LAWRENCE KANSAS - Two faces of America at war were on display here Friday.
At midday, anti-war demonstrators briefly blocked traffic by lying "dead" and "dying" in the middle of a downtown intersection. Then, in the evening, a group that supports the war effort came to life.
At almost the same spot where anti-war protests had unfolded, a new wave of demonstrators stood in front of the Douglas County Courthouse at 11th and Massachusetts streets, waving flags at passing motorists. Cars honked, and that pleased organizer Matt Buff, who has a brother in the military in Kuwait, 21-year-old Daniel Buff.
"This is really for him," said Matt Buff, who had the support of the local posts of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. "I want to let him know a lot of people do support him."
Some of the anti-war protesters who had been on hand at midday lined up across the street from the pro-war side. Several police officers stood by, but the event remained peaceful.
Don Dalquest, commander of American Legion Post 14, said he was not there to agitate the other side.
"We want to show support for George Bush, the United States and the troops over there," Dalquest said.
Buff said he expected the group to hold another rally at 6 p.m. next Friday at the courthouse.
Earlier Friday, nearly 30 persons wrapped in "bloody" white sheets arrived at the intersection of 11th and Massachusetts. "Innocent people are dying!" a woman cried, as the protesters spread out. They slumped to the street, writhing and screaming, black coffins scattered about.
Horns blared, and police cars arrived. Initially, officers directed traffic to back up and turn around. But within five minutes, an officer asked the protesters to move. They obeyed.
Several said that no group or person in particular organized the event. They said it was a grass-roots effort put together by people who opposed Bush's decision to invade Iraq.
"It was called a die-in -- an anti-war message through theater to express to the people in this community the atrocities of war," said Kiran Jayaram, 28, one of the protesters.
"We're here to spread a message and maybe cause a little bit of a ripple, but we are not here to cause damage or do anything violent."
After leaving the intersection, the protesters walked down Massachusetts Street to Ninth Street, staging another die-in on the sidewalk there.
Anti-war demonstrators also gathered in Kansas City, with men, women and children raising their voices -- and their signs -- on the Country Club Plaza.
From 6 to 7 p.m. the protesters stood on the sidewalks around the Nichols fountain on the south end of Mill Creek Park, urging motorists to "honk for peace." Then they marched west along 47th Street, past storefronts and tourists, chanting, "Drop Bush, not bombs."
They carried signs declaring how they felt about war: "Regime Change Begins at Home," "Air Error is Their Terror," "Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Oil," "Preemptive War is Terrorism," and "Why is killing 1 person murder and killing 100,000 foreign policy?"
Watching the U.S. air and land campaign against Iraq intensify Friday had saddened these anti-war activists.
"We shouldn't attack countries that don't attack us," said protester Lynn Cheatum of Brookside. "It's criminal. It's un-Christian. It's probably un-Muslim, too."
Standing next to Cheatum just south of the park, James Marinovich of Kansas City, North, said, "I'm here protesting an unjust war. Modern warfare, when you know there will be a large number of innocent people killed, is unjust and immoral."
Park Hill South High School student Meredith Doucette said motorists' honking of support "encourages me," and when people made obscene gestures or yelled at them for voicing their anti-war sentiment, "we just smile and wave at them." That, she said, strengthens their pacifist ardor.
For Kansas Citian Mary Vincent, seeing Friday's bombings and attacks on television Friday made her angry because she believes taxpayers' money should be spent on caring for Americans, not killing Iraqi citizens.
As she watched bombs landing on Baghdad's buildings and tanks trundling through the Iraqi desert, "I saw the money of America being blown up and being driven past me. My daughter is a teacher in Chicago. I saw her salary being blown up. I saw money for health care, job training, job opportunities, being blown up in the air. I don't want to just sit home and watch that without coming out here and letting people know I feel about it."
To reach Diane Carroll, call (816) 234-7704 or send e-mail to dcarroll@kcstar.com.
To reach Lynn Franey, call (816) 234-4927 or send e-mail to lfraney@kcstar.com.