Reply #11: Even as support for war shrinks, few protest it

[LisaT]

"fear of being labeled unpatriotic..." Pfft! Do we need to carry a dictionary? (Apologies if this is a repeat.)


"Even though polls say a majority of Americans think President Bush has bungled the war in Iraq and now oppose it, anti-war organizers are struggling to get new converts to tell someone besides pollsters that the country needs to change course.

Activists say the fear of being labeled unpatriotic or unsupportive of the nation's troops will keep many anti-war newcomers away from today's 11 a.m. demonstration in San Francisco and the hundreds of others around the country marking the third anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Organizers expect several thousand demonstrators to show up for the downtown march and rally at Civic Center, compared to the tens of thousands who strode down Market Street in the weeks before the war.

The movement's focus has shifted in the past couple of years from the street to online organizing and opposing military recruiting in high schools. But anti-war forces are still frustrated that more Americans -- and Congress -- haven't actively opposed the administration's policy."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/03/18/PEACE.TMP&type=printable