'LARGEST' ANTI-WAR PROTESTS IN HISTORY OF EUROPE

Washington Post ^ | February 15, 2003 | Robert Barr

[notyourregularhandle]

Millions of protesters - many of them marching in the capitals of America's traditional allies - demonstrated Saturday against U.S. plans to attack Iraq.

In a global outpouring of anti-war sentiment, Rome claimed the biggest turnout - 1 million according to police, while organizers claimed three times that figure.

In London, at least 750,000 people joined in the city's biggest demonstration ever, police said. Berlin had up to half a million on the streets, and Paris was estimated to have had up to 100,000.

[Charles Martel]

...i said we must LISTEN...these allies, can soon become our enemies...I just think that we should be VERY cautious...it's not like it was in 1991...

In 1991, there was no discord between the U.S. and the U.N. - and THAT is what is fueling these anti-war rallies. Socialists of every stripe LOVE the United Nations and the very thought that the U.N. is headed for the dustbin of history has them scared merde-less. They know that the U.S. will do what must be done, and woe betide anyone who tries to trip us up. If those nations want to sign up for an ass-whipping, the line starts behind North Korea.

Upon further consideration, I think we should back off long enough for each and every one of these peaceniks to travel to Baghdad with the intention of setting up an new government. After Hussein bulldozes the lot of them into a mass grave, *then* the U.S. and its allies will lay waste to the Iraqi military. Again.

Just think how the world would be progress! The gene pool would be improved measurably in mere months.

[notyourregularhandle]

EXACTLY! AND WHERE WERE THESE PEOPLE WHEN clintoon WAS President and MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF INNOCENT CIVILIANS WERE GETTING SLAUGHTERED IN RWANDA??? NOWHERE!!!

[Grit]

"You don't fight terrorism with a preventive war," said some Euro-Weenie. "You fight terrorism by creating more justice in the world."

I assume that this guy thinks that one "creates" justice by giving away other peoples money not by removing a murderous dictator.

[FreedomCalls]

The front page of today's Sun tabloid, the newspaper with the largest circulation in Britain:

[dfwgator]

A good leader does what is right, even if he knows in his heart it may cost him the election.

[coloradan]

Those deaths don't count; Rwanda has gun control and the deaths weren't gun deaths. The liberal left doesn't give a damn about them.

[oregon conservative]

Of course I agree wholeheartably as my post clearly says!!! I wish it would happen now!!!!!

[notyourregularhandle]

Upon further consideration, I think we should back off long enough for each and every one of these peaceniks to travel to Baghdad with the intention of setting up an new government. After Hussein bulldozes the lot of them into a mass grave, *then* the U.S. and its allies will lay waste to the Iraqi military. Again.

That actually sounds like a VERY GOOD idea!!! ;)

[dfwgator]

These people are too stupid to realize that Collin Powell and President Bush were trying to save the United Nations by making them stick to their resolutions for once. UN resolutions aren't worth the paper they are written on, and THAT is what is going to doom them.

[dfwgator]

"In a country like Rwanda, a genocide is not that important." - Francois Mitterrand.

[Seeking the truth]

You are very young; therefore, not too much personal knowledge in the past.

I'm 54 - like your dad probably - I've lived & worked in Hamburg, Germany 1979-82. I continued to work for German companies even when I returned to the good ole USA.

Back then, President Reagan was regularly derided as a "cowboy" "idiot" "warmonger" "actor" ...etc.

The streets of Hamburg were regularly filled with "Anti-Nuke" "Peace" "Anti-US" parades and protests. Sometimes, the rallies in Hamburg alone were 50,000! (Hamburg is a city of 1.1 million).

I saw many protesters in death masks, "Nuclear winter" outfits, skeletons...etc.

Why were they so against Reagan and the USA?

Well, Reagan had the balls to force Germany, despite European peace protest pressure, to accept the Pershing II missiles on their soil.

The German/European protestors were also against Reagan's policy of supporting the Contra's against the "for the little people" Sandanistas.

So I ask you my young Freeper....who has history shown to be correct?

Was it the throngs in the European streets or was it a courageous, committed, President Reagan?

See my point.

Last comment on anything European.

If they are against it, we should be for it.

I learned that living and working there.

[El Gato]

Hundreds of thousands of protestors pack in front of a stage in London's Hyde Park, Saturday,

No way is that "hundreds of thousands". Not even a single hundred thousand, IMHO.

[FreedomCalls]

From the Ashahi Shimbun, one of Japan's leading newspapers:

Japanese told to get out of Iraq now

Developments suggest war is imminent.

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi on Friday indicated Tokyo will support a new U.N. Security Council resolution allowing a U.S.-led war against Baghdad as the government cautioned that Japanese in Iraq should evacuate at once.

[UncleSamUSA]

As someone who has traveled to Italy extensively.. and who loves Italy and Italians very much.. I can tell you that the country is still riddled with Communists, marxists, and a whole bunch of left-wing "ist" parties that have a knee-jerk opposition to the West and to America. They have trade unions that are so strong and so corrupt that they can easily organize a rally of half a million or a million people on short notice to protest parking rules, or the need for more vacation time for semi-retired workers.

That is not to apologize for these misguided Italian nutcases (a lot of the Human Shields in Baghdad are Italian) but to say that demonstrations and communism are par for the course in Rome and throughout Italy.

Recall that right after 9-11, Berlusconi made a speech in which he lauded the cultural superiority of Western civilization vs Islam, for its religious tolerance, its focus on liberty and individual rights and on its scientific, technological and artistic achievements. There was such a howl of protest in Italy and throughout Europe that he was forced to apologize for his statments.

Just thought you'd like to know that the last time I was in Rome, the one language I heard being spoken more than any other (besides Italian of course) was: German.

[El Gato]

we can't go it alone like we want to.

And we won't. England, Australia, Japan, Turkey, Kuwait, Italy, Spain, Poland, The Czech Republic, and many others will be, and are, on our side.

[Brookhaven]

Hundreds of thousands of protestors pack in front of a stage in London's Hyde Park,

Hundreds of Thousands? That would be at least 200,000. Even the most cursory glance would tell you there isn't anywhere near 200,000 people there.

Anyone care to estimate how many people are actually in this picture? There seems to be some cars in the picture that could be used as a reference to determine the square footage. How many people standing per 100 square feet?

There are quite a few people there, but nowhere near 200,000.

[shrinkermd]

Count on the socialist utopians hating us no matter what. Being anti-American is a good domestic policy if you are a European politician. They want us to fail. We must face that. These countries are politically weak and they usually respond to the "streets" because they really differ very little from one another.

We can't respond to the "streets" because it will cost American lives and treasure. If we wait till we are attacked it will be too late.

This has been allowed to drag on too long. If Dubya does not act, and act soon, he is done for as a viable polititical entity. Making this a UN problem was a mistake and we should never make it again --when our vital interest is at stake we need only those allies who are willing to face the music of international opiinion.

[dfwgator]

The political cost of going it alone will be *ahem* costly to say the least. I would rather not go to Iraq than go without the allies.

Oh please, I'd rather have the French NOT on our side, that tells me we are doing the right thing. The rest of the world can thank us later.

[jla]

So what you're sayin' is that the Euros need to go 'n get some more folks in order to make it a little more even vs. W?

Seriously though, W reminds me of RR in that he doesn't really give a hoot about all this protesting against him, or the so-called intellectuals' opinion of him.

President Bush knows that when all is said 'n done, it'll be proved that he was right all along.

...and the last person he'll give credit to will be himself.

[El Gato]

Listen to whom? These people at the protest:... These people are from the unemployed, welfare-sucking, lunatic fringe.

Yeh, but you gotta admit, they put on one hell of a show! A freak show that is.