By Dan Bacher

Sacramento anti-war organizations held an emergency rally as part of a National Day of Action to oppose the war with Iran on June 18. The community rallied in downtown near the Memorial Auditorium.

The day of action was initially sponsored by the ANSWER Coalition, National Iranian American Council, the Palestinian Youth Movement, The People’s Forum and others.   

Demonstrations also took place in Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., Asheville, North Carolina and in dozens of other cities across the country.  

In Sacramento, co-sponsors of the demonstration included the ANSWER Coalition, Sacramento Peace Action, Palestinian American League, Jewish Voice for Peace, Code Pink, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Peace and Freedom Party and Democratic Socialists of America.  

“Israel’s latest attack on Iran was a totally unprovoked attack carried out with the backing of the Trump administration,” the coalition said in a statement. “The idea that Iran is about to get a nuclear weapon is a total lie, just like Bush’s lie about ‘weapons of mass destruction’ ahead of the Iraq War. Even U.S. spy agencies say they don’t think Iran is about to develop a nuclear weapon.”  

The Sacramento groups also asserted, “This was an illegal war of aggression carried out to achieve a goal that the Pentagon generals and foreign policy establishment have always dreamed of – overthrowing the government of Iran and installing a new government that will do whatever Washington and Wall Street wants.” 

The joint protesters went on to express concerns about what may happen next after U.S. bombers dropped huge payloads directly on Iranian targets over the weekend.

“There is a grave danger that this war could spiral out of control,” the coalition warned. “Trump is considering whether or not the U.S. should directly enter the war with a massive bombing campaign. But that could easily become “boots on the ground” and lead to huge U.S. casualties if Iran retaliates. The Pentagon has 50,000 soldiers across the Middle East – the entire region or even the world could be dragged into an even more catastrophic conflict … To pay for U.S. endless war Trump wants to slash Medicaid, food stamps, and other life-saving public programs.”

UPDATE: As of 11 a.m. on Monday morning, CNN was reporting that Iran had fired a barrage of missiles at U.S. military bases in Qatar and Iraq in response to the American attack.