Afghanistan War Vet Comments from March on Pentagon

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http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/CCIPeace

Afghanistan War Vet Comments from March on Pentagon

Greetings all,

Yesterday, I attended a peace rally/march to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and call for an end to the U.S. occupation of that country and prevent military action against Iran. I was there as a member of Vets for Peace, a nation-wide and internationally-recognized organization dedicated to the end of all wars/occupations, the safe return of U.S. troops deployed to combat zones, and the proper care and treatment for those troops after they do return.

Here's a video my roommate took from the rally. We were opposed by right-wing conservatives and veteran's groups, especially and almost exclusively the US Military Veterans Motorcycle Club, who united under the event guise of "A Gathering of Eagles".

It was clear that "battle" lines were drawn between sides, and the police were more concerned w/keeping us in than keeping them out. We were fenced in and controlled while the opposition were allowed to move freely throughout. The opposition carried signs like "Give War a Chance" and "Peace Sucks", referred to us "peacenicks" as "Al-Qaeda appeasers", used foul language, flew us the bird, and even went so far as to expose themselves frontally--grasping and thrusting their exposed genitals towards our side. They accosted peace activists who wondered into their ranks, stealing their signs and destroying them, intimidating women and children into tears. Despite all this, none of them were arrested.

The contrast between the sides was stark. We had diversity of age, race, religion, and ethnicity. They were all white, Christian-Conservatives, and primarily male. They were very militant, full of anger and hate, were bent on intimidating us or instigating a fight--missing no opportunity to try to provoke us. One even purposefully stepped on and smashed one of my signs while I was retrieving something from my bag, as if he were snuffing out a cigarette. Out of all that I passed on the sidewalks, only one had the decency to shake my hand and thank me for my service, but affirmed that would be the most civil exchange we'd have that day. They showed their true colors and I really think we prevailed; we came out on top.

I've attached some pictures to this email to give you the impression of what we encountered. I tried to capture how we were fenced-in on this grassy knoll around the little cafe. The opposition had free access to all the memorials but we did not. Those of us who tried to access the Viet Nam Memorial had to endure long lines and security searches. We could not carry in any signs or buttons, not even my "Veterans For Peace" button. They could wear their "U.S. Military Vets MC" and "POW/MIA" buttons and patches though. It was clearly evident that the Park Police were operating under the same assumptions against us as the "Eagles" were. That gave me and others the impression that there was some puppeteer pulling strings and manipulating both the police and the Eagles. Perhaps this was an attempt by Conservative, Right-Wing insiders to intimidate or pressure the peace movement out of existence, or at the very least test our resolve or instigate a conflict that could be used to discredit our entire movement.

There is definitely a lot of politics going on and mass opinion being influenced. We must remember though that we are all Americans and we all have our Country's best interest at heart--we just have different ideas about what direction to take. We must accept our differences, communicate honestly and without showing contempt or taking offense to try to reach a compromise on the War just as our Fore Fathers reached a compromise on the formation of our government.

In the days ahead, our metal, courage, dignity, integrity, and humanity will be challenged. The outcome will determine the fate of our Nation, if not the world. I hope we can find our way out of the dark.

I have other pics I'll post and share later.

Peace and Love,

Ted

K&R

:puke:

those that want to "just blow them up" crowd. A-holes, like the ones we have called bushies. If they were really gung-ho for war why are they rumbling around in "groups" on cycles instead of a hummvee in Iraq?

And I haven't a doubt that the true organizers of these Pro-War thugs have the PNAC agenda as page one on their clipboards!