Cleveland Peace Action protests US sending more troops to Middle East

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CLEVELAND (WJW) — The Cleveland Peace Action organization is holding a demonstration in Market Square Saturday afternoon in response to the U.S. airstrike that killed of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Iraq.

The organization says the are “saying no to more” and are protesting the government’s decision to deploy more troops to the Middle East.

The United States is expected to send nearly 3,000 more Army troops to the Middle East following the attack.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said he authorized the precision strike against the commander of Iran’s security and intelligence services because he was plotting “imminent and sinister attacks” on Americans.

“We caught him in the act and terminated him,” Trump said Friday, a day after the strike that killed Qasem Soleimani.

Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate that Soleimani should have been taken out by his predecessors and he cast his decision as one of deterrence rather than aggression.

“We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war,” Trump said.

Around 5,200 American troops are based in Iraq to train Iraqi forces and help in the fight against Islamic State group militants. U.S. embassies also issued a security alert for Americans in Lebanon, Bahrain Kuwait and Nigeria.

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