Iraq war protesters step up pressure to bring US troops home

US anti-Iraq war activists, after a massive demonstration Saturday in Washington, are mobilizing this week to pressure lawmakers to stop the deployment of additional troops to Iraq.

The move comes as the US Senate is expected to vote on a no-confidence resolution next week against President George W. Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq.

VoteVets, an association of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, is running a television announcement based on the slogan, "If you support escalation, you don't support the troops," inverting a key argument the Bush administration uses to answer the plan's critics.

Bush announced in early January he would send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq, a move its detractors deem an "escalation" and which the Senate is currently debating.

"When it comes to Iraq, America is divided. On one hand, you've got two-thirds of the American people, a bipartisan majority in Congress, the Iraq Study Group and veterans like us, all opposed to the escalation.

"On the other hand, there's George Bush, who supports escalation," said the VoteVets soldiers, one of them missing a hand.