Both Sides Take to the Streets

[unhappycamper]

This article printed in full with the permission of the author.




A U.S. Capitol Police officer uses pepper spray to keep protestors from crossing a police line on Sept. 15 during a protest against the Iraq war.


Both Sides Take to the Streets
The Connection Newspapers
By Amber Healy
September 18, 2007


Most stories about Sept. 11, 2001 mention the bright blue sky above New York City that morning, just before two planes hit the World Trade Center towers.

A similarly sapphire sky welcomed an estimated 100,000 protestors to Washington, D.C. on Saturday, Sept. 15 for a pair of rallies, one sponsored by Gathering of Eagles, a self-proclaimed "pro-troop" organization, the other by the ANSWER Coalition urging the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

Protestors came from San Francisco and New York, from West Virginia and Rhode Island, carrying signs and chanting slogans with equal passion and dedication to their respective beliefs.

"Someone needs to speak up for our side," said Beth Hill of Columbus, Ohio, whose daughter is serving with the Army in Iraq.

"If we take off and leave , it’s going to be a bloody massacre and the insurgents will only get worse," she said. Hill, who retired from the Air Force, said the long drive was no sacrifice compared to the 120-degree weather her daughter endures daily.

Johnda Kapteina, who made the trip with Hill, said that while "no one likes war, the men and women over there have a job to do. We need to support them and if someone has a problem with that, they need to take it up with the president and Congress, not the soldiers."

Speaking on behalf of Move America Forward, an organization created in 2004 as a counterpart to the politically liberal MoveOn.org., Melanie Morgan said those who are against the war need to remember "this is not another Vietnam. We need to remind that hippie crowd that we won’t let them dominate the conversation again. Our armed forces will be the most lethal enemy Al Qaeda has ever dreamed of, now and forever."

In the past, Morgan said, those who protested the war have not faced any verbal opposition in support of the troops. She urged the few hundred people in the Gathering of Eagles rally on the Mall to be as loud and passionate as their counterparts when they faced each other at a scheduled die-in in front of the Capitol Building later that afternoon.

WEARING A BLACK beret, Chris Hill, the national director of operations for Gathering of Eagles, thanked the veterans in the crowd for their service and urged those around them to remember their sacrifices on the battlefields of Vietnam, Korea and the first Gulf War.

"We are standing here today to tell those miscreants these veterans fighting in Iraq today will not be treated the way my brothers the Vietnam vets were when they came home and were called baby killers and were spit on," Hill said. "Too many people are saying it’s time to move on and forget 9/11. I’ll tell you what. Maybe 2,700 years from now, one year for every person murdered during the attacks, maybe then I’ll think about forgiving and moving on, but until then, I say no," he said, throwing his microphone to the stage to thunderous applause and chants of "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!"

A member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Henry Cook recalled the cold, bitter winter weather the protestors faced during the last rally in March.

Echoing Hill’s words, he said he was happy to see the surprised faces of the "miscreants" when they met the counter-protest in front of the Capitol six months ago.

"The streets aren’t theirs alone anymore," he said. "We need to remind them the fastest way to end the war is to surrender, but that is simply not an option and it never has been."

Wearing his dog tags and camouflage jacket, recently discharged U.S. Marine David Tracy was happy to see so many people out supporting his brothers and sisters in arms.

Tracy spent 14 months in Iraq during his two tours of duty, and the difference from when he first arrived to when he left were "like night and day," he said.

"It was complete pandemonium, with firefights breaking out all the time," he said. "Now, there’s still some problems and the Iraqi army has a long way to go, but schools are open and businesses are open. It’s a slow process but you can see the progress."
Tracy admitted some Iraqis are resentful of the presence of American troops, but he believes anyone would feel the same if an occupying force were patrolling their streets and neighborhoods.

"They know why we’re there and they appreciate that we’re trying to help them," he said.

Joined by a small group of service friends, Tracy said the anti-war protestors who claim to be supporting the troops do not realize "you can’t support the troops and be against the war. I’m sure there’s some good souls over there who mean well, but this is our job and we were sent there to do this job," he said.

He hopes for the day the country will be united under a common call for freedom and peace for everyone once terrorism has been eliminated, but realizes that day may never occur.

"People need to remember, we’re all volunteers," Tracy said. "We all need to be courageous to defend our freedom."

AT THE FAR EDGE of the Gathering of Eagles rally, a woman stood with her daughter and some young men, holding a sign for the ANSWER Coalition rally. After being unnoticed for 30 minutes or more, they were eventually confronted by a group of men, standing nose-to-nose and shouting back and forth, until the anti-war group backed away.

"I just don’t understand how anyone can be pro-war," said Ray Haning of Charleston, W.Va., picking up his sign across town on his way to the anti-war rally in Lafayette Park.

It was the second rally for Ray Haning and his wife, Hedda, who made the trip for the second time this year to speak out against the conflict in Iraq.

"This war started with lies about the weapons of mass destruction, from the president and his cronies," Hedda Haning said. "They were just implementing a pre-planned war agenda using an attack on the World Trade Center as an excuse for something they would’ve done anyway."

If the U.S. was not involved in Iraq, Ray Haning said the money could have been used to create a national health care system, provide education for needy families and renovate and repair the entire national highway system.

Hedda Haning said she was not sure if lawmakers would receive their message, but "we’re certainly going to try."

In the park, Juan Torres of Chicago carried a poster with a photo of his son, a U.S. Army officer who was killed in Afghanistan last year. Torres said his son came home from high school one day and told him he had decided to join the Army, but neither Torres nor his wife ever signed permission for their son to join before graduating.

"I don’t want to see more families hurting like my family does," he said. "When one person in a family dies, the whole family does. Now I go to high schools and talk to students and parents about what happened to my son."

Torres said his son was shot in a shower while on a military base in Afghanistan.

"When he first came home from boot camp, he told me it wasn’t for him and we tried to get him out," Torres said. "They told us he could go to jail for 17 to 22 years if he didn’t come back. He went back, and now my baby son has died. I received his medal in the mail."

WITH PINK TIARAS and feather boas around their necks, Renee Davis and Dianne Budd arrived from San Francisco to attend the rally on behalf of Code Pink, an anti-war group formed by women.

"I’m thrilled to see so many people here," Davis said. "We began our work when the war started by giving pink slips to members of Congress and President Bush. Now we’re here to speak out against the war and the possibility of attacks against Iran, which seems to be the next part of their agenda."

Budd wanted to draw attention to the "war based on lies" and the "nearly 1 million Iraqis, mostly civilians, that have died since we invaded Iraq. The troops are just there to defend Exxon’s interests in the Persian Gulf, and it’s totally unacceptable," she said.
A veteran of the Vietnam War, Tarak Kauff said he hoped soldiers in Iraq would follow the lead of other soldiers who refused to follow attack orders on the battlefield.

"That’s one way to stop the war. If people don’t carry out the orders, they can’t keep the war going," he said.

A soldier’s first responsibility is to defend the Constitution, Kauff said, and "if anything, this particular war is unconstitutional. All wars are bad but before this, we’ve never attacked a sovereign nation without a reason."

Joy Henson and Brenda Young of Westerville, Ohio wore white pieces of paper around their necks representing Iraqi women killed during the war. They were part of a planned "die-in" in front of the Capitol, an act of civil disobedience designed to illustrate the number of Iraqis killed in the war by a large group of people pretending to be dead by lying on the street.

"I’m a realist," Young said. "I know this one thing isn’t going to change the administration in any way, but I want my conscience clear that I’ve done something to speak out against the war."

"From the beginning of all this, my biggest concern was for all the innocent Iraqi women and children who might be killed," Henson said. "We need to bring the troops home now."

AT THE END of the rallies, members of Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War marched in formation to the steps of the U.S. Capitol, said Tony Teolis, a Vienna resident and president of the local chapter of Veterans for Peace.

"This was by far the most impressive gathering of IVAW guys I've had the opportunity to see," Teolis said. "They kept themselves looking good and stayed in formation like they were on patrol."

Teolis compared the marching soldiers to the colonists who protested tea tax during the Boston Tea Party.

"This was the first time we've had soldiers taking what's valuable to King George," he said.

During the march, VFP representatives would stop to talk with members of the Gathering of Eagles about their understanding of what it means to defend the Constitution, Teolis said.

Some of the soldiers reported being pepper sprayed by the Capitol Police for crossing the chain-link fence in front of the Capitol, but that didn't stop some IVAW members from climbing over the fence, into the hands of police to be arrested for their civil disobedience.
"Four guys from my chapter followed them in solidarity," he said. "Our national president, Elliot Adams, went over too. From what I’m hearing, the ANSWER organizers and their lawyers stayed until Monday afternoon when the last person was released."

© 2003 Connection Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.

[C_U_L8R]

1. Gullible galoots ain't they?

[ananda]

2. Sinister galoots.

They aren't nice and hokey... even if they look and act that way.