Protesters Rally for End to War in Iraq (freerepublic at the end)

Protesters Rally for End to War in Iraq 1 hour, 17 minutes ago Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!

WASHINGTON - To chants of "Impeach Bush," thousands of anti-war protesters rallied in the nation's capital Saturday and delivered a scathing critique of President Bush (news - web sites) and his Iraq (news - web sites) policy.

Demanding an end to the U.S.-led occupation and the quick return of American troops, the demonstrators gathered on a sunny fall day at the Washington Monument to listen to speeches and songs of peace.

One man's small cardboard sign gave his summing-up of the day: "This administration does not represent me," it said in black capital letters typewritten on white paper.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, exhorted the crowd not to be content with the gradual withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.

"Don't give bush $87 billion, don't give him 87 cents, give our troops a ride home," Sharpton said to loud cheers from the crowd.

Hundreds of anti-war protesters also took to sun-drenched streets in San Francisco.

"We feel it's very important to keep our voices heard because we want our troops home," said Bill Nelson, a Burbank, Calif., bookstore owner. "We want the money here for health care and jobs, not a military industrial complex."

The rallies on both coasts were organized by International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and United for Peace and Justice.

The protest in Washington drew a diverse crowd — young, old, veterans, relatives with loved ones in the armed forces and American Muslims. An activist group of older women called the Raging Grannies, singing anti-Bush songs, brought whoops of agreement from the protesters.

Organizers estimated that 100,000 people turned out for the demonstration, but police at the scene put the number much lower, from 10,000 to 20,000. Police no longer issue official crowd estimates, so the size of the protest could not be verified.

Waving signs reading "Make Jobs Not War" and "Bush is a liar," the protesters marched from the White House, down toward the White House, on to the Justice Department (news - web sites) and then back to the Washington Monument.

But the activists weren't afforded the symbolic satisfaction of yelling protests to the White House gates, because the Secret Service (news - web sites) put up barriers to keep them from marching directly in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Bush was spending the weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.

Michael McPhearson, a veteran from the 1991 Persian Gulf War (news - web sites), denounced the president, saying he had misled the nation. "You have butchered the truth, George Bush."

The D.C. chapter of Free Republic, an independent grass-roots conservative group, gathered dozens of people at the U.S. Capitol to show support for Bush and the troops in Iraq.

"Whether or not the war should have started is a moot point," said Eric Campbell, a 32-year-old who served in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. "We have to stay if anything for the Iraqi people."

EARTH TO AP:
Michael McPhearson is NOT just "a veteran from the 1991 Persian Gulf War." He is a long-time far left activist. Your failure to disclose his background is sloppy at best, and negligent at worst, as is almost all of your reporting about the "peace movement."

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A 15-second Google search on Michael McPherson leads to the following links (refs to McPhearson in bold):

http://cpeace.com/C/Activism/action/feb14-1503/presscon.htm

"The February 14-16 weekend found people joined around the world to speak out against my government’s buildup to attack Iraq. Friday, in a press conference called by Citizen Soldier, Peaceful Tomorrows (WTC attack families) and Military Families Speak Out, several family members with children or siblings deployed to the Persian Gulf region, expressed their disagreement with our government’s current policy toward Iraq. Individuals who lost family members in the WTC terrorist attack also made statements against the President using their personal lost as a reason to attack Iraq. While supporting all soldiers, those choosing to serve and those who choose to object, Michael McPhearson stated opposition to Bush’s current policy and asked “What is the threat?” group of veterans and parents of soldiers in Iraq called "Bring Them Home Now" held a news conference Wednesday to hammer the Bush administration and the Pentagon for the Iraq war. Parents affiliated with the group, which claims to speak for 600 families, said the White House misled the nation before the war, and now is covering up the causes and number of wounded or ill soldier.

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20030813-041249-8246r.htm

Michael McPhearson from Bloomfield, N.J., served in the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division during Desert Storm/Desert Shield. McPhearson, whose 18-year-old son has decided to join the Army, said the military has done little to prevent another wave of mysterious illnesses like Gulf War Syndrome. "We have done nothing different this time to protect soldiers from illness. We can only pray that the outcome is different."

http://www.ourfuture.org/projects/national_conference/2003/speeches/by_session/thursday_sessions/index.cfm

Next Stage for the Peace Movement
John Cavanagh, co-founder, United for Peace and Justice, Director, IPS
Susan Shaer, Executive Director, WAND, co-chair, Win Without War
Gael Murphy, co-founder, Code Pink
Bob Musil, Executive Director, Physicians for Social Responsibility
Michael McPhearson, member, Veterans for Peace
John Steele, Mayor, Telluride, CO, Leader, Cities for Peace
Karen Dolan, coordinator, Cities for Peace
Tom Barry, co-director, Foreign Policy in Focus

http://dc.indymedia.org/feature/display_printable/80008/index.php

Also a member of Veterans for Peace, Michael McPhearson stepped up to share his experience as a veteran of operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and noted that he was supportive of his son's decision to join the military next month. "I do not support President Bush's and his advisor's foreign policy. I believe it has taken us i the wrong direction," McPhearson went on.

McPhearson is an activist who works as a facilitator in the global justice movement. Not a pacifist, McPhearson said he believes this a world in which soldiers are needed but also expressed the ideals that he said drove his patriotism -- a vision of a United States that upheld the consitution and obeyed the international law that it helped build, indeed had the final say on in most cases. He said the war on Iraq was both illegal and immoral.

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DEAR AP (for withholding or not investigating the real Michael MchPhearson): BLEEEEEEEEEP YOU. If I can find all of the above in a simple Google search, why can't you?

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