| War protester takes proactive stance |
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| When it comes to defending what he sees as President Bush’s correct stance in fighting the war on terror, Raoul Deming is about as proactive as one could be. In fact, he has attended nearly every rally on the East Coast in the past year, whether pro or con, and says he’s always ready to confront those who speak out against the president or scoff at any displays of patriotism. Just last weekend, Deming attended an anti-war rally in Fayetteville, N.C., where he argued with protesters and then presented his own opposing view to newspaper and television reporters. The weekend before, Deming was in Dover, Del., countering a demonstration against the Iraq war by about 200 people, including the mother of local army Lt. Seth Dvorin, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on Feb. 3. And last March, Deming was in Fieldsboro, where he taunted mayor Buddy Tyler only hours after the mayor banned patriotic yellow ribbons on public property. The never-dull Deming taunted the mayor by wearing a Saddam Hussein mask while holding a placard calling Tyler "My Buddy." And in July 2003, Deming was in Hamilton Township, wearing a Grinch outfit and carrying a protest sign after Evergreen condominiums banned a resident from flying aPOW/MIA flag. Through all this, Deming has become a bit of a cult hero to listeners of Delaware Valley talk radio and readers of Internet political forums. In all, Deming has attended more than two dozen anti-Bush rallies, and each time he told reporters that he thinks the protesters are thwarting America’swar on terror. "Somebody has got to let the public know who is really behind these left-wing peace groups," said Deming, 47, a medical equipment consultant from Maryland who spends much of his free time studying various anti-war organizations. "Some of these anti-war protesters don’t realize that they are being funded by groups that go so far as to support active Iraqi resistance," he said. "The leaders of these groups are not anti-war. They are anti-American." During the March 13 anti-war rally at Dover Air Force Base, Deming inadvertently confronted Susan Niederer, the mother of Lt. Seth Dvorin who was killed in Iraq on Feb. 3, when someone brought her over to confront the pro-Iraq war crowd. Set up across the highway from the protest at the base entrance, Deming hollered out through a bullhorn to Niederer: "Do you know who you’re marching with? These people are giving the enemy an incentive to kill more soldiers." This was too much for Niederer, according to a Delaware newspaper account of the confrontation. She ran across the street toting a poster of her slain son Dvorin, 24, in his uniform. "Have you had any children killed?" she shouted at Deming while pointing to her group of protester. "That’s a group of good people over there." "No, they’re not," Deming responded. "Do you know who you’re marching with? It’s mothers like you who will cause more soldiers to be killed," he told her. Stunned by the comment, Niederer bent her head and said, "I’m going back across the street to mourn.’’ Later in the day, Niederer told the press: "I blame President Bush for the death of my son. And it didn’t matter who invited me" to the rally. Niederer, who lives in Hopewell Township, said she was invited by an anti-war group called Military Families Speak Out. Deming, who has family in the military, said he and others on both sides of the issue should take time to check out the groups like MFSO and others behind the protest rallies. "The real tragedy is that some of these groups funding these (anti-war) marches are aligned with people that are killing American soldiers," he said. "It’s hard enough to fight the war on terror without having to worry about protest groups which get their funding from suspicious sources," he said. "These (protesters) claim to support the troops, but what they do is ruin the morale of our military people serving overseas," he said. One anti-war group Deming holds in special contempt is called International ANSWER, which he claims supports anti-American causes around the world. Although International ANSWER did not immediately return phone calls last night, its Web site calls for the impeachment of President Bush, and it features information on how to resist the American "occupation" of Iraq. When not counter-protesting, he spends time with his family and listens to a lot of talk radio. "These (anti-war) protesters aren’t just another harmless group out there having fun on weekends. Whether they know it or not, they are standing with organizations who want to see this country collapse," he said. |
| ©The Trentonian 2004 |