Posted on 03/16/2007 10:48:36 PM PDT by mdittmar
The anti-war protesters spat at a wounded Iraq war soldier; they spray-painted graffiti on the U.S. Capitol, the veterans said.
Those acts and others at a large demonstration Jan. 27 birthed a movement of counter-protesters who plan to deploy Saturday in the nation's capital during another anti-war demonstration.
What has come to be called Gathering of Eagles started — at least in large part — in a coffee shop outside Greenville, local vets said.
There, veterans gathered and pledged to make sure war memorials aren't defiled during the planned protest Saturday.
The Web site gatheringof eagles.org lists as the event's goal "to stand silent guard over our nation's memorials, in honor of our fallen, and in solidarity with our armed forces in harm's way today."
Since late January, the grass-roots movement has grown to more than 100,000, possibly as large as 150,000 people, Pitt County participants said.
"It's not an organization; it's an event," said Don McWhorter, a retired Marine captain from the Greenville area, as he sat inside To Bean or Not to Bean, the coffee shop on East 10th Street where he recalls helping to launch the gathering.
"It's pro-America. We just want to show there's another side," he said. McWhorter and other organizers are unsure how many will attend Saturday.
The veterans and other anti-anti-war demonstrators plan to take over the area between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial west of the Mall, squeezing out big-name protesters like Jane Fonda, Sean Penn and those who ally with them.
The Pitt County folk and others are selling arm bands designed by a California participant specifically for the event. Proceeds help defray the cost of obtaining necessary permits for the gathering, renting a sound system, a stage and portable toilets.
Groups such as ANSWER — Act Now to Stop War and End Racism — and United for Peace & Justice chose Saturday, a few days shy of the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, to hold their demonstration.
When McWhorter heard that protesters were planning on assembling at the Vietnam Memorial — a monument honoring the fallen from a war in which he served — he and coffee shop owner Dianne McColgan sat down and figured it would take 88 people, shoulder to shoulder, to protect the wall from potential desecration.
"If we can just get three times 88, they won't even see the wall," McWhorter said.
McWhorter and a retired Marine gunnery sergeant, Larry Hoffa, from the Greenville area, and Al Rice, a Greenville retired Army sergeant first class, said Tuesday they don't want to see happen to the park's war memorials what happened to the Capitol, when protesters spray-painted graffiti on the building's steps, according to reports in The Hill, a weekly newspaper that covers Congress.
"Nobody's going to touch those monuments," McWhorter said.
Spurred by that sentiment, the Gathering of Eagles has grown, with word going out far and wide via e-mails and Web pages. McWhorter and Hoffa, along with Navy retiree Larry Bailey of Chocowinity, were instrumental in launching the movement, Hoffa said.
"Thank God we have the Internet," he said. "We were able to touch those people by this letter that I wrote. I sent it to everyone I knew.
"It just continued across the nation," he said.
They said vets and others want to turn up the volume for those who support the war effort, drowning out the resounding cries of protesters staging the anti-war rally, whom McWhorter pointedly calls "anti-American."
"Basically, when you don't put out an argument for (something), in other words, a civil argument, and you only go against things, and it's (against) your government, wouldn't you call it anti-American, or anti-government, however you want to say it?" he said.
Hoffa is galvanized by what he sees as hypocrisy among those who assemble to protest the U.S. involvement in Iraq.
"I've heard anti-war demonstrators, protesters, say they support our troops, but they don't support their mission. How can you support the troops if you don't support their mission?" he asked. "Are you going to de-fund them? You're not going to give them any more money, but you support them?
"Now you're killing them — that's just what they did to us in Vietnam — and it's not going to happen this time," Hoffa said.
McColgan, whose late husband was a Marine and whose son is a Marine recruiter, plans to attend the gathering. Regularly hosting the veterans in the coffee shop she co-owns with daughter Cristin Koltun is their way of giving back to the vets.
"It's just my daughter's and my way of saying 'thank you' to them for what they've done for us, because without them, we wouldn't be here in this little coffee shop, is how we feel."
Gathering of Eagles participants will converge on Washington from across the nation, in their own automobiles and aboard chartered buses, such as the one leaving Jacksonville early Saturday morning, Hoffa said.
Hoffa and about a half-dozen others gathered at the coffee shop for a 4 p.m. departure Thursday, leaving early to take care of preparations before the Saturday event.
McWhorter doesn't dismiss the idea that people can disagree on the war, or how to fight it; he takes issue with what he sees as counterproductive tactics used by the anti-war protesters.
"Make civil recommendations, common-sense recommendations, have a dialogue," he said. "These people don't have a dialogue; it's their way or the highway."
"If we got behind the war like we did in the second World War ... we could stop a lot of dying by having it over early, but we drag it out," he said.
"It's 100 percent political," he said of how the war's being fought.
If Hoffa's predictions about the turnout hold firm, people will have to take notice, and anti-war factions won't squelch his and others' voices — the way he said they did during Vietnam.
"This country is going to be surprised for the first time in 40-something years," he said. "This time, you've awoken a sleeping giant. We're not going to stand for it this time."
I wonder if that's the same Harry Riley I served under in Augsburg, Germany...?
Those (and you) wonderful folks who're attending this rally are in our thoughts and prayers .. we'll be watching and listening, and wishing we could be there to stand with you to defend our blessed land.
You have our gratitude, support and prayers for a safe and successful event!
Give 'em hell !! Show them what it means to be a real American!
We thank you SO much for standing for our precious America, her goodness, her troops, and the cause of freedom. You are the heart and soul of this nation.
God bless you all ... heroes, vets, families, supporters .. God bless our fabulous and extraordinary troops!
Thank you so very much and bless you for your efforts and dedication. Eagles up and proud .. BUMP!!
ROCK STEADY!
BTTT
This sort of response has been WAY too long in coming.
I'm hoping the GOOD GUYS are treated fairly in the media for once.
Is that too much to ask....???
[USN 1967-70]
BTTT.
Is that too much to ask....???
Yes, it is. If it turns out to be 2/3rds GOE people there, the cameras will show shots from half a mile away and claim that it's all moonbats, except for a 'handful of counter demonstrators'.
Any bad behavior from our side that ends up on video will be highlighted and repeated over and over. Any bad behavior from the left will be ignored or minimized.
Same ol', same ol'.
I love the prediction, but I'll believe it when I see it.
I'll be happy with a couple of hundred, especially with the weather.
With you in spirit. Stand strong Eagles. God Bless.
Climb to Glory!
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