Thousands rally on National Mall
Protesters urge halt to funding
 With the Capitol as a backdrop, demonstrators listened to speakers against the Iraq war. (AP Photo) |
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | January 28, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Tens of thousands of demonstrators -- Iraq veterans, movie stars, and citizens from all walks of life -- converged on the National Mall yesterday to demand that Congress act to end the Iraq war, in an event organizers hailed as the largest antiwar protest since the US invasion in 2003.
Chanting "peace, salaam, shalom," and carrying placards declaring "Congress Inaction is Immoral" and "The Surge is a Lie," the crowds gathered in the shadow of the US Capitol to hear a broad range of activists from actress Jane Fonda to a 12-year-old Massachusetts girl plead for an end to US military involvement in Iraq.
"Our presence here today is intended to stop the funding for the war," said Norm Mazer , an associate professor at Boston University Medical School, who was among several busloads of Massachusetts residents who traveled to Washington overnight Friday. "I felt it was time to exercise my right as a citizen to say no more to this war."
The rally occurred at a critical time in the four-year-old conflict: President Bush faces a political battle with newly empowered Democrats -- and some Republicans -- over his plan to send 21,500 more troops to quell rising sectarian violence. Meanwhile, public opposition to the war is growing and Bush's popularity is languishing, two factors that helped Democrats gain control of Congress.
This week, lawmakers are expected to vote on a nonbinding resolution opposing Bush's escalation of the war, even though the president said the action is necessary to bring Iraq back from the brink of civil war. Although a few lawmakers want to cut off funds to stop the war, party leaders have said they won't take that step -- even though it helped end the Vietnam War -- for fear of being viewed as abandoning the troops in the field.
"We need to give the Congress the courage to do more than symbolic things," said actor and peace activist Tim Robbins as he waited for his turn on the stage, which featured a flag-draped casket symbolizing the more than 3,000 US troops who have lost their lives.
"Congress has to take control of this government," added actress Rhea Perlman , of the TV series "Cheers." She said voters "spoke in November. We have to settle this conflict some other way."
Yesterday's demonstration -- organized by such liberal and antiwar groups as United for Peace and Justice, MoveOn.org, the National Organization for Women, and labor unions -- took place as a bipartisan congressional delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi returned from a trip to assess the situation in Iraq first hand.
In a statement issued yesterday, the delegation insisted that a political solution is the only way to end the violence and thanked US troops "for the way they are doing their difficult jobs under extremely dangerous conditions. We expressed our unwavering support for them, and for their families, as well as our hope that they will come home safely and soon."
Bush, who is often out of town on big protest days, remained in Washington for the weekend. The White House said the president phoned Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq to reaffirm his commitment to the troop increase.
But on the streets of Washington yesterday, it was a commitment to bringing US troops home that animated the crowds.
"This is what I wanted to see when I was in Iraq," remarked Geoff Millard , 26, an Iraq war veteran, as he surveyed the crowd. "Finally we might have a Congress that will listen."
Melida Arredondo of Roslindale, whose stepson , A.B. "Alex" Arredondo , was killed on his second tour to Iraq in 2004, was also on hand with Gold Star Families for Peace, which includes the loved ones of those who have died in Iraq.
"It's not just a few hundred or a few thousand of us," she said after her husband , Carlos Arredondo, spoke to the crowd. "I get offended when they say if we pull out that Alex died in vain. He died so his friends could come home."
Standing on tiptoe to reach the microphone, 12-year-old Moriah Arnold of Harvard, Mass., was the youngest speaker. Arnold, who organized a petition against the war at her school, told the crowd: "Now we know our leaders either lied to us or hid the truth. Because of our actions, the rest of the world sees us as a bully and a liar."
Sarah Francis , 78, of New York City, came to the rally with fellow members of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the city's largest public employees union. "The union supported us [traveling] down for the purpose of trying to right the wrong and to seek peace," she said.
A small group of people, however, came to the Mall to show their support for the war. About 40 people, including those whose loved ones are serving in the military, staged a counter-protest.
One of them, Army Corporal Joshua Sparling , 25, lost his leg in a bomb attack in Iraq in November 2005. He said the anti war protesters, especially those who are veterans or who are on active duty, "need to remember the sacrifice we have made and what our fallen comrades would say if they are alive."
Official estimates of the size the crowd were not available, but police said informally that fewer than 100,000 demonstrators showed up.
Asked to comment on the rally, Melvin Laird , President Richard Nixon's secretary of defense from 1969 to 1973, said he was surprised at the predicted turnout. "We never had one that big during Vietnam," he said.
But Laird did see parallels between the two unpopular conflicts. "There is a comparable problem between President Lyndon Johnson and George W. Bush in terms of public support," he said. "And both found themselves [weakened] at the end of their terms."
Still, it remained unclear whether Congress will be willing to do what their predecessors eventually did in Vietnam: deprive the president of the federal funds necessary to wage the war.
Representative Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat who is running for president in 2008, is among the few members of Congress who believes there is no choice.
"Congress must step up to its responsibility," he said as he headed to the rally site with supporters carrying "Kucinich 2008" posters. "We must cut off the funds for the war. There is already the money in the pipeline to bring the troops home."
Susan Sarandon , an actress and peace activist, suggested a novel way that Democrats in Congress could inoculate themselves from charges of not supporting the troops.
"Instead of simply not funding the war, they should take some of that money and fund the vets," she said in an interview. "Have you been to a GI hospital? They have one doctor for 600 patients. They have to wait months for treatment."
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com.
? Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
In Boston, support for demonstrators
Protesters cite attitude shift since election
 Hundreds of antiwar demonstrators lined Tremont Street by Boston Common yesterday during an afternoon rally, one of several scheduled across the nation. (John Tlumacki/ Globe Staff) |
In the four years he has been protesting the war in Iraq , Don Hnatowich said he has been called every name in the book.
"We've only gotten one thumbs down," said the Brookline resident. "After the invasion, people would call us names, yell at us. But since the election in November, there's been more support."
Hnatowich and his wife were among several hundred protesters who gathered near the Park Street MBTA station to protest the war. The protest was one of dozens scheduled across the nation, including one in Washington that drew tens of thousands of people to the National Mall.
Many of yesterday's protesters brought their signs and voices to Boston because they couldn't make the trek to Washington.
"I couldn't go to Washington, but I'll stay here until I can't feel my feet anymore," said Tima Smith , of Pomfret, Conn.
"I came out because I think our government has to be held accountable and hear our voices," said Smith, who pumped her sign in the air and waved at honking vehicles on Tremont Street.
The nationwide protests are the first major anti war rallies held since the Democratic Party won the majority in Congress in November's elections.
David Ascher , an organizer with Newton Dialogues on Peace and War , an organization that helped organize yesterday's event, said the elections have reinvigorated anti war sentiment across the country and brought more protesters out to the streets.
"Before the election, people would be private in their protest," Ascher said as he surveyed the swelling crowd. "Now, it's like everyone isn't supressed anymore."Ascher said neither his group nor the Committee for Peace and Human Rights , which has held weekly vigils near Park Street station since 1991 , had expected many people to show up for yesterday's rally. They were pleased with the attendance.
Some in the crowd started chants and encouraged pedestrians emerging from the subway station to join in. Many did.
Others held signs bearing messages such as "War is terrorism with a bigger budget" and explained to passersby their meaning. Others handed out pamphlets with information on how to contact local lawmakers.
Many said they hoped the surge in anti war sentiment after November's election would not wane soon.
"I'm definitely feeling a change now," Smith said of the nation's political mood. "Our leaders are seeing that the American people won't take this forever."