At least 160 arrested at Iraq protest

AP on Yahoo ^ | 9/15/07 | Matthew Barakat - ap

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON - Several thousand anti-war demonstrators marched through downtown Washington on Saturday, clashing with police at the foot of the Capitol steps where at least 160 protesters were arrested.

The group marched from the White House to the Capitol to demand an end to the Iraq war. Their numbers stretched for blocks along Pennsylvania Avenue, and they held banners and signs and chanted, "What do we want? Troops out. When do we want it? Now."

Army veteran Justin Cliburn, 25, of Lawton, Okla., was among a contingent of Iraq veterans in attendance.

"We're occupying a people who do not want us there," Cliburn said of Iraq. "We're here to show that it isn't just a bunch of old hippies from the 60s who are against this war."

Counterprotesters lined the sidewalks behind metal barricades. There were some heated shouting matches between the two sides.

The arrests came after protesters lay down on the Capitol lawn in what they called a "die in" — with signs on top of their bodies to represent soldiers killed in Iraq. When police took no action, some of the protesters started climbing over a barricade at the foot of the Capitol steps.

Many were arrested without a struggle after they jumped over the waist-high barrier. But some grew angry as police with shields and riot gear attempted to push them back. At least two people were showered with chemical spray. Protesters responded by throwing signs and chanting: "Shame on you."

The number of arrests by Capitol Police on Saturday was much higher than previous anti-war rallies in Washington this year. Five people were arrested at a protest outside the Pentagon in March when they walked onto a bridge that had been closed off to accommodate the demonstration, then refused to leave. And at a rally in January, about 50 demonstrators blocked a street near the Capitol, but they were dispersed without arrests.

The protesters gathered earlier Saturday near the White House in Lafayette Park with signs saying "End the war now" and calling for President Bush's impeachment. The rally was organized by the ANSWER Coalition and other groups.

Organizers estimated that more than 100,000 people attended the rally and march. That number could not be confirmed; police did not give their own estimate. But there appeared to be tens of thousands of people in attendance.

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan told the crowd is was time to be assertive.

"It's time to lay our bodies on the line and say we've had enough," she said. "It's time to shut this city down."

About 13 blocks away, nearly 1,000 counterprotesters gathered near the Washington Monument, frequently erupting in chants of "U-S-A" and waving American flags.

Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Robert "Buzz" Patterson, speaking from a stage to crowds clad in camouflage, American flag bandanas and Harley Davidson jackets, said he wanted to send three messages.

"Congress, quit playing games with our troops. Terrorists, we will find you and kill you," he said. "And to our troops, we're here for you, and we support you."

___

Associated Press writer Christine Simmons contributed to this report.

[kcvl]

Army National Guard Spc. Justin Cliburn. September 10, 2007

"No, I am not going back to participate in that war."

"Over the course of our many bullshit sessions at drill, the topic of Iraq inevitably came up. We exchanged stories and shared laughs as the new guys who didn't deploy looked on with wonder. Stories about clandestine drunken nights, the anger that comes with being kicked out of the chow hall for being sweaty, and getting to the point where you ignore gunfire took up most of the time, but not all of the stories were so innocent. The same set of soldiers that in 2005 said they couldn't wait to kill "ragheads" were now bragging about times they scared Iraqis, bent the rules of engagement, and generally enjoyed playing bully for a year. I like these guys a lot, but I don't know why I was surprised. I had thought that maybe being there for a year would eventually change them and open their eyes to how their actions were inhumane, but I was wrong."

"What are you going to do . . . become a conscientious objector?" one soldier and friend said with a smirk and a chuckle.

"In fact, I just may do that. That's what I am, essentially, isn't it?"

I then spent about twenty minutes explaining why I had a moral objection to scaring Iraqis for the fun of it, occupying a country that didn't attack us, risking my life and the lives of my comrades for a war that does nothing but make the world more dangerous and less stable, and giving complicit approval to policy that has failed on every front.

"it takes balls not to go when you don't agree. The courage to resist is oftentimes more honorable than the courage to enter a foxhole."

"I am done with the military. I don't know how exactly I will leave the service just yet, but I know that I will. I entered the army in an honorable fashion and I will leave it that way, but leave it I will."

I leave Friday for Washington DC to take part in the September 15th protests in DC with tens of thousands of other concerned Americans, including representatives of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, Gold Star Families, and the ANSWER Coalition. I am taking more and more responsibility within IVAW to end this war, take care of our veterans, and provide reparations for the Iraqi people and it feels right.

Spc. Justin Cliburn (right) helps lead march at VFP convention in St. Louis 8/19/2007

Sandals & a uniform?!

[Liberty2007]

actually its the same old socialist/commie hippies , they have suckered some of the young minds of mush to join them. they smelled in the 60’s they dont smell any better 40 years later.

[kellynla]

Deja vu all over again...

Who says communism is dead.

“Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink.”
P.J.O’Rourke

[kcvl]

Iraq War resisters Camilo Mejia, Agustin Aguayo, Stephen Funk, Eugene Cherry, and Suzanne Swift.

IVAW formally voted this weekend to launch a campaign this Fall in support of the GI resistance, in effect, encouraging troops to refuse to fight. To underscore the point, IVAW elected Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia chair of its board of directors. In the winter of 2003, Camilo was the first soldier to refuse to return to fight in Iraq after an initial tour in the war zone. "There's a sort of revolution taking place in the streets. It's not being reported by the mainstream media, but we in the antiwar movement know what's going on. There is a rebellion going on in the ranks of the military that is not being reported," Camilo noted to reporter Aaron Glantz.

[GAB-1955]

The Washington Post says, “A law enforcement official, who declined to be identified because authorities no longer provide crowd counts, estimated the gathering at closer to 10,000; the march permit obtained in advance by ANSWER had projected that number.”

10,000 of them, 1,000 of us, and you guys took away their spotlight. I wish I could have come, but I had to take care of a bad leg. I prayed for our guys though.

[Theresawithanh]

""it takes balls not to go when you don't agree. The courage to resist is oftentimes more honorable than the courage to enter a foxhole.""

{Scratches head}What in he!! does this mean? You volunteered, dumb@ss, and then you got out, and you think this makes you brave?

The things that pass for courage, I can't understand...

[Man50D]

“Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink.” P.J.O’Rourke

Would that drink be Kool Aid?

[Man50D]

The things that pass for courage, I can't understand...

It's anarchy by Communists.

[kcvl]

Justin bin Cliburn al Lawton, MySpace page

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. -Sinclair Lewis"

Male
25 years old
Back in the USA, Lawton, Oklahoma
United States

[Liberty2007]

sleeves are rolled up too.....but once discharged you can wear your uniform how you please.I’d run a check on him tho, its possible he is a poser.

[bubman]

twenty yrs from now he will cash in his chips and proudly offer his distinguished service on his resume so all the world can see what an upstanding young man he was. Very kerryesque if you ask me.

[buccaneer81]

Thank you for your service, sir.

[Brad from Tennessee]

Justin would make a good double for A.J. on The Sopranos.

[Brad from Tennessee]

Washington Post columnist rationale “Why Huge Crowds Didn’t Show Up”:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2007/09/live_from_the_mall_why_huge_cr.html?hpid=topnews

[muawiyah]

And they never really die either. You can see them getting up off the ground after their little act ~ just once I want to see a bunch of them fall over dead and stay there ~ show us the resolutness of their cause and all that.

[darkangel82]

I’m the same age as him (25) and I think he needs a kick in the a**.

[muawiyah]

Isn't Justin Cliburn one of those guys who's been making it up in stories about his time in Iraq? I did notice he's a UPS puke ~ probably a union enforcer in his spare time.

Man looks terribly light to have served in Iraq ~ all those folks get a tan and a half.

[Kaslin]

And that POS has a Screaming Eagle patch on his sleave?

[kcvl]

ANSWER was established by the International Action Center (IAC), which was founded by former United States attorney general Ramsey Clark and the Workers World Party.

ANSWER characterizes itself as anti-imperialist, and its steering committee consists of socialists, Marxists, civil rights advocates, and left-wing progressive organizations from the Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, Filipino, Haitian, and Latin American communities. Many of ANSWER’s leaders were members of Workers World Party (WWP) at the time of ANSWER’s founding, and are current members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), a Marxist-Leninist organization that formed in 2004.

ANSWER was involved with demonstrations on May Day, 2006, in support of rights for illegal immigrants, for whom it supports immediate and unconditional amnesty.

As of December 2006, ANSWER’s Steering Committee consists of:

* Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines
* Free Palestine Alliance — U.S.
* Haiti Support Network
* Kensington Welfare Rights Union
* Korea Truth Commission
* Muslim Student Association — National
* Mexico Solidarity Network
* Nicaragua Network
* Partnership for Civil Justice — LDEF
* Party for Socialism and Liberation
* IFCO/Pastors for Peace

Brian Becker, ANSWER’s national coordinator

Becker is a member of the Secretariat of the WWP of the United States, which is a staunch supporter of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. As Chairman of the “U.S. Troops out of Korea Committee,” Becker has accused the United States of conducting a campaign of genocide against North Korea. He is a contributor to the WWP newspaper Workers World.

On November 6, 2001, less than two months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Becker called America’s military retaliation against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan “one of the great crimes and acts of terrorism.” “Let us not forget,” he said, “that September 11 was not the beginning of violence, but just one point in a long continuum of violence that is fundamentally a consequence of U.S. policies around the world.”

He stated that any claims of an Iraqi WMD threat were “all lies—incredible lies.” He identified the world’s foremost nuclear threat as the United States, “the only country to have used atomic bombs, which it did against the civilian cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945.” And he asserted that America’s motivation for attacking Iraq was its desire to achieve a “re-conquest of a country that had earlier dared to nationalize Western oil installations.”

[kcvl]

Brian Becker, ANSWER's national coordinator