CODEPINK Condemns President’s Decision to Send 1,500 More Troops To Iraq

CODEPINK PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

Jodie Evans, CODEPINK Co-founder, 310 913 1431, heartofj@gmail.com

CODEPINK Condemns President’s Decision to Send 1,500 More Troops To Iraq: Calls for an End to Funding War

Washington, DC  –– The peace group CODEPINK strongly condemns President Obama’s decision to send 1,500 more troops to Iraq and his request for $5.6 billion more for the Pentagon to combat ISIS. The peace group calls upon the President to heed his own advice, which is that there is no military solution to the ISIS crisis, and to pursue a political solution instead. The US needs to fund diplomacy, not more weapons that are now being used against the people of Iraq and Syria, and soon our own troops. 

“For months we’ve been hearing ‘no boots on the ground’ over and over from the administration, but with an additional 1,500, we now have 3,000 American soldiers in Iraq. When will we learn from our mistakes and stop repeating history?” Asked CODEPINK co-founder Jodie Evans. “Shame on the President for approving airstrikes without Congressional approval, sending more soldiers to Iraq, giving away weapons that are falling into the wrong hands, and now talking about keeping soldiers in Afghanistan. How did the Peace President become a warmonger?”

“It’s shameful that the administration is asking for more money to go to the already bloated Pentagon budget,” said Alli McCracken, the National Coordinator of CODEPINK.  “We’ve had a failed policy of war, war, war, in Iraq for over a decade, and it has only been counterproductive and economically draining for the United States. President Obama said himself that there was no military solution to the situation. We should be pursuing political solutions to deal with ISIS, instead of dumping $5.6 billion dollars that we badly need here in the US.” 

CODEPINK members are available for interviews.

###