Streets in Hollywood, Calif. were filled with performers who limped like zombies, cradled busts of dead family members, and nursed wounded soldiers on March 20, as thousands protested the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Participants in the "U.S. Out of Afghanistan and Iraq Now!" peace protest rallied to demand immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Middle East.

Cal State Fullerton student Tamara Khoury was a lead organizer of the event, and a member of Act Now to Stop War and Racism, the organization that put on the demonstration. A.N.S.W.E.R. was formed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, and has branches in nearly every major city. Members of the group have organized some of the largest demonstrations in recent years, including the annual March 20 multi-city marches.

This year, Khoury helped bring the Topanga Peace Alliance, Teamsters Union, LA Workers’ Voice and the Long Beach Area Peace Network involved in the rally.

Khoury was a guest speaker at the demonstration, and delivered an impassioned speech advocating the dropping of all charges against the Irvine 11, a group of UC Irvine students arrested for protesting the visit of Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren to their campus.

"It is extremely hypocritical of UCI to bring a representative of Israel, a country whose government completely destroyed 18 schools and damaged another 200 in the Gaza Strip last year, to speak on its campus," she said. "And it's the same government who continues to demolish and take over Palestinian schools and the West Bank so that illegal Israelli settlers can seize and build upon the land. On behalf of the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, I extend my solidarity to the Irvine 11 as they face unjust and obvious discriminatory punishment."

Marching protesters carried signs, and sang songs expressing sentiments that 9/11 was an inside job, expressed disgust with the Obama administration, and pleaded to end the wars and put more money into education and jobs.

"It's really the veterans that have had their lives deeply impacted," she said. "I myself went to a public school and they constantly told me they were bankrupt and there was no money for schools. Meanwhile, they were pumping hundreds of millions of dollars everyday into the application of Iraq and Afghanistan. So, we all feel it. It's impacting us all at some level.”


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