WP: Iraq War Protesters Name Hundreds Lost (OUR Vets turned away at WH)

[diamond14]

Iraq War Protesters Name Hundreds Lost
Memorial Held Across From White House

By Manny Fernandez
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 16, 2004; Page B04


They read aloud the names of the dead, one by one.

Standing on a box of a stage in the park across from the White House, a group of antiwar activists, veterans and military family members leaned into two microphones and called out the names of men and women they had never met. Some wiped tears from their eyes, and some simply stepped off the stage after they were done, hands in pockets and heads down.

Officials have barred media coverage of the bodies of troops arriving at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, and activists said that the president's decision not to attend funerals of soldiers killed in the war illustrates the administration's reluctance to acknowledge the rising number of dead and wounded.


"These human consequences are being deliberately hidden by the Bush administration," said Gordon Clark, 42, national coordinator of the Iraq Pledge of Resistance, one of the groups sponsoring the procession. Clark said the idea for the demonstration took shape in November in response to the president's absence at funerals for fallen soldiers. "Well, if he will not go to a funeral, perhaps we can bring a funeral to him," said Clark, of Silver Spring.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61443-2004Mar15.html

(great photo of a Vietnam Veteran being arrested at the gates of the White House....this should be FRONT PAGE of every paper in America....OUR Veterans turned away from the White House by bush* police).....

[revcarol]

1. We are going to read EVERY name, the Brits, the Poles, the Spaniards,

etc. We estimate it will take over two hours.

The only unnamed ones will be the Iraqi dead, whom we will honor with massed Luminarios.

[Terran]

2. Their attempt to pretend that there have been no deaths in Iraq

is the most disgusting thing this administration has done, in my opinion. Simply inexcusable, their behavior. And that's not my partisanship talking. Any American should feel the same way. If Clinton had done such a thing, I would be just as pissed off.

Dirk

[Cobalt Violet]

3. Lack of media

The media is helping them downplay any deaths too. It's not covered too well. I know there is a ban against showing body bags but... I don't understand why the media is just going along with it. Nobody is defying it at all, not even once. No one is even questioning it.

[dArKeR]

4. Just the kind of moral Christian you'd want your children to grow up as.

aWol, an example for the world! And that's why the world, 70%-90% reject aWol. The only thing keeping aWol propped up in the U.S. is the GOP Mafia American Media.

[diamond14]

5. Photos of OUR Veterans, Military Families outside White House.....

Judith Simmons of Maryland takes part in a protest aginst the war in Iraq, outside the White House in Washington, March 15, 2004. Before marching to the White House, the group took part in observances at the Walter Reed Army Hospital, residence of many U.S. servicemen and women who were wounded in Iraq. REUTERS/Molly Riley


A woman holds a sign while taking part in a protest against the war in Iraq, outside the White House in Washington March 15, 2004. Before marching to the White House, the group took part in observances at the Walter Reed Army Hospital, residence of many U.S. servicemen and women who were wounded in Iraq. REUTERS/Molly Riley


A passersby (L) argues with Iraqi war supporters near the White House in Washington, March 15, 2004. The war against Iraq was the right action to take because Saddam Hussein posed an "urgent" threat, U.S. officials said on Sunday, as they defended the U.S.-led invasion on its first anniversary. The Bush administration, a year after the March U.S.-led invasion, is dogged by questions of whether it exaggerated the threat from Iraq to gather support for the war, as no stockpiles of biological or chemical weapons have been found. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas


Peaceful protesters against the U.S. military involvement in Iraq gather one-block from the White House in Washington, March 15, 2004. Police blocked access to the front of the mansion and protesters remained down the street. REUTERS/Larry Downing


Protesters carry a mock-coffin, symbolizing those killed in Iraq, while protesting in Washington March 15, 2004. Before marching to the White House, the group took part in observances at the Walter Reed Army Hospital, residence of many U.S. servicemen and women who were wounded in Iraq. REUTERS/Molly Riley REUTERS

[rfkrocks]

6. its amazing these protesters are considered "fringe"

our great American media was too busy being embedded to ask the hard questions-Thanks for the post and pictures-at least someone is telling the truth about the real cost of war! Did you notice that there is a strange relationship between the GOP hiding the financial cost of the war (keeping it off budget) and hiding the wounded and dead soldiers?

[diamond14]

7. CBS now covering this protest (photo and link)

D.C. Demo: Bring Home The Troops!

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2004

AP) War protesters marched more than five miles Monday to the White House from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where many wounded soldiers are treated, urging President Bush to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq.

"The administration needs to start telling the truth, stop hiding the toll and bring them home now," said Gordon Clark, 43, of Silver Spring, Md., coordinator of the Iraq Pledge of Resistance, which organized the protest with Military Families Speak Out. "No one should be dying on a false case for war."

The demonstration was part of a two-day rally that began Sunday in Dover, Del., to mark this week's one-year anniversary of the war. Participating were veterans and members of families who have lost loved ones, with many of them wearing signs that read, "Mourn the Dead, End the War."

Jean Prewitt, 53, of Birmingham, Ala., mourned the loss of her 24-year-old son Kelley, during fighting south of Baghdad last April. A former supporter of Bush, Prewitt said she refuses to vote for him now after he waged a war based on alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that have yet to be found.

"My son died in vain, and I'm frustrated and mad," Prewitt said at the demonstration outside the White House. "I believed our president, but he didn't come clean. He never attended a funeral of a slain soldier and he won't even show remorse."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/16/iraq/main606512.shtml

[peacetalksforall]

8. I hope someone reads the names of the young kids who lost limbs and

their minds and their immune systems. And I hope someone names the journalists and Red Cross workers and all the rest of the casualties.

DON"T YOU JUST LOVE WAR - it's so destructive. And we're on our way to another Christmas when war loving people will send Christmas cards that say Peace On Earth, Good Will to Man and they will have banners on the churches that say the same thing. And they won't stop loving war all the way through the season.

Where are the peace making leaders of this world? Why hasn't anyone come forward with a plan to find peace and/or a truce? Is no one thinking peace is possible? So fight to the death and blow up the world. It's really hard to take.