500 gather in (Santa Rosa, CA) Courthouse Square to voice support for troops, war effort

The Press Democrat ^ | March 23, 2003 | Jeremy Hay

[Tamar1973]

500 gather in square to voice support for troops, war effort

There was a moment of silence -- though motorists passing through Old Courthouse Square continued to honk their support -- then, at a pastor's invitation, the gathered crowd called out a chorus of names.

"Bobby ... David ... James ... Shawn ... Michael ... John ... Peter ... Jessie ..." and perhaps two dozen more, the names of military men and women at war in Iraq or on its borders.

Standing in the crowd of about 500 people who assembled in downtown Santa Rosa on Saturday afternoon in the North Bay's largest show of support yet for American troops fighting in the 4-day-old war, Sheron Bradley found her eyes were wet with tears.

"It's just quite a realization when you hear so many people call out," she said. "So many lives, so many people right here in Santa Rosa. It's overwhelming."

Neither of her sons is in the military, Bradley said, but she wanted "to come out and show the troops we support them."

Under gray skies and a threat of rain, hundreds of American flags were waved and prayer upon prayer was said for the safety of American and allied soldiers. Five hundred signs reading "Liberate Iraq, Support our Troops," shipped the night before from Minnesota, were given out by 2 p.m.

Speaker after speaker pronounced the Iraqi people oppressed, war against Saddam Hussein just and America's course correct.

"Loving America is like loving your spouse," said David Chu of Santa Rosa, a Chinese-born environmental engineer who organized the rally.

"America is not perfect, let's be honest, but you know what, America is the greatest country on the planet, America is truly the hope of the world," he said.

Chu was among many Saturday who also criticized, with varying degrees of anger, protesters in Santa Rosa and elsewhere who have marched and, in some cases, engaged in civil disobedience to protest the war.

"Don't think for a moment that if you protest during time of war you are not endangering and demoralizing our troops," one speaker, Anita Hultin, said.

Hultin's son, Jan Pieter Vandenhof, is a Marine lance corporal in Iraq. "Shame on you," she said to "any protesters who are listening."

Others were less severe, questioning not the protesters' cause but their tactics.

"The more extreme, that's where I think they cross the line," said Melinda Anderson, whose son Marine Cpl. Bobby Anderson's tank division entered Iraq on Thursday.

Many participants said they wholeheartedly support the war, citing Saddam's brutal reign, but some said they shouldn't be characterized as pro-war.

"Everybody's against war, even people who are out here," said J.P. Montemayor, 43, an engineer from Santa Rosa.

About a dozen peace activists occupied a street corner across from the rally for much of the day. Their point, said Sean Hinman, a student at Santa Rosa Junior College, was that while Saddam may be evil, innocent Iraqi civilians will die in the war "and there's no talking about that."

At the rally's microphone, Basim Ridha, a Los Angeles-based spokesman for the Iraqi American Council, shouted loud enough that he was heard 150 yards away.

"Saddam Hussein killed my father, and my two brothers."

The crowd had dwindled but it seemed to grow as Ridha, who said he has been asked by the State Department to take part in post-war efforts to rebuild Iraq, continued.

"This is not a war rally, this is a liberation rally," he said. "This regime got to go."

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 707-521-5212 or jhay@pressdemocrat.com.

[Tamar1973]

Good for you, David Chu!

[HighRoadToChina]

Try 2,500! We have written signatures for over 2,000 attendees and another 500 lining both sides of Santa Rosa Avenue!

[HighRoadToChina]

Freedom Ping!

Please ping your lists!!! Evidence (photos) to follow later today!!!

[Tamar1973]

David,

I never accused the PD of being fair, balanced journalism by any measure. I am surprised they even ran the story at all.

[Tamar1973]

Email messages should be sent to jhay@pressdemocrat.com calling him on his inaccurate reporting of this event. Let's Freep him.

[HighRoadToChina]

Thanks for posting BTW. If you read the article, it's actually very good! So, I wasn't saying anything bad about you or PD! ;^)

[Tamar1973]

I still think they should get the numbers right. The PD is liberal and tends to under-report conservative events.

[Saundra Duffy]

Maybe there's hope for California after all. THANKS! For victory & freedom!!!

[anymouse]

Way to go N. CA FReepers. Eagles up!

[whinecountry]

Thanks for posting! A high-five to all concerned for a superb event!

[My2Cents]

I drove through Santa Rosa a couple of weeks ago, and saw a pickup truck with a bumper sticker that read "Smaq Iraq". It was encouraging to see that not everyone that lives along the Hwy. 101 corridor has been infected with leftist worldview.

[francisr]

done - let the PD know that we are here

[faithincowboys]

God Bless these Good Folks!!

[PatriotBob]

The Rally was great. I brought my 13 yr old daughter and my
6 yr old daughter to teach them about patriotism.

[PatriotBob]

I was glad to see that they covered it although I did not like the negative title they gave the article. It was something like "Opposing View". It should have been something like "Patriotic Response". None the less, I was glad to see they did something. Check out KFTY.com the local Santa Rosa TV station. There isn't anything on there about the rally. Just the stupid protest from last Thursday
when they caused gridlock throughout downtown. BOYCOTT
TV 50 KFTY!!! Long Live America!!

[Tamar1973]

I agree KFTY 50 is a Joke! They commonly stage footage for their broadcasts when they don't have the "time" to go to the scene of an incident while it is actually occuring.

On March 5, 2003, I (solo, I might add) Freeped the Books not bombs rally the anti-american crowd had at courtyard square. They had maybe a couple hundred people there. It was going on in full force from noon to approx 4 p.m. when most of them went on to do "civil disobedience" at the recruiting center.

One of the lady anchors comes to the courthouse square at 4:45 pm when only three people were left at the sqaure: myself, a pacifist who refused to associate himself with criminal activity, and a teen who came by after school to check it out.

They ended up using footage of the teenage girl holding the pacifist guy's sign to highlight their story on the Books not Bombs meeting. She wasn't even there! If she would have come by just an hour before she would have had legit footage to show.

It was at that point that I was very grateful that I had never watched KFTY 50 as a source of news.

[santarosapatriot]

Thanks to David and all that came on Sat. I wish I could have met you both there but I was lucky to have been able to be there at all. My daughter got me into my wheelchair and I found a spot at the curb on Santa Rosa Ave (with my homemade SUPPORT OUR TROOPS sign) where I stayed during the rally. I could hear some of the speakers even through all the supporting "honks" from passers-by. I did manage to join you for the final songs and met some military moms. Now back at home in bed and glued to news TV channels I can still feel the power of all those flags flying and prayers for our military and families. God bless you all.

[Cool Guy]

Good going!

[demnomo]

My fifteen-year-old son (sonofdemnomo) and three of his homeschooled friends were there. As for me, I was hope sick with the flu, but keeping up with events on this forum. My son had a blast. He is going to post a report that will count for one of his homeschool assignments. :)

[Drango]

David put a lot of work into this...Three Cheers for him and those who showed up! (I wish I could have made it but I was in Sacramento.)