Posted on 09/09/2007 3:58:51 PM PDT by mdittmar
CRAWFORD — With flags waving and banners held high, members of Move America Forward’s “Fight for Victory Tour” caravan made a pit stop in President Bush’s adopted hometown on Saturday afternoon, rallying support from local residents for U.S. troops serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Move America Forward, which bills itself as the “nation’s largest grassroots, pro-troop organization,” launched the caravan on Monday in Carson City, Nev., and aims to land in Washington, D.C., by Saturday to coincide with U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus’ report to Congress on the progress of recent troop surges in Iraq.
Leading the caravan are several members of military families, including Debbie Lee, whose son, Marc, was the first Navy Seal killed in Iraq.
“This is foremost a pro-troop rally,” Lee said. “It’s nice to see a positive gathering instead of a very negative, ‘attack-the-world’ perspective.”
Lee’s partner in the tour is Deborah Johns, whose son William, already having served three tours of duty in Iraq, has just signed up for a fourth.
“This isn’t 1972, when the Jane Fondas of the world ran our country,” Johns said. “Back then we pulled our troops out early and abandoned the Vietnamese people to be slaughtered. We can’t do that to the Iraqi people.”
Johns believes that the U.S. is “winning” in Iraq.
“We cannot let our domestic enemies defeat us from within,” Johns said. “We’re doing better than we ever have, and we’re going to make sure the government hears us when we say, ‘No retreat, no surrender, not now, not ever!’ ”
Lee echoed Johns’ sentiments.
“They’re winning the war over there, let’s win the war over here.”
Despite recent polls showing increasingly lower levels of support for an already unpopular administration, Johns believes pro-troop support is on the rise.
“I know from going across the U.S. that people want change in Iraq,” Johns said. “They want Congress to back off and let the military do their job. They want Congress to listen to the generals and support their opinions.”
Johns said she believes that Congress has flip-flopped on troop support enough.
“(Congress) has acted as Monday-morning quarterbacks, which has only harmed what our troops have accomplished,” Johns said. “They have made the insurgents’ job easier.”
The rally faced some dissent, however.
Valley Mills resident and Vietnam veteran Johnny West said he came to the rally to protest, “not against the troops, but against the Bush administration.”
West said he was called a traitor by members of the pro-troop rally.
“So I stuck my leg out,” West said, pointing at his missing limb.
Staff Sgt. Derek Gray weighed in on the other side of the debate.
“(The U.S. military) is united to achieve peace through victory,” Gray said. “No matter what Gen. Petraeus says in his report, I think Congress has already made up their mind for us to lose (the war) while we’re already there achieving victory.”
The active-duty staff sergeant said he believes the recent troop surge was very effective.
“I saw a massive difference between my two most recent tours,” Gray said.
Gray said he was deployed most recently between February and April of 2006 and March and April of 2007. He joined the caravan earlier Saturday morning in San Antonio and planned to follow them to Dallas later Saturday evening.
Rally attendee Neill Wilkerson, of Granbury, said he came to the rally to prove that U.S. troops are winning the war to the people who don’t want to believe.
“People like (U.S. Sens.) Harry Reid and Dick Durbin have no idea what’s really going on over there,” Wilkerson said. “They’ll just pick and choose what they want to hear from Petraeus.”
Woodway resident Reba Webster Hollingsworth said she attended the rally because she felt it was time for pro-troop supporters to come out of the woodwork and be more vocal.
“I’m not a war-monger,” the Army veteran said. “I train for war and pray for peace.”
The caravan collected cards, letters and notes of support to deliver to wounded military personnel at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington at the conclusion of the tour.
It’s wonderful to see them getting this type of coverage. Excellent.
May God bless them every one of them....
This is big news in Waco.
Oh, I wish there were pictures.
This is precisely what has the left sooooooo infuriated. We aren't letting the left do it again.
I hate it when the news calls it a protest. The is not a protest, it is a rally.
They were in Oklahoma City this afternoon...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1893451/posts?page=2#2
There should be a rally in Kansas right now.
Excellent! Thanks Clara Lou.
way to go people!!
That’s right.
Patriots are on the move!
If you can’t make it, you can listen in....the audio will be available for download here:
http://www.freedomfighterradioshow.blogspot.com/
Not that they aren't trying, long term. The left will continue to try to undermine the Iraqis even after they have stepped up and we have stepped down, winners.
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