War supporters take message to Washington Protests, too, on 4th anniversary of conflict

sfgate.com ^ | 03/17/07 | Meredith May

[Ellesu]

Mark Crowley of San Ramon is on his way to the White House this week to mark the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq. He plans to unfurl a flag on the Mall and wave it with pride. "My son did not die in vain," said Crowley, who left San Francisco last week with the Move America Forward caravan headed for Washington to provide a counterpoint to the big anti-war protests planned for today. At a time when polls are showing a nation turning against its president, and congressional lawmakers are getting louder in their demands for troop withdrawal, war supporters living in the Bay Area are working harder than ever to get their message out. The Sacramento nonprofit Move For America is on a whistle-stop tour of the country, spreading support for President Bush and his military strategy. They plan to turn the Capitol Mall in Washington into a "flag city" today, in a show of red-white-and-blue opposition to the anti-war rallies that are planned for the same day. Crowley, reached by phone in the caravan, said he feels increasing support the more miles he puts between himself and the Bay Area. "The way I see it, there are two ways of handling this situation in Iraq," Crowley said. "Stand still and die, or take the first shot. Terrorists will come here if we don't stop them there." His 18-year-old son, Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Crowley, was ambushed by gunmen near Ramadi in 2003, when he rushed to the aid of soldiers who were under sniper fire.

[JB in Whitefish]

"He's lost friends who didn't like his published newspaper letters, felt ostracized in diversity exercises at work that single out conservatives, and is frustrated by a Bay Area double standard that makes it socially acceptable for people to blurt out anti-Bush comments but not pro-Bush ones."

This sort of stuff is RAMPANT in California...particularly in STATE job sites.