washingtonpost.com
Praise, Anger at Pro-War Rally in D.C.
By ELISABETH GOODRIDGE
The Associated Press
Sunday, September 25, 2005; 2:32 PM
WASHINGTON -- Support for U.S. troops fighting abroad mixed with anger toward anti-war demonstrators at home as hundreds of people, far fewer than organizers had expected, rallied Sunday on the National Mall just a day after a massive protest against the war in Iraq.
"No matter what your ideals are, our sons and daughters are fighting for our freedom," said Marilyn Faatz, who drove from New Jersey to attend the rally.
(BS: the war is being fought exclusively for the Repubs 2004 re-election campagn and for inflating oil prices to flush $Bs of windfall profits into oilco coffers. )
"We are making a mockery out of this. And we need to stand united, but we are not."
(the Repbus are making a mockery of running the country.)
About 400 people gathered near a stage on an eastern segment of the mall, a large photo of an American flag serving as a backdrop. Amid banners and signs proclaiming support for U.S. troops, several speakers hailed the effort to bring democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan and denounced those who protest it.
Many demonstrators focused their ire at Cindy Sheehan, the California woman whose protest near President Bush's Texas home last summer galvanized the anti-war movement. Sheehan was among the speakers at Saturday's rally near the Washington Monument on the western part of the mall, an event that attracted an estimated 100,000 people.
"The group who spoke here the other day did not represent the American ideals of freedom, liberty and spreading that around the world," Sen. Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, told the crowd. "I frankly don't know what they represent, other than blaming America first."
(When the Repubs start a bogus war based on lies, who the else ya gonna blame? And, Repubs DO-NOT-EQUAL America)
One sign on the mall read "Cindy Sheehan doesn't speak for me" and another "Arrest the traitors"; it listed Sheehan's name first among several people who have spoken against the war.
Melody Vigna, 44, of Linden, Calif., said she wants nothing to do with Sheehan and others at nearby Camp Casey, an anti-war site set up to honor her son, Casey, who was killed in Iraq.
"Our troops are over there fighting for our rights, and if she was in one of those countries she would not be able to do that," Vigna said.
(BS: the troops are doing what they are told. The war is strcitly for the Repubs, not for America.)
( "she would not be able to do that", ... if the Repubs had their way, they would remove the freedom and right of expression of dissent and anti-war deomonstrations.)
The husband of Sherri Francescon, 24, of Camp Lejeune, N.C., serves in the Marine Corps in Iraq. One of the many military wives who spoke during the rally, Francescon said that the anti-war demonstration had left her frustrated.
"I know how much my husband does and how hard he works, and I feel like they don't even recognize that and give him the respect he deserves," Francescon said.
( hey dumbass, it's an anti-(Repub)war demonstration, NOT an anti-military demonstration. The military is just a neutral tool of the Repub policy, being abused, deteriorated, and sacrificed by the Repubs. I have nothing against the military, and support them 100% by calling this war BULL and unworthy of our military's involvement)
"I want him to know and I want his unit to know that America is behind them, Cindy doesn't speak for us, and that we believe in what they are doing."
Organizers of Sunday's demonstration acknowledged that their rally would be much smaller than the anti-war protest but had hoped that as many as 20,000 people would turn out.
( shows how connected to reality the pro-war people are.
20,000? how about some "hundreds" )
On Saturday, demonstrators opposed to the war in Iraq surged past the White House in the largest anti-war protest in the nation's capital since the U.S. invasion. The rally stretched through the night, a marathon of music, speechmaking and dissent on the mall.
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