Reuters promotes the “anti-war” groups and their cynical, ghoulishly manipulative “3,000 deaths” celebrations: Peace groups rally after 3,000th soldier killed.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. peace groups pledged on Sunday to start the new year with protests and vigils to mark the death of the 3,000th U.S. soldier in Iraq and to press their call for an end to the war.

“We must bear witness to this tragic milestone, even though many people are already beginning their celebrations of the new year,” the group United for Peace and Justice said on its Web site. ...

United for Peace and Justice, a coalition of more than 1,300 U.S. peace groups, urged demonstrators to wear black armbands or ribbons with the number 3,000 in white print and to phone radio stations and write letters to newspapers to call attention to the death toll.

The American Friends Service Committee put out a call for anti-war activists to rally across the country on New Year’s Day to mourn American and Iraqi casualties in the war. Group members in Dallas planned to ring a bell to mark the deaths in their demonstration in front of City Hall.

“We’re not pretending to appropriately honor those who have died,” said organizer Bill Betzen.

Oh, there’s very little risk you’ll be accused of that, Bill.