Anti-War Crowd GrowsAt least according to this
very sympathetic account in Rotting Stump--errr, Rolling Stone.
These reluctant activists -- one with nothing, the other with everything left to lose -- joined the estimated 300,000 protesters in front of the White House on September 24th in the largest anti-war demonstration since the fall of Baghdad. Raucous college kids and graying boomers packed the Ellipse and Constitution Avenue for a morning rally before taking to the streets in a march that snaked for twenty blocks. It was an impressive show of strength, one that reflects the public's growing disapproval of the war. Fifty-two percent of Americans now favor an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, and an increasing number of vets and their families are beginning to speak out. "Are we having a positive impact in Iraq?" asks Capt. Justin Gordon, who took part in the assault on Baghdad, as he finishes a cigarette in an unsanctioned memorial of 1,900 white crosses staked on the Washington Mall. "Is our presence there protecting American citizens? The answer to both questions is no. That's why I can't support the war."Three hundred thousand? I thought the media were being extraordinarily generous when they claimed 1/3rd of that number.
There is some honesty here:
Speakers at the rally, all but ignoring the plight of soldiers in Iraq, demanded that the U.S. end its "colonial occupation" of Haiti, called for the dissolution of the state of Israel and urged protesters to ally themselves with Iraqi insurgents "who fight back against the criminal U.S. occupation." When Cindy Sheehan, the grieving mother whose vigil at Bush's ranch in Texas catapulted the anti-war movement from the margins to the mainstream, took the stage, organizers even tried to cut her speech short -- after barely two minutes -- to make way for a screechy slew of unknowns, who shouted on about the Angola Three, the Cuban Five and "legitimate revolutionaries" branded as terrorists by the "U.S. puppet regime" in Manila.No kidding. Watching the rally two weeks ago, I was reminded of the old Snickers commercial, where a priest gives a benediction to a football team about to play an important game. After the priest is done, a rabbi follows and we see that there is a long line of religious leaders of various types awaiting their turn. "Not going anywhere?" asks the announcer.
But the writer can't resist the chance to lie about Saint Cindy:
Cindy Sheehan galvanized the cause, giving it a human face: one that is grieving, pro-soldier and above politics.LOL! Above politics? Cindy campaigned for John Kerry last year in Florida. Pro-soldier? Who can forget
Cindy's words about the soldiers protecting New Orleans?
"But what I saw was a city that is occupied. I saw soldiers walking around in patrols of 7 with their weapons slung on their backs. I wanted to ask one of them what it would take for one of them to shoot me."Grieving?
The only real sign of grief was when the cameras stopped focusing on her and covered Hurricane Rita instead.
