DC Chapter Forms "Human Shield" to Protect White House Sunday

Associated Press photos | 1/18/03 | Associated Press

[FreeTheHostages]

As those of you watching Foxnews national know, the "peace" protestors continue to protest here in Washington. They're on a march from the Justice Department to the White House, and one of the things they say they want to do is inspect President Bush's "presidential palace" for weapons.

Saddam uses humans as shields in times of war. But of course these "peace" protestors wouldn't harm innocent civilians. So some memberes of the DC Chapter of Free Republic are forming a "human shield."

[armyboy]

((1) Ramsey Clark is a: (A) Sleazy lawyer. (B) Seditious sock puppet. (C) Traitor. (D) All are true.) --------You forgot (D) A speed bump if I see him crossing the street. (E) All are true.

[FreeTheHostages]

Good people of the realm: I really have to go! So forgive me for starting a thread and leaving, but y'all know what to do with it! Any news reports or pix you guys are posting are much appreciated, so the DC Chapter people can view them when they come in out of the old for their second day of protesting.

(Needless to say, let's not even ask them when they'll have the after-action report up: these guys are gonna need a day to thaw!)

[L_Von_Mises]

Pro-War, yeah right. These reporters must have interviewed everyone at he rally yesterday tring to get just one to say they were pro-war. None did. They were most disappointed. They would come right out and say that since we were in opposition to the ant-war protestors we must be pro-war. The reporter from channel four ended up walking off in a huff.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Pro-freedom, anti-terrorist kudos to the DC Freepers! Your small voice of reason in the middle of the international, press-promoted Marxist idiocy was noticed - and even made favorable coverage in the WP.

E-mail AP re. their Kristinn photo cap error.

CHEW ON THIS, Christopher Hitchens warns the peaceniks (send it on to AP, too).

[Hipixs]

Anti-war protester flashes a peace sign while being arrested for climbing over a fence into Lafayette Park near the White House in Washington, January 19, 2003, as part of a march against the U.S. going to war with Iraq. Sixteen protesters were arrested for breaking through police lines. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

[FreeTheHostages]

One final idea. If you don't want people like THIS controlling foreign policy, then sashay your butt over to the fundraising thread! (Forgive the vulgarity, but it's relevant to the pic, which was about belly-dancers for peace in Oregon yesterday!)

[FreeTheHostages]

Thanks and I would note that even the Washington Post had to not call us "pro-war" 'cause we were very clear about that. In fact, all in all, I'm kinda relieved that they accurate described our very reasonable position: pro-disarmming Saddam, pro-supporting our troups.

Love love the Hitches piece. Praise God, he's so accurate. He's such an intellectual. I really think I have a crush on him. :)

[OneLoyalAmerican]

Not enough tag line room. :)

[FreeTheHostages]

The reporter from channel four ended up walking off in a huff LOL -- because you wouldn't say you were pro-war. It's a good thing, really, how tight our consensus was on the point. GREAT Freeping with you yesterday, buddy. Brrr-I feel kinda like a truck hit me. (My rear-end is still trying to get warm!) OK, now I'm really really really late. Must go.

[Hipixs]

A U.S. Park Police Officer secures a fence from Anti-war protesters in Lafayette Park near the White House in Washington, January 19, 2003, as part of a march against the U.S. going to war with Iraq. Sixteen protesters were arrested for breaking through police lines. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

---

A protester demonstrates near Lafayette Park in Washington, January 19, 2003. Some 16 protesters were arrested during a demonstration near the White House. The demonstration was a continuation of the larger protests that took place on Saturday against a possible war on Iraq. REUTERS/William Philpott

[FreeTheHostages]

Part of what Hitchens says (see link in post 44 for the whole story), declining an invitation to a Potluck for Peace dinner:

[snip]

None of these things on their own need necessarily make a case for an intervention, but taken together--and taken with the permanent threat posed by Saddam Hussein to the oilfields of the region--they add up fairly convincingly. Have you, or your friends, recently employed the slogan "No War for Oil"? If so, did you listen to what you were saying? Do you mean that oil isn't worth fighting for, or that oil resources aren't worth protecting? Do you recall that Saddam Hussein ignited the oilfields of Kuwait when he was in retreat, and flooded the local waterways with fire and pollution? (Should I patronize the potluckistas, and ask them to look up the pictures of poisoned birds and marine animals from that year?) Are you indifferent to the possibility that such a man might be able to irradiate the oilfields next time? OF COURSE it's about oil, stupid.

To say that he might also do all these terrible things if attacked or threatened is to miss the point. Last time he did this, or massacred the Iraqi and Kurdish populations, he was withdrawing his forces under an international guarantee. The Iraqi and Kurdish peoples are now, by every measure we have or know, determined to be rid of him. And the hope, which is perhaps a slim one but very much sturdier than other hopes, is that the next Iraqi regime will be better and safer, not just from our point of view but from the points of view of the Iraqi and Kurdish peoples. The sanctions policy, which was probably always hopeless, is now quite indefensible. If lifted, it would only have allowed Saddam's oligarchy to re-equip. But once imposed, it was immoral and punitive without the objective of regime change. Choose. By the way, and while we are choosing, if you really don't want war, you should call for the lifting of the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq. These have been war measures since 1991.

What would the lifting of the no-fly zones mean for the people who live under them? I recently sat down with my old friend Dr. Barham Salih, who is the elected prime minister of one sector of Iraqi Kurdistan. Neither he nor his electorate could be mentioned if it were not for the no-fly zones imposed--as a result of democratic protest in the West--at the end of the last Gulf War. In his area of Iraq, "regime change" has already occurred. There are dozens of newspapers, numerous radio and TV channels, satellite dishes, Internet cafes. Four female judges have been appointed. Almost half the students at the University of Sulaimaniya are women. And a pro al Qaeda group, recently transferred from Afghanistan, is trying to assassinate the Kurdish leadership and nearly killed my dear friend Barham just the other day.... Now, why would this gang want to make that particular murder its first priority?

Before you face that question, consider this. Dr. Salih has been through some tough moments in his time. Most of the massacres and betrayals of the Kurdish people of Iraq took place with American support or connivance. But the Kurds have pressed ahead with regime change in any case. Surely a "peace movement" with any principles should be demanding that the United States not abandon them again. I like to think I could picture a mass picket in Seattle, offering solidarity with Kurdistan against a government of fascistic repression, and opposing any attempt to sell out the Kurds for reasons of realpolitik. Instead, there is a self-satisfied isolationism to be found, which seems to desire mainly a quiet life for Americans. The option of that quiet life disappeared a while back, and it's only coincidence that for me it vanished in Seattle. The United States is now at war with the forces of reaction, and nobody is entitled to view this battle as a spectator. The Union under Lincoln wasn't wholeheartedly against slavery. The USA under Roosevelt had its own selfish agenda even while combating Hitler and Hirohito. The hot-and-cold war against Stalinism wasn't exactly free of blemish and stain. How much this latest crisis turns into an even tougher war with reaction, at home or abroad, could depend partly upon those who currently think that it is either possible or desirable to remain neutral. I say "could," even though the chance has already been shamefully missed. But a mere potluck abstention will be remembered only with pity and scorn.

[FreeTheHostages]

{{hipixs}}

[kayak]

Way to go, kristinn!!!

We all appreciate the very high standard that you set for FReeping activities. It is a great reflection on you and your integrity and character as well as on FreeRepublic. God bless you!

[Mo1]

OMG ... LOL ... OUTSTANDING SIGN !!

[L_Von_Mises]

Great picture!!

Would have like to have been there but had other obligations this morning as I have to work tomorrow.

[chnsmok]

This is awesome!

[L_Von_Mises]

Also from that ABC story:

"This is the center of all the racist attacks on people of color that have been happening for so long," said Peta Lindsay, an 18-year-old freshman at Howard University. Shouting from a megaphone, Lindsay told the crowd that the FBI and Immigration and Naturalization Service are going to universities and demanding files on certain students. "We will defend ourselves and our brothers from these racist witch hunts," Lindsay said.

Of course, the fact that they are only checking people that come form countries that have historically supported terrorism, either directly or indirectly, is beside the point. Idiots.

[OneLoyalAmerican]

Greetings FreeTheHostages, FReepers, et al:
More lessons learned toward become better FReepers.

These professional protesters have been at this game much longer than us. Of course this rally was falsely labeled “against war and racism.” Therefore, all opposition becomes “pro-war and racist.”

Maybe some pre-printed palm card sized "press releases" with correct details? Pre-printed, or with with blank space for name, defining ourselves as Pro-USA. Otherwise they define us. And include www.FreeRepublic.com for more info. Since most newsies are pretty lazy, so if you give them the story, they'll print it word for word.

[The South Park Republican]

Now THAT is a great idea!! Way to throw their crap back into their faces!

Well done!!

[RottiBiz]

Gotta love those DC FReepers. Kudos!