Free Republic

PRANK CALLERS HARASS MILITARY SPOUSES ( 04-10-2003 ) - Callers claiming to be American Red Cross officials have been phoning the spouses of Camp Pendleton Marines, telling them their loved ones have been killed in the war in Iraq. A statement issued by a base spokesman warned military spouses to be wary of such callers and to report them to the authorities. "The Marine Corps does not utilize the Red Cross for casualty notification," the statement said. Family members of those killed in action overseas are told about the deaths by teams of uniformed Marine and Navy officers, usually a...

MONTPELIER, Vt. — A group of Vermont teen-agers threw rocks at a uniformed female Vermont National Guard sergeant last week, in the latest example of a service member facing hostility in the United States. National Guard spokesman Capt. Jeff Roosevelt said the woman was not injured in Friday's incident, which took place in Plainfield, but said the woman had decided she would no longer wear her uniform outside of work. "We are a very tolerant state and people in the military also expect to be treated with the same courtesy and respect that we show to others," Lt. Col. Scott...

Thursday, March 27, 2003 NEW YORK — Hundreds of chanting demonstrators lined Manhattan's Fifth Avenue on Thursday, and dozens lay down in the street in a "die-in" to protest the war. Officers, some in riot gear and on horseback, clamped plastic handcuffs onto about 150 protesters who refused to get up and half-carried them into police vehicles. Anti-war groups also called for other civil disobedience in the city to protest media and corporate "profiteering from the war." As helicopters hovered overhead, the protesters -- some beating drums or chanting "Hey-hey, ho-ho, Bush's war has to go!" -- jammed police pens...

Thursday, March 20, 2003 WASHINGTON — While it has been a particularly brutal political season, the old adage that politics stops at the water's edge appeared true Wednesday night. Shortly after President Bush announced that the war had begun against Iraq, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed their support for the president's action. “The highest responsibility our government has is to keep our people safe. I wish that it didn’t come to this. Nobody wishes for war. But, we must face the challenge of terrorism head on and I support our commander-in-chief and the American military at this...