Replies

These 'people' disgust me.

People who are pacifist or Quakers, that are consistant in their beliefs, who wouldn't support a war like WWII because of their beliefs, I have no problem with and I can respect them for their beliefs.

Those folks haven't taken a side in this war. International ANSWER has picked a side and it's the side that is killing our soldiers. They take this grief stricken families and prarade them around for their political purposes. Medea, Lessin and there ilk would be just happy as clams to call our troops baby killers and imperial stormtroopers. The ONLY reason they don't is because middle America slapped them down when they started that crap this time around. So noe they "care" about our soldiers and carry American flags at these rallies. The flags come only after we noted they didn't carry them or if they had them, carried them in a diesrepctful manner.

My son spent 10 months in Mosul, even got to go throw a 'house warming' party for the brothers Hussein. On December 7, he was pulled off his Humvee at the last miniute to do riot control. A few moments later, the Humvee was hit with an IED and his best friend was killed. He consideres these 'pacifist' to be comrades with the slug that murdered his friend.

Group protests war, honors dead

By Bill Potter, Delaware State News
DOVER - About 350 antiwar protesters marched from Camden Friends Meeting House to Dover Air Force Base, home of the nation's largest military mortuary, Sunday to kick off a two-day anti-war rally that will end in Washington today.

The protest, called The Dover to DC Memorial Procession, includes longtime activists and newcomers.

Central to the event were several parents whose children were killed while serving in Iraq.

Sue Niederer of New Brunswick N.J., Lila Lipscomb of Flint Mich., and Fernando Suarez del Solar of San Diego, all of whom lost children in the war, participated in the march to commemorate Thursday's one-year anniversary of the start of the conflict.

At about noon, U.S. Rep. Charles D. Rangel, D-N.Y., arrived in Camden.

"Somebody has to speak for those who can't speak for themselves," Rep. Rangel said. "Don't feel awkward about speaking up, people all over America are listening."

Laura Barnes, a freshman at Wesley College, said Rep. Rangel was right on target.

"This is really important," she said. "People need to know what is going on."

Ms. Barnes said the Department of Defense policy barring media from viewing the arrival of remains when they arrive at the base was a big reason she was participating.

"The media is being controlled," she said. "That's just what (Saddam Hussein) was doing in Iraq."

Leah Burcat, a senior at Caesar Rodney High School, the local coordinator for the Student Peace Action Network, said she became involved because she felt the current war with Iraq was a tragedy.

"I don't think we should have gone to war preemptively," she said.

Ms. Burcat, one of a handful of young people attending the march, said the lack of youth involvement was troubling.

"It's kind of sad," she said. "A lot of teens are apathetic."

A little after 12:30 p.m., the protesters began organizing for the 31/2-mile trek to the base's North Gate.

A police escort from the Camden and Wyoming police departments controlled traffic as the marchers moved out.

The group moved along Del 10, keeping to the right side of the road.

Along the way, some people driving by honked their horns in support, while others shouted expletives as they passed the protesters.

Opponents to the march lined the road here and there making equally forceful remarks questioning the protesters' patriotism.

Most refused to give their names for publication.

Charlie Judd of Camden had no such hesitation.

"Every soldier has made a choice to go and fight," he said, holding a sign saying, War Is the Answer. "It looks like everyone here has forgotten (the terrorist attacks of Sept, 11, 2001)."

Mr. Judd's fiancée, Erlinda Robertson, had the same opinion.

"They made a choice," she said of the solders. "That's their job."

Others like Darlene Odonnell of Dover pulled over to watch and muse on her own feelings.

"This is awesome," Ms. O'Donnell said. "I wish I could join them."

Ms. O'Donnell said, while she is 100 percent behind the troops, all the killing has her very concerned.

When the crowd came to the base's North Gate, they turned right.

Though never entering the base, they lined the fence along U.S. 113.

Parents of fallen warriors eulogized their children and pledged to try and end the war.

Across the street, Raul Deming of Takoma Park Md., set up a small public address system.

"Do you know who you're marching with?" he asked. "These people are giving the enemy an incentive to kill more soldiers."

This was too much for Ms. Niederer.

She ran across the street toting a poster of her dead son, 1st Lt. Seth Dvorin, in his Army blue uniform.

Lt. Dvorin, 24, a member of the 101st Airborne Division, was killed in Iraq last month while trying to disarm a roadside bomb.

"Have you had any children killed?" she shouted at Mr. Deming. "That's a group of good people over there."

"No they're not," he said. "Do you know who you're marching with?

"It's mothers like you who will cause more soldiers to be killed," he told her.

Ms. Niederer, stunned by the comment, bent her head and said, "I'm going back across the street to mourn."

As other parents told of their losses, Mr. Deming continued with his counter demonstration.

Through it all, ribbons on black wreaths whipped in the cold afternoon breeze.

Base spokesman Lt. Col. Jon Anderson watched the proceedings from a distance.

"These people have every right to protest," he said. "That's what I joined the Air Force for and what I went to Iraq for.

"I went so the people of Iraq would have the same right to protest as these people do."

The procession then organized to resemble a funeral motorcade, traveling to Baltimore with headlights blazing.

Event organizer Gordon Clark said the group would spend Sunday night in a Baltimore church before traveling to Washington's Lafayette Park today.

At the park, which is across the street from the White House, the names of service members killed in Iraq will be read.

They will also hold a rally outside Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where many of the wounded are hospitalized.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Staff writer Bill Potter can be reached at 741-8225 or wpotter@newszap.com.

Military families march for peace

By BETH MILLER Staff reporter 03/15/2004

By plane and bus and car, in wheelchairs and in hiking boots, with banners and funeral wreaths in hand, about 200 people walked Sunday from the historic Camden Friends Meetinghouse to the Dover Air Force Base, home of the U.S. military's largest mortuary.

It was the first of a two-day "Trail of Mourning & Truth" that continues this morning with a walk of about 6 miles from Walter Reed Army Medical Center to the White House.

They walked Sunday to mourn those who have died since the beginning of the war in Iraq, to call for an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq and to protest the Pentagon policy that keeps families and the media from attending the return of remains at Dover's mortuary.

They walked to a rhythmic drumbeat and the toll of a bell after names of casualties - military and civilian - were read aloud by marchers.

They walked past the home of Bob, Beth and Bridget Cady.

"I agree with every sign on them," Bob said as an American flag flew on the front porch of his Camden-Wyoming Avenue home. "We stayed at home today to make sure we were witnesses to this."

"These are people who know real sacrifice and suffering," Beth said. "It's not political for them. ... We're patriotic. We love this country. It's why we care so much."

They walked past the Fruitland Grange Hall and followed Del. 10 across U.S. 13. There, police stopped traffic - including Doug Fluharty of Caroline County, Md., who was taking his family out to eat in Dover.

"These people need to get a life," Fluharty said as he waited. "If we didn't go over there, we'd be in a lot worse shape now than we are. And what would we have done if we pulled out of World War I or World War II? Where would we be now? You've got to do what you've got to do."

At the end of the line was Rich Gardner of Horsham, Pa., who was in the Navy for nine years until he suffered a stroke on the job a few years ago. Gardner, who uses a cane to walk, carried a sign that read "Support Our Troops. Bring 'Em Home."

"I am not a pacifist," Gardner said. "I do not believe all war is wrong. But I believe this particular war is wrong. ... I felt this action would be good for humanity in general."

When they reached the air-base fence, a Korean War veteran from Veterans for Peace played "Flowers of the Forest" on the bagpipes. Family members spoke of their sons and read the names of casualties. U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., a Korean War veteran, told participants he has introduced a resolution calling for an end to the policy that keeps families and the media from attending the return of remains at Dover, provided the families' privacy is protected.

Air-base officials have said the policy, which started in 1991 during the Gulf War, is intended to expedite the return of fallen troops to their families and to protect the families' privacy.

But many marchers Sunday said they believe the policy is intended to keep the American public from grasping the human toll of the war.

"It is immoral to close the door here," said Fernando Suarez of Escondido, Calif., whose son, Jesus, was killed while serving with the Marines in Iraq. "The American people have the right to see the truth - the injured boys and the body bags and the Iraqis, too."

Lila Lipscomb of Flint, Mich., carried a picture of her son on a sign that read "Black Hawk Down is not a movie to this mother." Her son, Sgt. Michael Pedersen, was killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq last April.

Jane and Jim Bright of West Hills, Calif., carried a picture of their son, Sgt. Evan Ashcraft, who was killed July 24. He was with the 101st Airborne when his humvee was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. As Jane spoke of him, a demonstrator across the road tried to drown out the speakers with his bullhorn, urging them to stop what he called an "anti-American" march.

Sue Niederer of Pennington, N.J., whose 25-year-old son, Seth Dvorin, was killed in Iraq on Feb. 3, marched across the street to confront the demonstrator.

Not all military family members had lost loved ones. Some were veterans of the Vietnam War and other conflicts. Some had sons in Iraq.

Pat Gunn of Lansdowne, Pa., said her son, Jason, heads back to Iraq today after spending time in a military hospital in Germany recovering from an explosion that killed a soldier behind him. Her son lost hearing in his left ear and was hit by shrapnel.

Larry Syverson of Richmond, Va., said he had his cell phone turned off because he had just heard five soldiers were killed in Baghdad in the previous 24 hours. All he could think about was his son, Bryce, who has been in Iraq since May. He is expected home in a few weeks.

"There will be five American families notified that it was their sons or daughters," Syverson said. "It's a game of Russian roulette and five families are going to lose. ... I haven't turned my cell phone on. I don't want to hear gravel on my driveway. I don't want to hear a knock on the door."

Reach Beth Miller at 324-2784 or bmiller@delawareonline.com.