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Posted on 09/24/2005 8:33:53 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES - Drums pounded, voices boomed and whistles shrieked as thousands of demonstrators marched in the shadows of downtown skyscrapers Saturday to protest America's involvement in Iraq, one of several California demonstrations on a day of protests across the country.
The crowd, a mix of people ranging from mothers pushing baby strollers to spiky haired punk rockers, chanted for an end to the bloodshed and waved signs that said, "Who would Jesus have bombed?" and "War is not the answer."
Police closed a downtown street to accommodate the protest, which they said drew an estimated 15,000 people. Protests across the country - including one in Washington, D.C., that was the largest in the capital since the U.S. invasion - came at a time when public support for the war and the Bush administration have been slipping.
"We went to Iraq to bring them peace and we are killing them, enslaving them," said demonstrator Arline White, 41, of suburban Monrovia. "We should start a gradual withdrawal of troops, but we've left a mess."
In San Francisco, several thousand protesters packed Dolores Park for an anti-war rally late Saturday morning, chanting slogans and waving signs that read "U.S. Out of Iraq," "Impeach Bush" and "How Many Lives Per Gallon?"
Protester Helen Lin, 23, of San Francisco, said she was discharged from the California National Guard last year because she refused to go to Iraq. Wearing a camouflage military uniform and a sign that read "I didn't sign up for this," she said she opposed the war.
The war "is for all the wrong reasons," Lin said. "The troops should be brought home now. Many of my battle buddies have already died. I don't think they should have gone to begin with."
Carilyn Goldammer of Arcata, 57, an elementary school teacher, said, "I think it's important that we show our numbers. Our government and our senators need to know that we don't want this war. There's no real reason for it."
In San Diego, more than 2,000 protesters marched through downtown to a city park where they displayed mock coffins commemorating the deaths of Iraqi civilians and white crosses to represent fallen American soldiers. A small group of counter-protestors turned out to support the war.
Linda Tubach, 52, a high school teacher who took part in the Los Angeles demonstration, was being pulled around by her Dalmation, which was festooned with a large, spotted peace medallion to match the dog's black-and-white coat.
"I would like to see immediate withdrawal and reparations paid to the Iraqi people," said Tubach, who said she visited Iraq in 2001 on a medical aide mission. "We attacked a defenseless country."
The marches were largely peaceful, although two people were arrested in Los Angeles detained for vandalism.
Funny how 15,000 people in a state of 33 million is considered a big deal.
But, she took the money and benefits right up to moment she was asked to honor her oath of enlistment.
These people don't have a clue - nary a clue - that this sixties mindset doesn't fly outside of their own little circle....they're hurting their cause yet they can't help it (kinda like the 'gay pride parade' crowd which shreiks the demands to be treated as mainstream, yet come nightfall show up in their boas and fishnet stockings).
I know people who joined up for the benefits, but none of them refused to be deployed.
And in other news, millions of people in the rest of the country DID NOT take to the streets and bash America.
It must really suck for the moonbats. They're trying their best to surpass the big demonstrations of the 1960's but they aren't even coming close.
the ap hacks are working overtime to put lipstick and rogue on this pig called anti-war and acting like it sells.
I don't think so.
If the same "peace" crowd had prevailed in WW2, we'd all be speaking German.. or at this rate,
Arabic soon enough.
Well smarty pants hypocrites.
Who are the babies Jesus would ABORT.
Freaks.
Dumb Freaks
Dumb, dumb and dumber freaks.
I don't know, but he drowned the entire world except for eight people.
These people remind me of nightclubbers - when they wake up in the morning they'll be hungover and looking over at the ugly POS partner they just screwed.
Beg pardon?
Exactly, bro. This is why I find these protesters (quite a few of them where I live) angering instead of just disgusting. They dare call Bush and conservatives murderers while it's obvious that they support child murder.
Sixties wannabees with a few aging hippies tossed in.
Didn't Jesus send something like 15,000 pigs flying over the edge of a cliff?
If the word was God and the word was Christ, then Jesus and God are one. If they are one, then Jesus drowned the entire world except for eight people.
So do I. Lots of them. That's why the Helen Lins anger me so much. Fortunately, there are not that many.
OTOH, watching the participation of the Guard in New Orleans brought back a pleasant memory or two. I spotted a captain I interviewed following his enlistment. His goal was to use his Montgomery G.I. Bill to earn his degree, earn his commission, and make a military career with the Guard. Glad to see he made it.
Probably Palestinians, Syrians and anyone trying to destroy Israel...
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