Times Square Protest Marks Tenth Anniversary Of Afghanistan War
NEW YORK (WCBS 880/AP) - Wall Street wasn't the only protest site in town on Friday.
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The Granny Brigade and dozens of supporters from the Occupy Wall Street movement, who protested in Times Square, say that as the war marks its tenth anniversary, it's time to bring troops home from Afghanistan.
"It was not a nation who bombed us. It is was a bunch of extremists who happened to use Islam to justify their action," said Phyllis Rodriguez, who said her son was killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11.
Civil rights attorney Norman Seigal says the U.S. is scheduled to pull out troops in 2014, but it's not soon enough.
"We now have 1,700 U.S. troops who have died," he told WCBS 880 reporter Monica Miller.
President Barack Obama says the United States is safer thanks to the sacrifice of troops, diplomats and intelligence analysts during the now decade-long war in Afghanistan.
Obama noted the 10-year anniversary of the war's start in a quiet style, offering a written statement and holding no public events to mark the moment.
The White House says Obama has already led a national reflection on a decade of war - on the recent anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that led to the invasion of Afghanistan.
Obama saluted the more than 1,700 U.S. troops who have died in the war, along with the coalition and Afghan forces killed.
He said that because of the effort, "our citizens are safer and our nation is more secure.''
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