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Iraq War Protests Continue Nationwide
Associated Press | March 20, 2007
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky - Protesters in several U.S. cities peacefully remembered the military and civilian lives claimed in fighting Iraq, following a day in which at least one demonstration turned violent.
Linda Englund placed flowers Monday beside a small white flag commemorating a Soldier killed in Iraq, a friend of her son, who was standing beside him when he was shot in 2004. "I always feel like another foot, it would have been my son," she said. Englund was among the volunteers who erected 4,000 flags in long rows at the city's Waterfront Park, one of numerous events around the United States to mark the war's fourth anniversary. A day after at least one demonstration turned violent, protesters peacefully remembered the military and civilian dead and ardently called for the U.S. to bring its troops home. In televised remarks from the White House, President George W. Bush asked for patience from a public that solidly opposes the war, saying his plan to stabilize Baghdad with more combat and support troops needs time to work. More than 3,200 members of the U.S. military have been killed in the war. Iraqi civilian deaths are estimated at more than 54,000, possibly much higher. Englund's son, 24-year-old Army Sgt. John Englund, was wounded twice in Iraq. Last week, another of his friends was killed in action, she said. Gazing at the fluttering flags, Englund said she thought about "the loss of what they all would have done with their lives. They were all courageous in doing what they thought was right or what was asked of them." Organizers said they chose white flags to match the color of grave markers for the slain Soldiers. A rally involving as many as 15,000 people Sunday in Portland, Oregon, ended in with scuffles and police using pepper spray. No such trouble was reported at the much smaller demonstrations around the country Monday, although San Francisco police arrested 57 people who blocked a streetcar line in the heart of the financial district by lying in the street, draped in white sheets, to symbolize Iraq's war dead. Also on Monday, 44 people were arrested outside the New York Stock Exchange on disorderly conduct charges. As rain fell in Seattle, hundreds of protesters participated in a march and two rallies. The crowd appeared to contain more than 1,000 people. Several thousand had demonstrated the day before. In St. Paul, Minnesota, shiny black boots with the name tags of dead Soldiers dangling from their eyelets were placed in circles on the floor of the Capitol. The display included smaller circles of civilian shoes and sandals. One sandal, representing a 1-year-old civilian, had the name Mahdey Abed Al-Atheem etched into the tag. The footwear makes up the traveling exhibit "Eyes Wide Open," which was created by the American Friends Service Committee, a branch of the pacifist Quaker church. It has appeared across the country. For several hours Monday, onlookers meandered through the exhibit while speakers called out the names of Iraq war casualties, both American and Iraqi. "It's really powerful," said David Pederson, 16, of Minneapolis, who came to the exhibit with his father, Dan. "It's easy to forget how many people have died. This puts real feet in those boots, and faces to the names." Waving signs reading "Support Our Troops. Bring Them Home Now" and "Keep 'em safe. Bring 'em home," about 100 people chanted in front of the New Jersey Statehouse. Many passing drivers honked their horns in support. "Not one more U.S. Soldier should be sacrificed in Iraq, and not one more dollar should be spent sustaining war and occupation," said the Rev. Robert Moore, executive director of the Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action. "We lost our moral authority and we have to get it back," said Bruce Tonari, a Vietnam veteran who said he attended the rally despite learning two hours earlier that his 80-year-old mother had died. In a Salt Lake City rally that drew hundreds, Mayor Rocky Anderson called for Bush's impeachment. Anderson accused the U.S. president of lying about the justification for the war and allowing the illegal detention and torture of innocent foreign citizens. "I do not say this lightly, but the record is plain: President Bush is a war criminal," said Anderson, a Democrat who has burnished an anti-war reputation in heavily Republican Utah. In suburban Philadelphia, 10 people demonstrating outside a Lockheed Martin plant in King of Prussia were cited for trespassing. They accuse the defense contractor of improperly profiting from the Iraq war, organizer Robert M. Smith said. Along Louisville's waterfront, Gary Drehmel, 60, visited the memorial to the dead and wondered when the war would end. "What's victory?" he asked. "At what price are you going to pay? This doesn't look like victory." Sound Off...What do you think? Join the discussion. Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
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