more info on today's Bush Lie-brary protest in Dallas today

As Bush library groundbreaking nears, activists voice peaceful opposition at SMU
12:09 AM CST on Monday, November 15, 2010
By GROMER JEFFERS JR. / The Dallas Morning News
gjeffers@dallasnews.com
For nearly the entire time President George W. Bush was in office, peace activists like Hadi Jawad of Dallas protested the war in Iraq and numerous other Bush-era policies.
So Tuesday's groundbreaking of the George W. Bush Presidential Library is both sad and galling for Jawad and other critics of the Bush administration.
"I'm saddened by this whole episode. The eight years of the Bush era and now the same discredited and repudiated ideas that him and the neo-conservatives gave to this country are going to be back again," Jawad said.
"This time they're going to have the seal of approval of a venerable American institute of higher learning, the SMU. I find it sad, and maddening in many ways that we have to go down this path."
Jawad and other peace activists from around the country were at SMU on Sunday for the start of a series of events, called the People's Response, designed to counter the groundbreaking on campus. The complex will include a library and a policy institute.
On Sunday, peace activists gathered for an interfaith service at SMU, where they offered prayers, poems, hymns, readings and speeches to castigate Bush for the war in Iraq and other policies.
"The only path forward through our conflict and our grief is love," retired Dallas minister Diane Baker said.
Before each presentation, the crowd of about 50 people heard a lamentation referring to Bush.
"We lament the pre-emptive and illegal war against Iraq, a nation unrelated to the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the United States," one such lamentation read.
Another stated: "We lament the approval and practice of torture by the Bush presidency in violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, thus violating international law."
Dallas County Republican Party chairman Jonathan Neerman called the criticism of Bush at Sunday's event empty rhetoric that didn't reflect the views of most Dallas residents, and he said the Bush years were not how they were described by the critics.
And he called the library a crown jewel that would translate into international attention for the school and the area.
"I didn't see these kinds of protests going on with the Bill Clinton library," Neerman said. "The hate that we are still seeing from the far left has gone too far.
"Having a presidential library encourages civil discourse about President Bush and the United States government looking back and going forward."
At Sunday's event, Dallas minister Holsey Hickman questioned why the Bush library had to be at SMU. "What does it mean?" he asked throughout his remarks.
"Today we're here to oppose the marriage of this great university with those two institutions bearing the name of the former president of this country, George W. Bush," Hickman said. "We're here to give our voices to those innocent victims who died as a result of the aggression managed by President George W. Bush."
The service was emotional for some.
As Jawad read a poem called "Bags of Bones" about the struggles of the Iraq people during the war and throughout the reign of Saddam Hussein, Cynthia Papermaster wept as she held a little dog named Jiminnywinks.
"We are complicit in all the horrible things carried out during the Bush administration," said the Berkeley, Calif., woman. "Whenever I think about what we've done, including torturing people, it breaks my heart. This country needs to stand for what's right."
The People's Response includes events to coincide with Tuesday's Bush library groundbreaking, including a march and rally at 9 a.m. Tuesday from the Mockingbird DART station to the northwest corner of Mockingbird Lane and Airline Road.


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