Aspen, CO Colorado

CARBONDALE — Valley residents who oppose increasing U.S. troops in Iraq and favor closing the U.S. military detention facility at the Guantanamo Bay, are staging a rally in front of the post office in Carbondale at noon today.

According to organizer Jane Veit, a member of the group Wake Up Now, the effort began as part of an international day of protest against prisoner abuses and questionable detention policies at the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba.

But the Internet political action organization MoveOn.org has been working on a similar widespread protest against President Bush's expected call for more troops in Iraq, known as a "surge" of troops, also today.

So, Veit said, she is combining the two concepts into one rally.

"It'll be about both," she said Wednesday, adding, "It's time we all started demonstrating again. It's way too quiet out there."

She said she alerted the Carbondale Police Department to the rally plans and has invited Mayor Michael Hassig. Hassig, who recently returned from a vacation, said he was not sure whether he would be able to attend the rally because of business concerns.

But he said he felt "there are a lot of important questions that need to be answered" regarding the future U.S. role in Iraq and the situation at Guantanamo, where terror suspects have been in custody since early 2002, and would try to attend for that reason.

The rally, Veit said, is not affiliated with Wake Up Now or any other local organization, but instead is a gathering of the general public.

Wake Up Now is an organization of valley residents who gather at a flagpole in front of Carbondale Town Hall at 8 a.m. every Monday to read aloud the names of soldiers who have died in the war in Iraq, an activity they plan to continue until the war ends.

John Colson's e-mail address is jcolson@aspentimes.com