Saturday, June 21, 2014

Obama Response to Iraq Crisis Spurs Evolving Anti-War Movement

Sunni militants affiliated with al-Qaida breakaway group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, captured four strategic towns in Iraq's Anbar province today. To the east, in the capital, Baghdad, tens of thousands of loyalists of the rival Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr marched with assault rifles, rocket launchers, and other advanced military gear, signaling their commitment to combating the ISIS siege in the northwest of the country. The Obama administration announced on Thursday that it was sending 300 military advisers to Iraq to assist its government's fledgling attempt to push ISIS out of the country. This decision marks the first overt US military intervention in the country since US troops departed in late 2011. As a result, the very anti-war movement that opposed the initial US-led invasion in 2003 is back on the streets, though, as KPFA's Andrew Klein reports, there are many differences between then and now.