Posted on 09/05/2005 7:34:53 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
A group of veterans and military families spoke Sunday night before a crowd of Madisonians opposed to the war in Iraq, spreading their message that supporting the troops doesn't necessarily mean supporting the war.
The "Bring Them Home Now Tour," an offshoot of military mom Cindy Sheehan's monthlong protest in front of President Bush's ranch in Texas, attracted a near-capacity crowd to the Barrymore.
Tour speaker Stacy Bannerman, whose husband served an extended tour of duty in Iraq, said she wasn't surprised by the attendance, noting that Madison has a history in the anti- war movement dating back to Vietnam.
"You folks kind of showed the rest of the nation how it's done," she told the audience. "Whoever thought you'd be doing it again?"
Bannerman said she was participating in the tour because her husband "was not the man I married" after returning from Iraq.
She added that critics who say the protestors are disrespecting the troops do not understand that she and others like her are protesting the war, not the soldiers involved.
"When you speak out, they say 'You're not supporting the troops,'" Bannerman said. "To which I say, 'Our families are the troops.'"
Sherry Glover, whose daughter and son-in-law served in Iraq, said she thought protests like Sheehan's were a way for anti-war military families to reach out to the nation.
Many of the attendees said they were inspired by Sheehan's vigil outside Bush's ranch.
"I think what she's doing is great," said UW-Madison student Stephanie Jung. "It helps to stimulate a dormant anti- war movement."
Stay-at-home mom Linda Kloosterboer said that, like Bannerman, she was angered by the idea that opposing the war means opposing the troops.
"I grew up here in Madison and we learned during Vietnam that you can support the troops and still want them to come home," Kloosterboer said.
She added that she hopes rallies like the one in Madison and protests like Sheehan's would help get Americans angry about the war.
"I want people to get pissed off," she said. "I want people to see what's going on and get angry and demand change."
Many of the speakers mentioned that the war in Iraq was taking up troops and resources that could be used to help ease the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.
This resonated with Nevenah Smith, a taxi driver formerly of New Orleans who is staying with family in Madison.
"If Bush hadn't diverted all that money from the Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans wouldn't be underwater and I could be going home," she said.
Earlier Sunday, a much smaller group gathered to show their support for the war in Iraq
About 10 members of the Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission met at the Gold Star Mothers' Sundial on the UW-Madison campus at Allen Centennial Gardens.
Dodge County Sheriff Todd Nehls, who came home August 2 from a tour in Iraq as a colonel in the Army National Guard, on the Sheehan Anti- War tour, wanted to show his support for the war, but didn't want to be involved in a counter-protest at the Barrymore.
"I would not lower myself to the standard where I would actually physically go out and protest a movement that shouldn't be protesting at all," he said. "I think it's a disgrace."
Jim Karlson, whose son, Staff Sgt. Warren Hansen of Clintonville, died in a helicopter collision in Iraq on Nov. 15, 2003, also was upset by the anti-war tour.
"I guess maybe they think supporting the troops is a little different than what we think."
When I was at UF, the local "progressive" campus crapsheet used the following to open an article about some commie who came to Gainesville to speak one night - "Ninety people crammed into a room designed to hold sixty to hear ...."
I just about died laughing when I read that - the student body of the University of Florida is well over 40,000. They got 90, of whom they probably had to pay half in crack cocaine just to show up and inflate the numbers, and used that opening to try and give the impression that it was some really huge crowd!
Was this the "Anti-Blue Angels" appearence RUSH said was on her schedule?
Sorry, was busy making a second breakfast, and I'm a skinny guy.
Just got hungry all of a sudden. Crap! I've just had six over-easy eggs with bacon inside an hour. I'll probably cardiac-out by morning.
Trust me, you don't want me hanging onto your belt loops, your pants might accidentally fall off, LOL.
It's been a very long time since I made a mistake with a married women, and that's a mistake I don't have to learn twice :)
BTW, isn't Madison wicked liberal? You poor girl.
There is no honor in Liberals.
Goodbye troll.
"Madison has a history in the anti- war movement .... (The Madison Community is often referred to as Moscow East)"
Yeah, I remember hearing about Madison when I was in college way back in the Dark Ages. It could no doubt also be called Ithaca West.
No we aren't, we're letting tyou hang yourself thoroughly.
Hey, I saw that one for a second before it got zotted!
bunchofnazipussies doesn't like me very much, LOL!
The DU dummies aren't very nice people, kinda like those looters I've been hearing so much about.
Speaking of which, Shep Smith from Foxnews is on Letterman right now, gotta see what he's got to say...
[I support the people of New Orleans, but I don't support their levee systems...]
Good one!
HERE'S MY LATEST POST AT "FREE" REPUBLIC IS JUST TOO CHICKENSHIT. ENJOY.
IT TOOK THE CHICKENSHIT FREEPS ABOUT FOUR MINUTES TO REMOVE MY LATEST POST. NAZIS HATE THE TRUTH.
AND WILL DO ANYTHING TO CENSOR IT.
HERE'S MY POST:
To: hometoroost
"There is no honor left in the Democrat party."
World, do you see how intensely hypocritical these amerinazis are? Can you see they're far more like the commies than they are different. What real man could ever make an absurd statement, like the one quoted above, when it's historical FACT that G. Wimp Bush cited WMDs as his reason for deposing Saddam, his dad's former business partner?
Yet one more reason to call them confusatives. LOL.
Visit my blog, '"FREE" REPUBLIC IS JUST TOO CHICKENSHIT' AT: http://chickenshitfreep.blogspot.com/ Let's see how quickly these drunken nazis remove my post. What a bunch of incredible chickenshits. They call decent Americans who disagree with them "trolls" but they're the worst trolls of all. Thank You, Jesus Christ, for creating hell for vicious, violent "people" like the freeps. In Jesus' Glorious and Holy name, Dean Berry -- REAL American
43 posted on 09/05/2005 8:44:47 PM PDT by bunchofnazipussies
It must be hell being a liberal.
I told you, we let you have more than enough rope to hang yourself with.
And, you're doing an excellent job at showing that you deserve your banning.
In your mind, vulgarities and insults constituite 'honest debate'.
So we'll just continue to let you hang yourself and enjoy watching you twitch in the breeze.
;-)
Oh, P.S., the weather control machine?
I have the remote for it, and I'm sending a tornado to your house.
Watch out! Cindy is also worried about global warming. She is reported to have said, "I'm concerned about glueball warming... pass the crazy glue (sniff sniff)."
LOL!
"Cindy who?"
Yeh....a bigger, badder b**ch named Katrina stole the show.
"BTW, isn't Madison wicked liberal? You poor girl."
Extremely. And I expose their socialist agenda to the rest of the USA at every opportunity. ;)
This nutjob, Dean Berry, has been e-mailing me at home now, with the same level of profanity and vitriol...in the subject line of his e-mails.
I'm not opening his e-mails, as I'm sure he's sending out viruses and porn if he's this unhinged.
Just wanted to give others a Heads Up not to open e-mail from this doorknob if they get it. Thanks!
Madison, WI? I bit of preaching to the choir, isn't she?
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