Posted on 09/25/2005 10:04:15 AM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
WASHINGTON (AP) - Military families and others defending the war in Iraq took their turn Sunday to demonstrate on the National Mall, if in much smaller numbers, and counter the massive protest against the war a day earlier.
About 100 people had gathered before a stage set up on the eastern portion of the mall as the noon rally began. A large photo of an American flag served as a backdrop for the stage, and country music blared from speakers while other banners and signs proclaiming support for U.S. troops waved in the breeze.
John O'Neal, 64, from the Philadelphia area, carried an American flag over one shoulder as he moved around those near the stage. Asking ``Do you want to vote?'' he offered a chance to dip a finger in a cup of blue paint, symbolic of the elections earlier this year in which Iraqis showed off ink-stained fingers proving they had voted.
``This is an indication that efforts the United States has made in Iraq and Afghanistan have led to free and democratic elections,'' O'Neal said.
To the west, near the Washington Monument, workers were taking down the stage used for Saturday's marathon anti-war protest that attracted 100,000 people according to police estimates.
Organizers of Sunday event to show support for troops and President Bush's policies acknowledged that their rally would be much smaller. Still, they said their message would not be overshadowed.
``We're hoping for more folks,'' said Kristinn Taylor, a leader of FreeRepublic.com, one of the sponsors. ``People have been fired up over the past month, especially military family members, and they want to be heard.''
Earlier, Taylor said organizers were prepared for 20,000 people to attend the pro-military rally, billed as a time to honor the troops fighting ``the war on terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world.''
On Saturday, demonstrators opposed to the war in Iraq surged past the White House in the largest anti-war protest in the nation's capital since the U.S. invasion. The rally stretched through the night, a marathon of music, speechmaking and dissent on the mall.
In the crowd were young activists, nuns whose anti-war activism dates to Vietnam, parents mourning their children in uniform lost in Iraq, and uncountable families motivated for the first time to protest.
From the stage, speakers attacked Bush's policies head on, but he was not at the White House to hear it - he was in Colorado and Texas, monitoring hurricane recovery.
A few hundred people in a counter demonstration in support of Bush's Iraq policy lined the protest route near the FBI building. The two groups, separated by a police line, shouted at each other.
War supporters said the scale of the anti-war march didn't take away from their cause.
``It's the silent majority,'' said 22-year-old Stephanie Grgurich of Leesburg, Va., who has a brother serving in Iraq.
ping - didn't see this posted after a search
The article contains a falsehood, that the police estimated there were 100,000 people. The organizers claimed 100,000, but the police declined to make an estimate as is now their policy...
Watching it now on C-SPAN. A lot more "reasoned" people there,
not mindless, shrill protestors. It was noted yesterday that there was a lack of flags at the moonbat rally. Not at today's
support-the-war-effort rally.
Actually I guess we can count our blessings that there weren't
any American flags at the moonbat rally yesterday because had there been any, they would have been burning them, spitting on them, etc
Well .. they also mislead by saying 100 people for the war had shown up prior to the rally.
I'm looking at TV coverage - and there is way more than 100 people there. But the impression they made was our response was puny compared to the behemouth on Saturday.
But .. since the Guardian is not known for being much of a supporter of America .. it's easy to see why they wrote it the way they did - it fits their agenda.
Hope I am wrong.
It is my feeling this country has still not healed from the Viet Nam experience and a repeat could be our death knell.
Here is a photo of the rally:
This is what a crowd of 100,000 actually looks like:
The problem is that our side has kids, family budgets, classes and/or jobs and other commitments to occupy our efforts.
The anti-American Left, on the other hand, is unencumbered by such adult responsibilities and only has to worry about when their next welfare check is coming and whether or not their dope dealer is out of weed.
RE Post 9 - we need a picture from "The Day the Earth Stood Still" showing that same space in front of the White House where the flying saucer landed. Of course these anti-war/pro-terrorism folks are more out of this world than Klaatu.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here.
There are various reasons that rational people might not be enthused about the way we went to war in Iraq.
The point we need to emphasize is that we are at war and a hundred thousand plus Americans are in harms way and we cannot just withdraw without a disaster.
And that is just not an argument designed for sound bites - it involves commitment, sacrifice and reasoning.
So it's a tough job - but the alternatives to fighting it are worse.
You may have a point...but I don't consider waiting until the enemy attacks us to be "rational." It's that line of thinking that makes for multiple 9/11 and Pearl Harbor surprise attacks.
So it's a tough job - but the alternatives to fighting it are worse.
Nobody wants war...but this is a war we didn't start. Going after Iraq after 9/11 is no more unreasonable than our going after Nazi Germany after Pearl Harbor.
What really matters is the quality of the people who show up for an event -- as well as how well the event is presented. It's a first rate operation, with very thoughtful and articulate speakers. There wasn't a one worth listening to or being on the same platform with in yesterday's rant/yellfest. Besides the number of people actually showing up, they're doing a television production that is effectively reaching a broader audience -- which is just as important.
Before the age of television, the actual numbers attending an event might have been relevant but if one has to ability to attend a faithful rendering of the event, it's obvious to even casual observers of the differences in the quality of both participations and presentations. These people are doing honor and justice to those they are honoring -- while yesterday's rabble, do dishonor for all those associated with such embarrassments.
What's disturbing is the media's attempt to mislead. They quote that the organizers' grossly exaggerated estimates for crowd size yesterday was 100,000 and then corroborate by adding the officials don't provide their own independent estimates-- but then provide their own precise observation that the crowd at today's pro-rally is 100. Why not the organizer's estimate of what the crod is now? And then when writing of yesterday's participation, use subjective terms like "massive," "vast," "sea," while referring to today's, note "smaller," "sparse," "sober," and "circumspect," as their loaded terms.
But who really takes the "media" seriously anymore -- but the most gullible, and I think even they are onto them? Even the poor and homeless can be heard to think, "Here comes those assholes again."
Problems as I saw them:
Washington DC protests are a dime a dozen.
No hotels that don't cost an arm and a leg in DC. Rental cars are impossible to get.
Not where red-state Americans live. Next time, try middle America. We had 3-4,000 in Crawford.
The military moms need to have ONE UNITED organization from which to speak out for their family members. Their numbers alone if all united could be massive.
Our protestors don't get paid. It's out of their own pockets.
But still, you guys made me proud. It was like night and day when you say pictures, heard the difference betweent he two protests. Thank you everyone for not being SILENT this time around.
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