May 3, 2003, 10:18PM
AUSTIN -- With only the lingering suffering that comes with rebuilding remaining in postwar Iraq, about 500 protesters gathered here, not for a last hurrah but to continue their pledge to speak out against perceived wrongs.
"Just because George Bush did a photo-op on a ship does not mean that Iraq and the foreign policy that he's following comes to an end," said Bruce Hunter, 70, who drove from Dallas.
"There's still bullets flying in Iraq, there's still infrastructure to build, there's still no government in Iraq and clearly this administration has designs to continue this kind of isolationist and unilateral foreign policy all over the world," he said.
The "Showdown in Texas" rally was organized by the American Friends Service Committee and included a hodgepodge of groups and activists that ranged from labor unions to a United Nations representative for the indigenous people of Hawaii.
Event organizers said they wanted to protest the Bush administration's foreign and domestic policies and draw attention to the number of defense contracts awarded to Texas companies.
Alongside university students with spiked hair were clergymen, anti-death penalty activists and the graying manes of a nearly gone but not forgotten Austin.
Jenny Greenberg, 19, wore a Bush mask, a pair of toy six-shooters on her hips and carried an American flag. She said she was protesting everything she saw wrong with Bush's policies, from the economy to the Iraq war to his stance on women's issues.
But in the sea of Bush detractors was Craig Calman Pruscha, who drove in from Burleson.
On his back, Pruscha has a tattoo of the World Trade Center towers in flames beside a likeness of his wife, known only as "Pussycat" to those walking behind him.
Under the tattoo are the words, "Freedom is Never Free."
"Freedom comes at a cost and there's a price to pay for their ability and right to walk down the streets here today saying what the believe," Pruscha said.
Pruscha planned to take his message to Crawford, where President Bush is hosting Australian Prime Minister John Howard at his ranch. A caravan of protesters also planned to drive to Crawford.
Protesters marched through downtown Austin before returning to the Capitol grounds for a peace festival. Austin police said two people were arrested as of late Saturday afternoon.