Posted on 03/19/2007 12:00:00 PM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
ITHACA Hundreds flocked to The Commons Saturday, joining tens of thousands around the world, to protest the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Some carried picket signs; some wore clothes with embroidered messages. One carried a doll meant to resemble President George W. Bush with a cowboy hat and his pants on fire.
Stop the War! Impeach Bush! and Out of Iraq! were familiar cries as the protesters marked the four-year anniversary of the United States' involvement in Iraq.
Several local politicians and anti-war demonstrators lent their voices to the crowd. Speaking on the steps of the Bernie Milton Pavilion, Sergeant Hatt Hrutkay, a member of the Iraq Veterans Against the War, said that the stability the U.S. has promised has failed to come to fruition in Baghdad.
Democracy has never been imposed by the outside, Hrutkay said. The Iraqi people must initiate the changes.
Former state assemblyman Marty Luster agreed and believes that that the entire war is based on falsehoods.
We see escalation upon escalation, lie upon lie, Luster said.
Luster said the only way to end the war is to see Bush out of office, drawing the cheers of those who Luster dubbed the St. Patrick's Day 400, a reference to four individuals who in 2003 poured vestibules of their own blood around a recruiting station in Lansing as a protest.
Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-22nd Dist., said that a new face in office is essential to getting the troops out of Iraq.
We need new leadership, he said. This administration has caused more trouble for our country than any other administration.
Many in the crowd said that they believe Iraq needs continued support, but they do not believe that the U.S. military should be the provider.
Nothing we've done has been for helping the Iraqi people, said Mike Pitzrick of Dryden.
Pitzrick acknowledged that it is a difficult subject, but that the country's involvement was for all the wrong reasons.
Zam Gerrity called the war a crime against humanity. He agreed that all efforts to rebuild are futile.
Dan Tritto, a Buffalo resident, said that the U.S. does have an obligation to rebuild Iraq. But you can't do that at the end of a gun, he said.
While the sentiments of the speakers and the protesters was the majority opinion on the day, to the side were signs proclaiming support our troops. Bill Murphy, an Ithaca resident, wanted his voice to be heard as well.
I'm against rape of innocent woman and dictatorships, Murphy said, referring to the life Iraqis faced under Saddam Hussein.
Check out the average age of the protesters... a bunch of 60s hippies that never got over an acid trip reliving thier youth!!!
With a world population at more than 6 billion, tens of thousands does not impress me.
2nd only to California, Ithaca is the land of fruits and nuts.....
400 surrender monkeys is a pretty pathetic turnout for the 'City of Evil'.
Liberal leftists RAT phonies.
The best they could turn out in St. Louis was 30 demonstrators.
Ooohhh, hundreds! Looks like dozens to me. BFD. Get a job, you stupid freaks!
400 citizens and not one American flag. F'em.
These anti-America protests should be covered under the Disabilities Act as the only way for the functionally illiterate to find each other.
Too stupid to get in out of the snow.
Uck Fithaca.
I have decided we need to start a "Get The Police off The Streets" movement.
Too many police, over 150 a year, are being killed on America's streets. I say we cannot allow another police officer to be killed, so lets withdraw them to the police station, we cannot allow this sensless slaughter in the crime quagmire to continue.
We can cut off funding for police cruisers to force this into effect.
Makes perfect sense to me.
This is one town I'd like to see burn to the ground!
I'd bet 1/3 of these twits couldn't find Iraq on a map.
Flocked? You got that right!
That's the Cornell faculty.
Sgt. Hrutkay said that democracy can't be imposed from the outside. He should have been around after WWII to tell the Allies not to impose democracy on Germany, Japan, and Italy. Too bad those countries didn't go fascist or communist. (smirk)
Now now. We were FReepimg WR in the snow, and I was only wearing a sweater. No need for a coat in Louisiana so I don't own one. lol
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