People across the country and across the globe are planning protests to publicly condemn the recent US military attack on Syria. Add your event to the map or find a local action near you.

Once again, the United States is sliding towards a wider war in the Middle East. Only two days after the first allegations of the use of chemical weapons against a village in Syria, the United States has attacked an air base in Syria with more than fifty sea launched cruise missiles. With both Russian and U.S. forces on the ground and in the air in Syria, the risk of a wider war is real.

Both the United Nations Charter and the Chemical Weapons Convention provide means for international investigation and sanction of the use of prohibited weapons.  Unilateral use of military force in these circumstances by the United States, which has not been attacked and is not in imminent danger of attack, is unlawful.

There should be no further strikes against the Syrian military or government. U.S. forces in Syria should be withdrawn. There must be an independent investigation of the chemical attack through the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and immediate, urgent diplomatic efforts to end the war in Syria.

This attack, dangerous as it is in itself, has broader implications. It underscores how impulsive Donald Trump is, and how willing to make decisions on matters of life and death very quickly, on the basis of sparse evidence. More worrisome still, it shows us that there are no elements, either in the broader government or in the military, that appear willing or able to restrain him. It is urgent that the people of the United States act to prevent a wider war.