, and countless more psychologically traumatized.

“And for what?” Woolsey asked, pointing to the consequences of the President’s Iraq Policy.

“So we could make the world a more dangerous place and increase the terrorist threat?  So we could create more jihadists and inspire more hatred of American among Muslim extremists?  So we could foment a bloody civil war, and rip a nation apart at its seams…killing tens of thousands of innocent civilians for the cause of their so-called liberation."

The activists were gathered as part of a two week long gathering called “Camp Democracy,” which has brought peace and justice activists from across the country to Washington to protest the continued occupation of Iraq.  Woolsey used the opportunity to not only voice her opposition to the continued occupation, but to highlight her legislative efforts to offer an alternative, most importantly her SMART Security resolution which, when first introduced in 2005, received wide support.

“What we need is to completely overhaul the way we handle global conflict and prevent wars from starting in the first place,” Woolsey told the crowd.  “SMART protects America, not by wreaking violent havoc around the world, but by staying faithful to the most honorable American values.”

“For the sake of the next generation, the only future we’ve got…before we destroy civilization itself…we should strive for nothing less than an end to all wars,” Woolsey told the crowd in closing.