Official After-Action Thread: March 19 Fayetteville, NC Support Our Troops Rally

LOL - they do talk ... a dissertation on Little Ponies and their place in the cosmos ... or how Anoreth controls the weather (and to what nefarious purpose) ... and all about Billy's new patrol leader, with the Coolest Haircut on Earth ... and Tom's plans to be President, and then Pope ... which policeman is Pat's favorite? Let's interview them all ...

This has given me a really good idea for taking the Molasses Miasma of Niceness Generator portable. I just have to get the details of the microchip implants worked out so we have full wireless connectivity ... and those amplifiers that fit in the teeth ...

(Uh-oh, should I be putting this out on the open Internet? Will Homeland Security come knocking on the door?)

Consider that this thread has had 7,550 views, and we know they can't all be from freepers...

Some of us have looked many times to see the pictures.

But surely nobody is so humor-impaired as to take the Molasses Miasma of Niceness Generator seriously ... are they?

...Twilight Zone music plays...

Great shots! Please thank your friend for sharing them with us...

I can just see the complaints on DU next year, "We walked into that sticky cloud, and then we heard a voice saying, 'The yellow pony is Daisy, and the pink one is Pinkie Pie. This is Rainbow Flash, with Extra Long Hair! Isn't she beautiful?' And then Medea said, 'Aren't we just the silliest things? Gael, honey, you look ghastly in pink, bless your heart!' "

"What do we want?"

"We don't know !"

"When do we want it?"

"NOW !!"

Note corrected image below now matches the caption!

To: tgslTakoma; cf_river_rat; Doctor Raoul; TaxRelief

It appears that we captured our good friend Robert Redford...er...Gael Murphy from "Code Pink" in this photo next to an enthusiastic "peaceworker" promoting his/her sexuality.

507 posted on 03/22/2005 11:27:06 PM EST by Huber (Conservatism - It's not just for breakfast anymore!)
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You seem to have evaded the cameras. I can't find any good shots of you. :-<

Sorry about the shots of the polar bear in a blizzard in 516-519. That's what happens when one attempts html before the morning caffeine!

I have one of me that Flora McDonald was kind enough to take using my camera as I held one of her signs. I'll post it shortly along with the rest of the photos and the sound files.

Having finally sorted out my photos and sound files (including short sound bites of Doctor Raoul's speech, the assault on Bert, and numerous exchanges with the leftists), here are my observations on the FReep in Fayetteville on March 19.

It was an honor to stand with a couple hundred patriots including FReepers, Rolling Thunder members, Protest Warriors, veterans, and military family members as we supported our troops, their mission, and the country, while peacefully opposing the appeasers and blame-America first crowd.

The attendance likely would have been far higher except for a few circumstances. According to reports, local military commanders had ordered military members to avoid the rally, apparently concerned that a few of their troops might "lose it" when face-to-face against America-hating traitors. The local police (who incidentally did a great job at protecting patriots from left wing peacenik violence) refused to let Rolling Thunder members come on their motorcycles, thus holding down the RT numbers. Finally, there was a huge benefit event for the troops at Ft. Bragg on the same day and that drew many people who might otherwise have attended the rally.

[NOTES ABOUT PHOTOS AND SOUND FILES: Clicking on any photo (except one noted below) will open a new window with a full size version of the photo. Click on any of the WAV-format sound files, each parenthetically labeled with its size and its duration to hear the file or right click on it, save it to your computer, and then play it from your computer. The first sound files are from when the leftists walked by us at an intersection and when we walked at the edge of their waiting crowd on a return trip to our rally location. Therefore, that audio includes a lot of background noise and various rants between the two sides.]

Arriving at around 10:30 am at the rally site, across the street from the leftists' rally location, I helped unload some of the signs, sound equipment and other supplies. Then I took a few photos.

TaxRelief, chief organizer of the great event, gives an
interview as Constitution Day looks on.

AQGeiger holds her great sign to honor the Airborne
troops, including her husband currently in Iraq.

GunsAreOK holds one of Flora McDonald's signs.
Another of her great signs is visible against the fence.

Your correspondent BillF holding another of
Flora McDonald's great signs.

Some patriots walk up the hill to a nearby intersection.

Shortly after arrival, numerous of us walked up a nearby hill to stand at an intersection and wait for the leftists to march by on the way to the site of their rally. The leftists had a staging area at least several blocks back from the intersection where we stood waiting for them. We had two groups of patriots across the street from each other, waiting at different corners of the intersection.

Flora McDonald, rrod, Huber, BloomPa (who's wife is currently in the Army serving in Iraq), daughter of tgsl, BufordP, and tgslTakoma were among the FReepers and other patriots at the intersection waiting for the leftists.

rrod had brought several Cubans, who had recently escaped from Castro's island paradise. They joined us in waiting to FReep the leftists at the intersection.

There were a few mounted officers behind us as we waited for the leftists and police tape on one of the two corners, but we had no police line in front of us on either corner.

FReepers at corner across from me included (L-R)
Daughter of tgsl, BufordP with megaphone, and
tgslTakoma holding Flora McDonald's great
"it's Code Pink-O" sign.

Flora McDonald holds yet another of her wonderful signs.

BloomPa, unknown patriot, and Flora McDonald,
who holds her "Osama is yo Mama" sign.

Huber holds a sign with patriots on two corners as
leftists approach down the street in background.

PHOTO VIA TELEPHOTO LENS, NOT HYPERLINKED

This leftist came to the intersection in advance of the
parade and appeared to do a recon of our position.
The dirt on his jeans calls to mind the slogan
"more soap, less stink."

Patriots on right as leftists march down the street.

Leftists move by with flags and puppets.

As the leftists moved through the intersection by us, there were shouts back and forth with considerable crowd noise.

CLICK HERE FOR SOUND FILE (244 KB, 22 sec): Arguments with leftists ending with me saying "swim to Cuba."

Several FReepers often said "swim to Cuba, free healthcare, free education, it's a socialist paradise." The first two phrases in that were quoted in one newspaper account of the events.

Some of our group's Cuban refugees, who spoke little or no English, heard me saying that Cuba rant. One said to me, "free Cuba." I said, "yes, free Cuba, but they want Castro here, we don't want Castro hear." He smiled and said "free Cuba."

SOUND FILE (165 KB, 15 sec): Leftists chant "support the troops for real, bring them home now" with patriot responding by calling them traitors.

SOUND FILE (319 KB, 29 sec): Huber chanting at the leftists about socialism and terrorism, ending with leftist yelling "impeach Bush now."

SOUND FILE (534 KB, 49 sec): Includes more chanting from Huber and I as well as some of tgslTakoma's great rants (I swear she sounds like Ann Coulter here) via megaphone from across the street relative to my position.

Two patriots watch as leftists pour down hill to their
rally location across the street from us.

After about half an hour of FReeping the leftists as they walked by, they were crowded across the width of the street and waiting to go through the security check point where police were checking them for the weapons and drugs that leftists are prone to illegally take into a park. At first we were going to wait for them to be admitted before returning to our rally site across the street from the left's rally site, but we decided to walk along the edge of their crowd (see photo of leftists crowded outside the check point).

Various encounters with the leftists occurred as we walked down along the edge of the assembled leftists. Among others, a leftist woman knocked BloomPa's sign down, thus committing a minor assault upon the Gulf War Veteran, even as his wife serves in the U.S. Army in Iraq.

SOUND FILE ( 338 KB, 31 sec): Leftist parade "marshal," seeing me walking alongside their crowd as I had to in order to get to our rally location and hearing me shout "swim to Cuba" and similar slogans, walked alongside me saying "thank you for standing for peace and justice" and "support the troops for real, bring them home now." Audio includes me shouting at the leftists that they lost two elections, the U.S. election and the Iraqi election.

For the most part, the leftists were quiet as our band of patriots walked along the edge of their waiting crowd. Therefore, our shouts were more likely to be heard than during the initial encounter at the intersection. Hence, the leftists sent their "marshals" over to shadow us and shout leftist slogans.

SOUND FILE (201 KB, 19 sec): BufordP, via megaphone, telling the dismayed leftists "we could have Cuba over here for what you guys want." Leftist tells us "go back to Nazi Germany."

Although the marshal who shadowed me may have prevented less-restrained members of their group from confronting me, I had my disagreements with her. She put her hand on my arm and said, "please keep walking." I replied, "keep your hands off me." Marshal responded "OK, just keep walking." "You don't order me when to walk, I do what I want to do," I said before standing still for 30 seconds, while chanting "swim to Cuba" etc. to the dispirited, generally quiet leftists. She just stood near me. After I started walking again, I was soon clear of the leftists and returning to the relative safety of our "American sector" rally site.

Doctor Raoul speaks as Flora McDonald helps with his notes.
Leftists across street, most patriots out of view on left of photo.

After the Star-Spangled Banner and the Pledge of Allegiance, Doctor Raoul gave a wonderful speech about the people putting on the leftists' rally including ties between Code Pink's leadership and a terrorist who murdered several unarmed, American soldiers in civilian clothes and numerous innocent locals as they ate in a Central American cafe in the mid-1980s. He also described at length the ties between the various front groups, their support of the terrorists now, and the attempt to use a few disgruntled veterans and military family members to shield the "peace" protestors from criticism for not supporting the troops.

SOUND FILE (652 KB, 60 sec): Doctor Raoul explains anti-war group International ANSWER's support for the enemy in Iraq by reading from their brochure.

[The brochure is no longer available from their main website, but still available on their LA site at http://www.answerla.org/pdf/iraq/iraqresist.pdf (copy and paste the URL, I don't want to give them the link). Download the file, save it and to give to liberal friends. It says that their "anti-war movement . . . must give its unconditional support to the Iraqi anti-colonial resistance." They're not anti-war, they just want the other side to win. They are, in effect, self-admitted traitors, cheering on those who are blowing up our troops, beheading American civilians, and killing innocent Iraqis, including Iraqis on the way to vote in the last election.]

SOUND FILE (875 KB, 80 sec): Doctor Raoul explains how a disgruntled, Kerry-wannabe, left-wing veteran proposes to shield the "peace" protestors.

Following Doctor Raoul's speech, AQGeiger (see below photo) and Kristinn gave excellent speeches, but I forgot to turn on the recorder to get audio of either of them.

In addition to the many fine FReepers, Rolling Thunder members, Protest Warriors and other patriots that I was honored to stand with, there were at least three local veterans (other than FReepers) who showed up. I talked with two of these fine gentlemen. One of them had made a poster of newspaper stories (see photo below) about Ft. Bragg and proudly wore his hat proclaiming him a veteran of wars in Korea and Vietnam. He told me of serving in an all Black unit in the Korean war. The second veteran (non-FReeper) that I talked with was also a Vietnam veteran. One of these fine vets had heard about the rally on the radio, whereas the other read about it in the paper.

The third vet was a retired U.S. Army Airborne veteran of Iraq that I talked to at the rally last year. I didn't see that gentleman among the several hundred at the rally, but he was there. I saw him on the rally coverage on TV.

AQGeiger speaks from the perspective of a military spouse, as
her husband is currently in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne.
A few FReepers are in the background with leftists across street
further back. The crowd of listening patriots are out of view on the left.

JustANobody with her outstanding sign.

Catlover2 (back to camera) looks at a local veteran's
poster of newspaper clippings about Fort Bragg.
The gentleman, who served in the U.S. Army in wars
in both Korea and Vietnam, has setup a little museum
in Fayetteville with archives of local newspaper stories
about the military.

The left thinks that they can demoralize the troops and their families by coming to a military town to hold their hate-America festival. Their far-left leadership believes that using a few disgruntled veterans and some fake veterans to pad the numbers, along with some a small number of military family members, will allow them to falsely claim that they support they troops. Yet, a leftist, when asked by a reporter why they had come to Fayetteville, said that they wanted to hold their protest "in the belly of the beast." They thus identify the U.S. military, not as the amazing collection of honorable and heroic people that it is, but as a monstrous "beast" that the left hopes to slay. The lie that the left supports the troops is simply not believable.

No wonder the left has little appeal to the overwhelming majority of veterans, who reject the idea that the U.S. military is an evil beast. Certainly that is shown by the large number of veterans, both FReepers and others, who attended our support the troops rally.

TaxRelief holds her sign pointing at the leftists across
the street and down the hill. Several times during the rally,
our sound system featured Doctor Raoul quoting the
famous Woodstock warning about the brown acid.

Via telephoto lens, Code Pinkos, including their leader
Medea Benjamin, take the stage down the hill from
the patriots.

Alia with her anti-Code Pink sign. Near the beginning
of the rally, Code Pink leader Medea Benjamin had
seen the sign and came up to talk with Alia.

Apple Blossom (L) holds one side of tgslTakoma's
brilliant MOAB (mother of all banners). Leftist photos
posted elsewhere on the web show that this banner
was hard to miss from the leftists' location. Indeed, their
speakers were looking at the banner. A dollar sign is on
the bottom line of the banner behind the shaved head of the
flannel-shirted guy who assaulted Bert shortly after this
photo was taken.

Medea Benjamin at left leaves the rally after her speech,
walking right in front of the anti-Code Pink MOAB
that is pictured above.

An Israeli traitor, who appropriately was invited to
speak to American traitors, is arrested after jumping
the security gate and then resisting an officer.

bmwcyle talks with Apple Blossom (back to
camera) as she holds the MOAB which was moved
to the edge of the road to help the leftists see it as
their buses pulled past.

SOUND FILE ( 894 KB, 83 sec): Alia granted me an interview to describe when Medea Benjamin came up to comment on her sign and talk with her. Alia says that Medea apparently didn't notice the hammer and sickle on her sign. (When I say during the discussion that Medea Benjamin was from the San Francisco area, I was intending to say that many of her operations are based there. Benjamin is from NY state. I think that she has lived in the SF area sometime after living in Cuba, but have no idea where she lives now.)

In the background of the Alia interview file, you can hear Doctor Raoul over the sound system chanting "Eight million Iraqis gave Saddam the finger."

When Doctor Raoul was speaking, a leftist came up to the edge of our area shouting at us. Moving to within about 15 feet to see what was going on, I saw both the leftist and a patriot (it might have been Bert, puff up their upper bodies. I heard Raoul asking for an officer to remove the guy from our permitted area.

An officer momentarily pulled the leftist's arm. The officer apparently told the guy to get back to his own area.

Just as that first leftist turned to walk back to his area with the accompanying officer, I saw Bert assaulted by a second leftist (flannel-shirted guy in MOAB photo above) who had infiltrated our ranks. It was out of the corner of my eye as I was focused on the first leftist, who had just turned away. Bert was a few feet in front and to the side of me. I think that Bert was also looking toward that first leftist and the flannel-shirted guy was behind Bert. I saw the sudden movement of the guy's arm as his hand came down on Bert's head.

SOUND FILE (216 KB, 20 sec): Begins with Doctor Raoul's request for an officer and various people telling the first leftist to get out. Immediately after bopping Bert on the head, the flannel-shirted guy started yelling "you hit me." Bert denied that ridiculous charge.

Three or four officers immediately grabbed the flannel-shirted guy hauled him behind a police car and apparently gave him a choice between arrest or leaving the day's festivities. It was "catch-and-release" as he slithered away. (I don't know if they gave Bert the option of pressing assault charges.)

The flannel-shirted guy had circulated among us for more than a few minutes as he was in the MOAB photo above. It's hard to believe that the timing of his assault on Bert, just as the first leftist was being escorted away, was coincidental.

Well into the event, the police swarmed a location just within the leftists' area. We thought that a fight had broken out among two of the peaceniks. However, it was a leftist rally speaker who had apparently tried to skip the police check point. If he had just done so inadvertently and then cooperated, the police would have probably just searched him, but he has been charged with resisting an officer.

The arrested leftist, Rann Bar-On, is an Israeli traitor, who was there to make common cause with the American traitors. He was hauled away in a police van.

As the rally on our side had ended and we started to load items, the leftists' chartered buses parked a short distance from us and kept their engines running as the leftists slowly boarded. There were only seven buses that pulled up and I heard the leftist rally announcer remind people that those on the DC Anti-War Network (DAWN) bus or buses had to walk back to the original staging area to catch their bus or buses.

As the buses idle polluting and wasting gas for an extended period of time, we anticipated the buses' path and moved the MOAB to the edge of the street. The leftists would have to pass right by the giant banner their buses went along the road.

SOUND FILE (154 KB, 14 sec): Doctor Raoul on the sound system leads the chant: "no oil for protest, walk home!" as the buses idle and some go past us and within 15 feet of the MOAB.

It was an incredible FReep. Thanks to all who attended. Special thanks are owed to numerous FReepers and I can't name them all. I will name Doctor Raoul for his great efforts in holding the rally, his informative speech and funny chants at the rally, tgslTakoma for her brilliant MOAB that ruined the leftists' day, BloomPa and AQGeiger for so articulately feeding the press the points of view of real spouses of troops in Iraq, Jumpin Jack for bearing the extra burden of attending, and BufordP for pushing JJ in his wheelchair up the hill. Finally, TaxRelief, DStarr, Constitution Day, Huber, and all other NC and other FReepers who actually planned, organized, and carried out the wonderful rally/FReep deserve the sincere thanks of all patriots.

CORRECTED LINK TO ABOVE REPORT'S LAST SOUND FILE:

SOUND FILE (154 KB, 14 sec): Doctor Raoul on the sound system leads the chant: "no oil for protest, walk home!" as the buses idle and some go past us and within 15 feet of the MOAB.

Thanks for the shots, Huber.

The person at the left edge of 517 is simply holding their sign upside down - "NOT WAR" with the unintentional Footprint of the American Chicken below.

TRYING AGAIN. CORRECTED LINK TO ABOVE REPORT'S LAST SOUND FILE:

SOUND FILE (154 KB, 14 sec): Doctor Raoul on the sound system leads the chant: "no oil for protest, walk home!" as the buses idle and some go past us and within 15 feet of the MOAB.

553 posted on 03/23/2005 8:47:57 PM PST by BillF (Fight terrorists in Iraq & elsewhere, instead of waiting for them to come to America!)

DC Chapter ping as the following DC Chapter members traveled to Fayetteville.

AlwaysFree
Apple Blossom
bmwcyle
bufordp
daughteroftgsl
Doctor Raoul
kristinn
Nina0113
tgslTakoma
BillF

My report at #552 above includes photos and sound files. Other photos are displayed through out the thread.

Pinging the FReepers (other than DC Chapter, already pinged) who took the time to rally in Fayetteville. I was proud to FReep with all of you!

My photos and sound files including short sound bites of Doctor Raoul's speech, the assault on Bert, and numerous exchanges with the leftists were finally posted at #552 just above.

For archival purposes, I've also below included numerous of the stories about this from the Fayetteville Observer. All stories are from March 20 except the noted first and last ones. The last one is a great letter to the editor from Jumpin Jack as published on March 18. LINKS WILL STOP WORKING FOR STORIES OVER 7 DAYS OLD.

FOLLOWING FROM: http://www.fayettevillenc.com/search.php?storyId=994817&year=2005

MARCH 21, 2005
Activists consider rally a success By Kevin Maurer

Peace activists termed their march and rally Saturday a success but said that only time will tell if it will bring more people to their cause.
Thousands of protestors gathered at Rowan Park to call for an end to the war in Iraq on the second anniversary of its start. Anti-war activists estimated that 4,800 people took part in the rally. Police placed the number at 2,500.
‘‘It was a very positive event. We raised public awareness that not everybody believes that you are either with us or against us,” said Charlie Anderson, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. Anderson was a hospital corpsman with the Marines during the war. He lives in Virginia Beach, Va.
Peace organizers said the groups involved in the protest hope to build on the momentum from the day. They were confident that they won over some people -- military and civilian -- in Fayetteville.
‘‘It was a powerful message that is hard to ignore. We will have to wait and see if we changed minds,” said Perry O’Brien, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
The protest was a homecoming of sorts for O’Brien.
He was a medic in the 82nd Airborne’s 307th Forward Support Battalion. After deploying to Afghanistan for eight months in 2004, he filed for conscientious objector status. He was discharged in November.
O’Brien said he became disillusioned with the war and U.S policies. ‘‘We are just creating more terrorists,” he said.
Venue criticized
Counterdemonstrators at Saturday’s rally criticized the decision to hold it in Fayetteville. They argued that policy-makers don’t live in Fayetteville and that holding protests in a military community is disrespectful to military families and the soldiers serving in Iraq.
But the people who organized the protest -- many of them with military ties -- disagreed.
‘‘This isn’t about sending a message to policy-makers. This was about supporting the troops,” said Chris Harrison, a former first lieutenant in the Army Reserve who applied for conscientious objector status and was discharged in September. He is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
His group and two others -- Military Families Speak Out and Gold Star Families for Peace -- held national conventions in Fayetteville on Sunday.
About 50 people attended the welcome session of the Iraq Veterans Against the War conference at the Clarion Prince Charles Hotel on Hay Street. Organizers said about 60 people took part in the Military Families Speak Out and the Gold Star Families for Peace conferences at the Clarion Hotel on Cedar Creek Road.
The groups’ planning sessions were not open to journalists, but group members talked during their lunch breaks.
Kara Hollingsworth, a member of the Military Families group who spoke at the rally, said she was nervous about taking part in Saturday’s protest. She was afraid that she would be viewed as a traitor because her husband is serving his second tour in Iraq with Fort Bragg’s 35th Signal Brigade.
‘‘We are all part of the same community, and we all want the best for our soldiers,” Hollingsworth said. “We want the same things, but we don’t agree on how.”
She said her husband is supportive of her stand against the war, but he has a job to do as a soldier. Peace activists said they are supporting the troops by urging the government to bring them home.
‘‘We all support the troops,” said Anderson, the former corpsman. “That is a common thread that unites us more than divides us.”
O’Brien said he saw a number of Fort Bragg soldiers in the crowd at the rally. He said he knows of a number of active-duty soldiers against the war and it is up to veterans to give these soldiers a voice.
‘‘It helps them to know that veterans are not abandoning them,” O’Brien said. ‘‘We are not just waving flags and watching them die.”

FOLLOWING MARCH 20, 2005 ARTICLES FROM: http://www.fayettevillenc.com/search.php?storyId=994637&year=2005

Counter demonstrators send message to troops
By Kevin Maurer
Staff writer

Ed Fisher stood at Woodside Avenue and Hay Street clutching a handmade sign to show his support for his wife.
She is deployed to Iraq with Fort Bragg’s 1st Corps Support Command.
Fisher said he talked with her by telephone Friday night about the anti-war rally scheduled for Saturday. She told him soldiers are proud of the people who show up to counter the war protesters.
‘‘I am here to support the troops,” Fisher said.
He and about 200 other people met at 11 a.m. Saturday on the high ground across from Rowan Park in Fayetteville to show their support for American soldiers and the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was a counterdemonstration to Saturday’s anti-war rally in the park. The counterdemonstrators -- from members of a group called Free Republic to military family members to bikers from Rolling Thunder, a POW-MIA advocacy group -- called the spot where they stood the ‘‘American Zone.’’
‘‘We learned from Vietnam. No one answered their protests then,” said Lynn Huber, a chapter chairwoman for the Old North State chapter of the Free Republic.
This is the second year in a row an anti-war rally on the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq has drawn a counterdemonstration. Like rival sports fans, the groups tried to outyell each other as the war protesters marched from the Cumberland County Health Department to Rowan Park.
Scott Kerr drove from Greensboro to take part in the counterdemonstration. He held a sign with a picture of the earth and the words ‘‘Stop global whining.”
‘‘They have a right to protest, but it is totally disrespectful to the people that have their necks out there right now,” Kerr said. ‘‘Its disheartening that they would go to a military base.”
The fact that the war protesters chose Fayetteville angered others as well.
‘‘They came here to make our military families feel like there is a lack of support, and that is simply not the case,” said Anne Hladtk. ‘‘Why didn’t they go where policy is made?”
Hladtk, who is 25, is married to a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. He was sent to Baghdad to help provide security for the elections.
The protests reminded Diane Fanning of an earlier conflict. During the Vietnam War, she said, the protests had a negative effect on the morale of troops. She doesn’t want that to happen again.
‘‘These are the same types of people who protested against the war when my husband was over there,” she said.
Last year, she was with her husband at the rally. He has since died, but she was back, armed this time with white foam hands -- each with one finger dipped in purple paint. The hands were to remind people of the Iraqi election, during which voters had their fingers marked with ink. Fanning and other demonstrators said the election showed that Americans are making progress in Iraq.
‘‘Eight million Iraqis gave Saddam the finger,” she and others chanted.
Response to march
The counterdemonstrators held signs and yelled slogans as the war protesters passed on their march to Rowan Park.
‘‘Peace cannot be achieved by sitting and letting airplanes fly into your towers,” yelled one of the “Freepers” -- what the Free Republic members called themselves.
‘‘Swim to Cuba. Free health care,” yelled another.
Organizers kept the two sides apart. Emotions heated up when the war protesters carried cardboard coffins draped in American flags past the Freepers. The coffins were meant to symbolize North Carolina soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
‘‘Those men fought for your freedom. Shame on you,” Bill Huber yelled.
The anti-war activists’ assertion that they support the troops by protesting the war fell on deaf ears. The counterdemonstrators argued that the protests were exactly the opposite.
‘‘I don’t think they really support the soldiers. I think what they are doing here is energizing our enemies and demoralizing our troops,” Daniel John Brady said.
He is a former Black Hawk helicopter crew chief in the 82nd Airborne Division. He got out of the Army in 1988 when he was paralyzed in an accident and confined to a wheelchair.
Everyone wants the soldiers to come home, he said, but not until the job is done in Iraq.
‘‘I want them home as soon as possible,” Brady said. ‘‘Who is pro-war?”

FOLLOWING FROM: http://www.fayettevillenc.com/search.php?storyId=994598&year=2005
2 Perspectives
Veteran’s memories are fresh By Kevin Maurer

Jim Szakmary said war protesters spat on him when he returned home from Vietnam in 1969.
He doesn’t want the same thing to happen to the men and women fighting in Iraq.
Memories of his own homecoming brought him to Fayetteville , where he and and about 200 others offered a counterdemonstration to Saturday’s anti-war rally at Rowan Park. Szakmary said he wanted soldiers to know that someone stands behind them.
It was important enough to him to drive 11 hours from his home on Long Island, N.Y. He arrived in Fayetteville about midnight, he said.
‘‘After the 10th hour, I was really regretting it,” he said.
He wore a black ‘‘Vietnam Vets” cap and a camouflage jacket with his ribbons pinned on his chest as he stood with other demonstrators.
‘‘I want the troops, if and when they see the newspaper, to see that there is another side to this story,” he said.
Szakmary, who is 57 and is retired from his job as an air traffic controller, served with the 11th Marine Regiment from 1968 to 1969.
‘‘I wish there was someone at the airport wearing his World War II or Korean War medals making a statement that he was glad to see me come home,” he said.
Szakmary said the anti-war demonstrators don’t understand what they are protesting and are wrapped up in nostalgia about the 1960s. Most weren’t even born during the Vietnam War, he said.
‘‘I think they are out there just having a picnic,” he said.

FOLLOWING FROM: http://www.fayettevillenc.com/search.php?storyId=994575&year=2005

Rally Notebook
Demonstrators’ messages are for all to see

Saturday’s demonstrators didn’t all restrict themselves to the war in Iraq. Groups protesting everything from Social Security reform to the protest itself descended on Fayetteville.
But most of the people were on hand to take a stand on the war, a fact that was often evident in the T-shirts they wore and the signs they carried.
One black T-shirt had ‘‘No blood for oil. Troops out now!” scrawled across it in blood-red letters. Another had a picture of George Washington and George Bush. Under Washington’s picture was the phrase ‘‘Could not tell a lie.” Printed under Bush’s picture: ‘‘Could.”
Anne Hladtk, the wife of an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper, held up a sign featuring the red, white and blue 82nd patch. The sign read: ‘‘Protecting your cowardly butts since 1917.” Another counterdemonstrator went with a rhyme: ‘‘Osama is Yo Mama.’’
***
Chapel Hill’s Paper Hand Puppet Intervention put on a short show before the protest march. Using large puppets on stilts, the performers depicted two tyrants oppressing several people. The puppets, some as tall as 10 feet, were grotesque caricatures of humans. There was no dialogue and the action was punctuated by a single drum. In the end, the people rose up against the tyrants.
***
Protesters were treated to a variety of food at Rowan Park. On the anti-war side, vendors sold hot dogs, french fries, chicken curry and several vegetarian dishes.
The counterdemonstrators ate sandwiches.
***
People on both sides of the issue said they rallied Saturday to support the troops. But what did those troops think? Two of them sat on the sidelines bemused by the fuss.
Josh Denton and Terence O’Rourke said they had planned to go to the beach Saturday, but the string of police cars at the end of their street changed their minds. So they pulled chairs into Denton’s front yard, munched on Combos and watched the people march past.
Denton said he did a little protesting of his own in college before he joined the Army. ‘‘I like it.’’

FOLLOWING FROM: http://www.fayettevillenc.com/search.php?storyId=994504&year=2005
separately posted at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1366664/posts
Thousands protest war By Allison Williams

A procession of cardboard coffins draped with American flags wound toward Rowan Park on the edge of downtown Fayetteville on Saturday afternoon.
People bearing the coffins followed thousands of protesters who rallied in Fayetteville, calling for an end to the war in Iraq. As they marched toward the park, another, smaller, group of protesters was standing on the sidelines, shouting at the anti-war activists.
But the counterdemonstrators -- about 200 of them -- were drowned out and outnumbered by war protesters who chanted, waved banners and beat drums. The group was led by a bagpiper and included everyone from belly dancers to a young girl carrying a sign that said, ‘‘Support my dad, not the war.’’
Peace activists expected a much larger crowd for the second anniversary of the war in Iraq, and Fayetteville police say they got it. Officers estimated 2,500 protesters attended the rally that went on for much of the afternoon. Chuck Fager, the director of Quaker House who helped organize the rally, put the total at 4,800. That would make Saturday’s protest the biggest peace demonstration in Fayetteville’s history. An anti-war rally at the same park during the Vietnam War drew a crowd estimated at 2,000 to 4,000 people.
Saturday’s rally was sponsored by local peace activists working with a number of national groups, including the umbrella organization United for Peace & Justice.
The counterdemonstration was organized by the state chapter of Free Republic. Both demonstrations drew participants from far outside North Carolina.
The anti-war rally was more organized than the protest last year, with entertainment held behind the Cumberland County Health Department, the starting point for Saturday’s march. Volunteers in red ‘‘hospitality committee’’ T-shirts handed out an information guide for the day’s events.
Police ready
Dozens of Fayetteville police officers were ready. They had help from lawmen across the state and from South Carolina. The day passed peacefully, with the only confrontation between groups the shouts they exchanged.
Police reported one arrest. Rann Bar-On, a speaker at the rally and an Israeli activist who runs the International Solidarity Movement in Durham, was charged with resisting a police officer. Police said Bar-On jumped the fence at Rowan Park and was headed toward counterdemonstrators across the street when they stopped him. He was released after he was processed by a magistrate.
People on both sides of the yellow police tape said they rallied Saturday to show that they support troops. But the counterdemonstrators -- holding signs with slogans such as “American Hatriots on Parade” -- called the anti-war rally a slap in the face to soldiers, especially with Fort Bragg a few miles away.
‘‘You think you’re doing good, walking the streets,’’ a man shouted to the war protesters. ‘‘You should know that your organization is sponsoring troops who kill our troops.’’
Many speakers
Speaker after speaker at Rowan Park said real support for troops means ending the war in Iraq. The lineup included military wives, parents and veterans -- more than two hours of anti-war speechmaking. The crowd listened to a Democratic U.S. Rep. Lynn Woolsey of California, the brother of a Spanish journalist killed during a U.S. attack in Baghdad and a man whose brother died in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
Some on the Rowan Park stage were colorful, including a troupe of men in drag. And some of the speakers did not have a connection to the war in Iraq at all, including an organization that led a boycott against Taco Bell.
But most focused on the war.
Kara Hollingsworth, the wife of a soldier serving in Iraq with the 18th Airborne Corps, received a standing ovation when she told the crowd, ‘‘I cannot remain silent ... I can’t slap a yellow sticker on my car and call it supporting my troops. It’s time for us to bring our troops home.’’
Joshua Despain and Hart Viges wore camouflage jackets with 82nd Airborne Division patches. Both men said they served in Iraq and have left the Army. Despain deserted for three months after he returned to Fort Bragg. He said a friend was killed in Iraq and he swore that if he ever made it home, he was going to leave the military.
Viges said he worked for 10 months before he received conscientious objector status. He joined the military after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, but a year in Iraq changed everything for him.
‘‘I got back and it hit me,’’ Viges said. He said he could no longer pull a trigger.
‘‘I was a good soldier,’’ he said. When he said he could no longer fight, he said, ‘‘they knew I was sincere.’’
As speakers took the stage on Saturday, groups set up booths and handed out leaflets. People decorated umbrellas for a project called Peace Parasols and gazed at the 90 coffins arranged on a hill. The coffins represented men from North Carolina who died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A solemn moment
Jean Chapman carried one of the mock coffins to Rowan Park.
‘‘The moment I picked one up, it became so real. To me, it’s very solemn. This is what it’s about -- bodies, broken bodies, dead children, families devastated.
‘‘When all the rhetoric is gone, it comes down to death and destruction.’’
Many of the protesters were from out of town and came to Fayetteville on Saturday and left after the rally. Others, part of military-linked national peace groups such as Iraq Veterans against the War and Military Families Speak Out, were staying for conventions to be held in the city today.
Anne Roesler, a college professor from California who is a member of the Military Families group, is staying in her son’s apartment. It has been empty since he left Fort Bragg for Iraq.
Roesler, who was wearing a pair of her son’s desert camouflage pants at the rally, said her son and other soldiers support her for speaking out against the war.
And the efforts are paying off, she said.
‘‘If you had asked me six months ago, I would have said I wasn’t sure,” she said. “Now, there’s a definite shift in the wind.’’
***
Rally Speakers
Speakers at the rally ranged from military veterans to politicians. The lineup included:
Diedra Cobb, a conscientious objector and Army veteran from Virginia.
Kelly Dougherty, co-founder of Iraq Veterans Against the War and veteran of the Colorado National Guard.
Michael Hoffman, co-founder of Iraq Veterans Against the War and a former Marine who now lives outside Philadelphia.
Camilo Mejia, a former staff sergeant in the Florida National Guard who spent a year in prison after he refused to return to Iraq.
Jimmy Massey, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War who lives in western North Carolina.
The Rev. Ralph Baldwin, a Vietnam veteran who lives in Greensboro.
Stan Goff, a retired Special Forces master sergeant who lives in Raleigh. His son, Jessie Goff, is in the Army.
Dennis Kyne, Gulf War veteran.
Michael McPhearson, executive director of Veterans for Peace in St. Louis and a Fayetteville native. His son is a member of the 101st Airborne Division.
Wade Fulmer, who served in the 82nd Airborne Division in Vietnam and now runs Carolina Peace Resource Center in South Carolina.
Jane Bright, a member of Gold Star Families for Peace. Her son, Evan Ashcraft, was killed in Iraq in 2003.
Kevin and Joyce Lucey, members of Military Families Speak Out. Their son committed suicide after being discharged from a military hospital.
Patricia Roberts, a military mother from Covington, Ga., who is raising her grandchildren after the death of her son in Iraq.
Rann Bar-On, an Israeli activist who now runs International Solidarity Movement in Durham.
Daniel Berg, father of Nick Berg, a military contractor who was killed in Iraq in 2004.
David Couso, brother of Jose Couso, a Spanish journalist who was killed during a U.S. attack on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad.
Hany Khalil, organizing coordinator for the national group United for Peace and Justice in New York.
Catherine Lutz, a professor at Brown University who wrote ‘‘Homefront: A Military City and the American 20th Century.’’ The book is about Fayetteville and Fort Bragg.
David Potorti, a writer and radio host who lives in Cary and lost a brother in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
U.S. Rep. Lynn Woolsey of California, a vocal Bush opponent who has introduced a bill to bring troops home.
Lee Zaslofsy, who fled to Canada after he was drafted in 1969. He is helping Iraq war resisters.
Cindy Sheehan, co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace. Her son, Casey Sheehan, was killed in Iraq in 2004.

FOLLOWING FROM http://www.fayettevillenc.com/search.php?storyId=994499&year=2005

Protesters are passionate on both sides By Rodger Mullen

They banged their drums and blew their whistles.
They shook their tambourines and chanted their slogans: “Peace now, end the war.’’ “Occupation is a crime.’’
They carried their flag-draped cardboard caskets through the streets of Haymount.
The other side had its slogans, too: “Stop global whining.’’ “Freedom is not free.’’
The two sides met on Woodside Avenue. The yellow line down the center of the street marked a kind of boundary between the factions, a boundary enforced by armed police.
Anti-war groups and counter- demonstrators gathered in Fayetteville on Saturday, two tribes with opposite views on the major issue of the day.
Democrat and Republican, liberal and conservative. Saturday was their day to be heard. And they were heard.
Demonstrations are volatile things. The potential for violence is always there.
Support for Khomeini
One day in late 1979, I was in downtown Washington when I happened to stumble on a pro-Khomeini rally.
A small group of Iranians were holding signs and chanting slogans supporting the Ayatollah, whose regime was holding about 70 Americans hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
The small group of demonstrators was surrounded by a much larger group of Americans screaming obscenities and threatening the Iranians. A thin blue line, a cordon of police, was all that kept the two factions apart.
Not long after I moved to Fayetteville in 1987, the Ku Klux Klan held a rally in Spring Lake. My wife, who worked for the Spring Lake News, was assigned to cover it, and I went with her.
The atmosphere was much the same. The Klan shouted its slogans and the anti-Klan groups screamed back. It felt like a powder keg that needed only a spark to explode.
Saturday’s rally felt nowhere near as volatile as those demonstrations. Still, the potential was there -- The “Defend America, defeat Bush’’ signs were countered by “God Bless our president’’ signs; the chants of “money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation’’ competed with chants of “shame on you socialists.’’
Believing in a cause
Both sides were in Fayetteville because they believed passionately in their cause.
James Starowicz is a 56-year-old Vietnam veteran who works as a carpenter in Kannapolis. Why was he here?
“Peace. A better world. Because this never should have happened,’’ he said.
“You do not send the military to war without justification,’’ Starowicz said. “And there was no justification.’’
Ed Fisher felt just as strongly that the war in Iraq was justified. Fisher’s wife is serving in Iraq.
“I’m here supporting her and I’m here supporting the troops,’’ he said.
“They have the right to demonstrate, just like we do, but I think it’s very disrespectful to our troops,’’ he said.
So the protesters marched and shouted and the counter-protesters waved their signs and shouted. Some angry words flew, but the thin blue line kept the words from escalating into something more.
David Bozeman stood at the corner of Bradford Avenue and Hay Street, holding up an ink-stained index finger to symbolize the success of recent elections in Iraq.
Bozeman wanted to show his support for the war, but said he had no problem with the protesters showing their opposition.
“This is America,’’ he said, watching the protesters march by. “They have their rights.’’
And that, at least, is something that both sides could agree upon.

Letter to editor published March 18
Encouraging our enemies and demoralizing soldiers
Those who attend the Rowan Park rally tomorrow would do well to think about who they are supporting. You can support the troops or protest the war, but you cannot do both at the same time.
If your intention is to support the troops, then by all means, join or support organizations or groups who specifically do so. If your intention is to protest the war, then take advantage of your right to do that. But, be honest about it. Don’t hide under the banner of “Supporting the Troops” to soften or disguise your political agenda.
I suggest those who honestly care about the troops find out more about who the organizers are supported and influenced by.
Our enemies will be encouraged by what they see and our soldiers will be demoralized by it. Who do you support?
[This great letter was from our very own Jumpin Jack]

From the Rally Notebook: Demonstrators' Messages article:

Anne Hladtk, the wife of an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper, held up a sign featuring the red, white and blue 82nd patch. The sign read: ‘‘Protecting your cowardly butts since 1917.” Another counterdemonstrator went with a rhyme: ‘‘Osama is Yo Mama.’’
***
Chapel Hill’s Paper Hand Puppet Intervention put on a short show before the protest march. Using large puppets on stilts, the performers depicted two tyrants oppressing several people. The puppets, some as tall as 10 feet, were grotesque caricatures of humans. There was no dialogue and the action was punctuated by a single drum. In the end, the people rose up against the tyrants.

The quoted great signs from both of you could easily kick the tails of those puppets in any PR contest!

"DC Chapter ping as the following DC Chapter members traveled to Fayetteville: AlwaysFree, Apple Blossom, bmwcyle, bufordp, daughteroftgsl, Doctor Raoul, kristinn, Nina0113, tgslTakoma, BillF"

I commend all the DeeCee FReepers on an excellent turnout!!

Utmost FReegards...MUD

Chapel Hill’s Paper Hand Puppet Intervention put on a short show before the protest march. Using large puppets on stilts, the performers depicted two tyrants oppressing several people. The puppets, some as tall as 10 feet, were grotesque caricatures of humans. There was no dialogue and the action was punctuated by a single drum. In the end, the people rose up against the tyrants.

Shoot ... I spit coffee on the keyboard. There should have been a "We're not making this up!" tag :-).