Posted on 09/09/2006 12:32:33 PM PDT by mdittmar
Horn honks and catcalls were heard but, to their chagrin, war protestors assembled outside Municipal Auditorium Saturday generated limited public interest or participation.
“I don't know how we do it, but we need to get more people involved,” John Stanford, 81, told about two dozen fellow war opponents on hand.
The fiery WWII vet has attended weekly protests on Main Plaza since just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Five years later, turnout has dwindled from dozens to just a few each Thursday at 4 p.m., but Stanford's anger over the war shows no sign of subsiding.
“All of us have a responsibility to speak out against the war crimes being committed in our name,” he said.
There were nods of agreement from his audience seated around the Vietnam War Memorial.
Frustration over perceived public apathy regarding U.S. policy in Iraq also was voiced by Tom Wetzler, of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
Saying corporate greed is fueling the conflict, Wetzler, 55, asked, “How long do you think the war would last if American companies weren't making billions in Iraq?”
He pointed out that the U.S. combat death toll in Iraq is approaching the number of 9/11 casualties.
To move public participation in the war debate beyond merely posting magnetic yellow ribbons on vehicles, he told fellow protestors they can't just preach to the choir, but instead must actively network with other organizations.
Intermittent honks of support were heard from passing cars, but most pedestrians steered clear of the group waving signs demanding the war's end and the return home of U.S. troops.
“Traitors! Traitors!” shouted a man walking along East Martin Street, not pausing for a debate. “Impeach Bush!” responded Peter Maher, 56.
A veteran of the first Iraq war, Ret. Army Sgt. Robert Smith called the latest conflict there “a classic lose-lose situation.”
“We began losing the war the first day it started and we'll continue losing it long after it ends,” said Smith, 57, of Veterans for Peace.
“Winning is not a reason to stay because truly, no one wins a war,” he said.
They should try lying. It has always been their strongest tactic in the past.
"He pointed out that the U.S. combat death toll in Iraq is approaching the number of 9/11 casualties."
And the point is....??
Apparently Main Plaza is now the home of the rant crowd. It used to be in front of the Alamo. I don't go down there often enough to keep track. Also, I'd have to take a shower afterword.
Municipal Auditorium was the place to be in the 1960s in San Antonio (I grew up in SA then). But that was then. It has long since been replaced and is hardly in the center of current downtown activities. Guess somebody forgot to tell the this 60s crowd that the city has moved on by a few decades and they are living in the past in more ways than one.
If he's 81, he was born in 1925...he would have been 18 in 1943...
"“Traitors! Traitors!” shouted a man walking along East Martin Street, not pausing for a debate."
I like this guy.
Sure looks that way. He couldn't possibly have been a veteran of much else. Not in 1945.
The moonbat flock is thinning. Hardly worth leaving the belfry anymore.
If there's more press than protesters, it's not a protest, it's a Press Conference.
He can't be too damn "fiery" if the old geezer has been out there since just after 09-11-01 supporting the terrorists who attacked his country. Sounds to me like the old geezer is either senile or his "vet" gig needs to be in quotes. Almost every DemocRAT war protestor I've ever seen is a "vet."
San Antonio, Tx. is a far cry from San Francisco, Ca.
Time for you to move there pal for the successful career you crave.
Web Posted: 09/09/2006 01:32 PM CDT
Horn honks and catcalls were heard but, to their chagrin, anti-war presenters at the press conference assembled outside Municipal Auditorium Saturday generated limited public interest or participation. “I don't know how we do it, but we need to get more people involved,” John Stanford, 81, told about two dozen fellow war opponents on hand. ..snip ..
"he would have been 18 in 1943"
And he could have joined at 17 in 1942 with parents' consent.
People do go bad, even vets. Look at John McCaine Mutiny, Murtha, and Kurt Vonnegut. Vets all, and all went to the dark side.
These folks are against Jihad? Who knew?
Wait, the "fiery WWII vet" has been protesting since the 9/11 attacks? Um, somebody needs to tell this drooling senile old man, that we weren't in Iraq in 2001. I'd LOVE to hear his "explanation" of why we were attacked.
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