Thousands march to Pentagon to protest Iraq war

17 Mar 2007 17:49:20 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Caren Bohan
WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - Thousands of anti-war demonstrators, some carrying yellow and black signs reading "U.S. out of Iraq now!" marched toward the Pentagon on Saturday, one of a number of protests held or planned around the country and the world.
The march, on a cold and cloudy St. Patrick's Day, comes just before the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war on Tuesday and 40 years after a similar protest at the Pentagon over the Vietnam Var.
The march began near the Vietnam War Memorial, just a few blocks from the White House, and proceeded across the Potomac River toward the Pentagon. One sign near the front read, "The worst tyrants ever: Napoleon, Hitler and Bush."
Frustration over the Iraq war cost President George W. Bush's Republicans control of Congress in elections last year and is the main reason his poll numbers are stuck near 30 percent, the lowest of his presidency.
Bush also faces other problems, including complaints of poor health care for U.S. veterans, the perjury conviction of a former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and an uproar over the firing of U.S. prosecutors that has prompted calls for the ouster of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Bush unveiled a plan in January to send 21,500 additional troops to Iraq, further stoking anger over the war. The number of extra troops being sent has climbed to around 30,000 with the addition of support troops. His plan aims to quell violence in Baghdad and the western province of Anbar.
The march marked the latest protest in Washington against the war in which more than 3,200 U.S. troops have died.
On Jan. 27, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in front of the U.S. Capitol to pressure the U.S. government to get out of Iraq.
Police reported that about two dozen protesters had been arrested late on Friday night in front of the White House. Bush had already left for the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, where he is spending the weekend.
Several hundred supporters of the war held their own nearby counter-demonstration and carried signs stating: "Win the war or lose to jihad," "Our troops are shedding their blood to keep terrorists from America," and "St. Patrick: Drive the Democrats from our land."
Organizers of the protest march said the turnout had been hurt by a winter snow storm on Friday that moved up the East Coast from Washington into New England, disrupting travel.
Police in Los Angeles said they were expecting 5,000-10,000 protesters to turn out for an anti-war rally there, while other demonstrations were planned in Austin, Texas. Protests were also staged or planned in Australia, Britain, and Canada.
Democrats in Congress are wrestling with legislation to set deadlines on the U.S. military presence in Iraq. A proposal to be debated soon in the House of Representatives would tie approval of $124 billion in emergency war funds to a troop pullout by September 2008.
Warning that a U.S. withdrawal would worsen the violence in Iraq, Bush has labeled such proposals an attempt by lawmakers to "micromanage" the war and has threatened a veto.
"The consequences of imposing such an artificial timetable would be disastrous," Bush said in his weekly radio address on Saturday. (Additional reporting by Nicola Groom in Los Angeles)

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Iraq War Protesters March in Washington

by Rachel Martin

Weekend Edition Saturday, March 17, 2007 · Thousands Christians opposed to the war in Iraq gathered at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Friday night to pray and protest U.S. involvement in the Middle Eastern country.

Tuesday is the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

After an evening prayer service, the protesters marched to the White House. More than 200 were arrested for civil disobedience. President was away for the weekend at Camp David in Maryland.

On Saturday morning, a coalition of protest groups has a permit for up to 30,000 people to march from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial across the Potomac River to the Pentagon. Smaller demonstrations are planned in cities across the country.

War Anniversary Draws Protesters to D.C.
By LARRY MARGASAK and CALVIN WOODWARD
The Associated Press
Saturday, March 17, 2007; 2:18 PM


WASHINGTON -- Denouncing a conflict entering its fifth year, protesters raised their voices Saturday against U.S. policy in Iraq and marched by the thousands to the Pentagon in the footsteps of an epic demonstration four decades ago against another divisive war.

A counterprotest shadowed the anti-war crowd on a day of dueling signs and sentiments such as "Illegal Combat" and "Peace Through Strength," and songs like "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "War (What's It Good For?)."

Thousands crossed the Memorial Bridge over the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial to rally as close to the Pentagon as they could get. Smaller protests were organized across the country and held abroad, stretching to Tuesday's four-year anniversary of the Iraq invasion.

"Too many people have died and it doesn't solve anything," said Ann O'Grady, who drove through snow with her husband, Tom, and two children, 13 and 10, from Athens, Ohio. "I feel bad carrying out my daily activities while people are suffering, Americans and Iraqis."

Retired Marine Jeff Carroll, 47, an electrician in Milton, Del., held a sign saying: "Proud of our soldiers, ashamed of our president." Carroll said he served in Lebanon when the Marine barracks was bombed in a deadly attack in 1983, and thinks the U.S. should be focusing on Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden instead of Iraq. "We're fighting the wrong country."

Police on horseback and foot separated the two groups of demonstrators, who shouted at each other from opposite sides of Constitution Avenue in view of the Lincoln Memorial before the anti-war group marched. Barriers also kept them apart.

Protesters walked in a blustery, cold wind across the Potomac River with motorcycles clearing their way and police boats and helicopters watching.

The anti-war group carried signs saying "U.S. Out of Iraq Now," "Stop Iraq War, No Iran War, Impeach." The other side carried signs saying "al-Qaida Appeasers On Parade" and "Fight Jihad Not GIs."

Protesters met at the starting point of the Oct. 21, 1967, march on the Pentagon, which began peacefully but turned ugly in clashes between authorities and more radical elements of the estimated crowd of 50,000 on the plaza in front of the Defense Department's headquarters. More than 600 were arrested that day.

That protest has lived on in the popular imagination because of the crowd's attempts to lift the Pentagon off the ground with their chants; they fell short of their fanciful goal.

Organizers of the Saturday protest did not anticipate numbers comparable to those of the Vietnam era. Authorities no longer give crowd estimates publicly.

Veterans, some from the Rolling Thunder motorcycle group, lined up at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and waved U.S, POW-MIA and military-unit flags. Not all were committed to the U.S. course in Iraq, however.

"I'm not sure I'm in support of the war," said William "Skip" Publicover of Charleston, S.C., who was a swift boat gunner in Vietnam and lost two friends whose names are etched on the memorial's wall. "I learned in Vietnam that it's difficult if not impossible to win the hearts and minds of the people."

But Larry Stimeling, 57, a Vietnam veteran from Morton, Ill., said the loss of public support for the Iraq war mirrors what happened in Vietnam and leaves troops without the backing they need.



Jordan Schmidt, of Leesburg, Va., an anti-war protester, holds a candlelight vigil with others outside the White House in Washington, Friday, March 16, 2007. An estimated 3,000 protesters march from the National Cathedral to the White House to protest the military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson) (Lawrence Jackson - AP)


A third GOP lawmaker called for the dismissal of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. (Win Mcnamee -- Getty Images)

"We didn't lose the war in Vietnam, we lost it right here on this same ground," he said, pointing to the grass on the National Mall. "It's the same thing now."

Henry Sowell, 22, Raleigh N.C., who fought with the Marines in Iraq in 2005, asserted that anti-war protesters were "taking away what my buddies died for and what I fought for."

Some active-duty service members joined the anti-war protest, following rules that allow them to demonstrate but limit what they can say.

Speaking into a microphone hooked to massive speakers, Petty Officer Jonathan Hutto, who is on active duty with the Navy, told the crowd that the people had voted against the war in the November elections and "we're here to cash the check."

Rallies also were planned in Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Hartford, Conn., and Lincoln, Neb.

Overseas, more than 3,000 people protested peacefully in Istanbul, Turkey, and about 1,000 in Athens, Greece.

___

Associated Press writers Matthew Barakat and Ann Sanner contributed to this report.

Add my hometown. We just returned from leading about 40 protesters as we protested in two states. Ages ranged from those who marched in the 60s to high school and college students to 2. It was a bit cold at first, but the energy and positive feedback from those passing by really filled us with warmth.