Posted on 03/24/2003 5:56:48 AM PST by new cruelty
Edited on 04/13/2004 3:30:45 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Two weeks ago, 9-year-old Michael Gorman wrote a letter to President Bush offering an alternative to war: a battle between Bush and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein via ``Medal of Honor,'' a video game that includes military, guns and missiles -- and only virtual casualties.
(Excerpt) Read more at bayarea.com ...
That's what makes this the best danged site on the Internet...thanks, JimRob!
On Washington Mall, rallies for war and peace
Ian Shapira, The Washington Post
Published March 24, 2003
WASHINGTON -- The war veterans gathered silently Sunday afternoon at Constitution Gardens, many wearing rumpled boonie hats and black armbands. A bagpiper played the Scottish ballad "Flowers of the Forest," and then the mournful group of peace activists walked to the nearby Korean War Memorial to the double beat of a deerskin drum.
There, former Air Force officer Woody Powell, 70, laid a small wreath in memory of the dead.
Lamenting the string of U.S. wars that followed his, in Korea, Powell said of the American troops fighting in Iraq: "I am sure there are some who think we're betraying them. But I'm sure as they get older, they'll think less about themselves and more about their grandchildren, like I do, and the future of our country."
Minutes after the ceremony, a larger and more vocal group led by area Republicans held a prowar rally at the Lincoln Memorial, where they criticized the veterans and other peace activists standing a few hundred yards away.
"What is with them?" called out James Parmelee, chairman of the Northern Virginia GOP political action committee. "They see Iraqis tearing down Saddam's portrait and dancing in the streets. And yet they [the activists] are still unhappy. These are people who spit on our soldiers."
It was a full day of war and peace on the mall on Sunday, as hundreds of people turned out in bright sunshine to voice their views on the escalating conflict in Iraq. Navy Seabees from World War II marched with veterans of Korea, Vietnam and the first Gulf War, praying and carrying signs reading "Democracy Yes, Empire No." By the Lincoln Memorial, politicians and local leaders of groups such as the Free Republic rallied in support of President Bush and the troops.
One of the quirkier events involved seven thirtysomethings who ran laps around the White House and Lafayette Square to protest the war and the cancellation of Sunday's D.C. Marathon. In what they called the Nobody Wins Marathon, the group did 15-plus laps, finishing with 26.1 miles -- a tenth of a mile less than the standard marathon distance so there would be no victor.
Tim Kiefer, 32, flew in from Denver for the race and wound up staging the Nobody Wins event with friend David Sigler of Washington.
A more impassioned scene played out at the Lincoln Memorial, where an Iraqi native whose siblings are still in that country delivered the opening verse of the Qur'an and lashed out at President Saddam Hussein.
"I spoke to my family in Baghdad yesterday. They said, 'We are waiting for freedom!' " yelled Aziz Al-Taee, chairman of the Iraqi-American Council. He then hugged a Desert Storm veteran and led the crowd in six chants of "Free Iraq now!"
Many in attendance said news of the dozen captured U.S. soldiers only bolstered their support for the war.
"It's an atrocity they're showing this on TV," said Scott Wilson of Ellicott City, Md., who attended the rally with his wife and two children. "We've gotten so many of their troops, but we're not doing this to them."
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