SPRINGFIELD — Sue Moore of Springfield held a sign directed at President Donald Trump at a No War with Iran rally at the Illinois Capitol on March 2.
“You can’t run America. Stop trying to run other (countries),” it read.
“I’m against this,” said Moore, 65, referring to U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Tehran over the weekend that took out Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “Trump did not even check with Congress. He does nothing legally. He does things so that it takes your attention away from other things.”
About 35 or so people gathered on the steps in front of the Lincoln Statue at Second Street and Capitol Avenue. The rally was put on by the Land of Lincoln Democratic Socialists of America, 50501 Springfield and the Party for Socialism and Liberation – Central Illinois.
Leaders of the groups led chants like “No justice, no peace, U.S. out of the Middle East” and “One, two, three, four, occupation no more.”
While protests cropped up in larger cities like Chicago, Boston and Minneapolis, there were also gatherings in places like Decorah, Iowa, and Springfield, Missouri, over the weekend.
Salem King was born within months of the beginning of Iraq War in 2003 and is sick of the U.S. track record of “useless brutality.”
“I am absolutely exhausted with this constant notion that by harming people in other places in the world, by slaughtering civilians in the Middle East or kidnapping the leader of Venezuela, for some God forsaken reason, that we’re going to be able to improve anything for anyone,” King said before the rally.
“We are not going to improve the state of things in Iran by bombing a girls’ school. And we are not going to improve the conditions here in the U.S. by spending of more the working class’ tax dollars on foreign interventionist wars that have failed pretty much every time since the Korean War.”
The BBC reported at least 153 people including children died after the reported strike hit the girls’ school in southern Iran, according to Iranian officials.
At least 201 people have been killed in air strikes in Iran and 747 hurt since Saturday, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.
Six U.S. service members have died after being wounded during Iran’s initial attacks in response to U.S. and Israeli strikes across the country over the weekend.
On that note, Moore said she hoped Trump didn’t create such a vacuum “that we end up going in there with (ground) troops because it’s not going to be Barron (Trump, President Trump’s son) who goes in. It’s going to be our kids.”
Wearing a “Make Love, Not War” shirt, Jessica Buchanan said she wanted her sons, 21 and 22 years old, to have a peaceful future.
“They care and think and want to be good citizens, not only of the country, but the world,” Buchanan said. “These days I feel like our country has stopped even trying to live up to our ideals and it’s heartbreaking and disappointing and I know we can be so much better than we are.”
(This story has been updated to add a video.)
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: ‘Useless brutality’: Dozens gather at Capitol, urging no war with Iran
Reporting by Steven Spearie, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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