Pentagon March: Deja Vu All Over Again
Forty years ago, I covered the big anti-Vietnam War protest March on the Pentagon for my college newspaper.
That historic event, considered a turning point in opposition to the war, is best remembered by photographs of protesters scuffling with U.S. marshals and putting flowers in the muzzles of the rifles held by troops ringing the Pentagon. I can be seen on the fringes of some of the photos.
I plan to be back in the saddle this Saturday for another March on the Pentagon, this one to protest the Iraq War on its fourth anniversary and commemorate the October 1967 protest.
There are a lot of familiar names on the list of march endorsers, some of whom I have no truck with. They include Ramsey Clark and Cindy Sheehan, two wingnuts whom have done more to harm than help what passes for an antiwar movement in America today. But I have real respect for many other endorsers, including Howard Zinn, Ron Kovic, James Yee and Ed Asner, and I’m not going to let a few pop-offs deter me from doing something beyond blogging about a war that I initially supported.
Getting to the march and back will be a snap: We’ll drive to the Washington ‘burbs and take the Metro to the assembly site near the Lincoln Memorial.
Be there or . . . don’t be there. More info here.
I’ll post a report on Sunday.
15 Responses to “Pentagon March: Deja Vu All Over Again”
Could you post some pictures, both then and now?
Will do on Sunday.
I wouldn’t be caught dead in association with the groups who sponsor the anti-war marches.
Colonial Occupation? Oh my.
What Holly said.
Iraq, Palestine, Haiti, Guantanamo… Like conflating these issues is in any way shape or form helpful? No, I really don’t think so. This isn’t about Iraq — it’s about having a free-for-all far-left “America sucks” nut fest.
This is something that has plagued the anti-war movement from day one, despite the modern day revisionism that claims these people were right from the beginning. Beyond a select few who were buried in the greater din, there was never the rational presentation of ideas that some now claim in revisionist hindsight occurred — it was an irrational screamfest. They may have been right, but IMHO it was for all the wrong reasons.
Shaun, I understand what you’re trying to say and hoping you find, but I don’t think that anything orchestrated by ANSWER is the vehicle for credibly and effectively presenting that message. I look forward to your thoughts afterwards…
“Be there or . . . don’t be there.”
Well, sry, but for me it’ll be the “don’t be there” option. Too far from Germany.
But good luck for the march, Shaun! It’s a good thing the TV public will see that there’s a widespread opposition against the war. Very encouraging.
I was at the large anti-war rally a year or two ago (the one in cold weather than nevertheless drew a record-sized crowd). All kinds of nut cases where there and you’ll see the Usual Suspects at this anti-war rally as well. (A little late, isn’t it?)
You’ll see ANSWER (a contemptible Commie group of Enemies Within the West) there and don’t be surprised if you see in addition more nut cases like the “colonial occupation” crowd. When I was at the earlier rally even my self-professed radical friend laughed at people such as those who were saying “NUKES FOR NORTH KOREA! COURAGE AGAINST U.S. IMPERIALISM!”
Birds of a feather…it is indeed a far-left nut-fest.
> Shaun, I understand what you’re trying to say and hoping you find, but I don’t think
> that anything orchestrated by ANSWER is the vehicle for credibly and effectively
> presenting that message.
Hopefully he seeks entertainment and a friendly (safe?) place to express contempt or even hatred for Bush rather than being a dupe. All the Usual Suspect losers and scum will be there but the crowd will include normal people as well. Many appear in bizarre costumes and if Shaun does take photos, they may prove as amusing in some cases as outrageous (depending on what insults and lies are on the signs, etc.). And don’t forget to look for the puppets and the occasional people in costume on stilts.
Photos of obligatory Usual Suspect loser celebs like Sheehan and various activist dreck (inside and outside Hollywood) are a mere bonus.
Hell, yeah! Good on ya, Shaun.
DLS:
I am affronted by the thought that you may consider me to be normal. (Ha!)
Shaun Mullen said:
> I am affronted by the thought that you may consider me to be normal. (Ha!)
Plenty of people in DC are normal, even though it’s probably 95-5 Dem-GOP.
If you are for peace, why are you following ANSWER, who promote communism, an ideology which has murdered one hundred million people? When did communists ever lead anyone to peace? If you are against lies and deceit, why do you support communists who are the masters of lies and deceit?
This march is not against war, but a march for the other side to win, ie the mass-murdering Baathists and the head-cutting jihadis. The people marching are simply useful idiots in ANSWER’s scheme to batter democracy and capitalism, ANSWER’s true targets.
An ideology that has murdered people? You are saying a collection of ideas is going around killing people. That makes no sense. Now if you had said countries who call themselves communist have murdered people, we might have a debate. I would tell you not to believe propaganda without verifying the facts. I would also say that just because a state claims to be something does not necessarily make it so. Take the United States for example. It is not really a democracy (see definition of democracy.) It doesn’t export democracy. It is not helping the Iraqis; so many more Iraqis are dying or displaced now than there ever were under Saddam. As we speak, Bush and his buddies are in the process of legalizing the theft of Iraqi oil.
Iraq is simply one more example of the brutal wars and oppression that the U.S. has been propagating across the globe since its inception, all in the name of progress/profit. How many Native Americans were slaughtered? How many slaves? How many died in the Philippians, China, Argentina, Cuba, Haiti, etc. etc. etc. etc. Read your history. The United States is responsible for wars, famine, slavery and disease that have resulted in the deaths of millions and millions of people. Look here for an idea of what I am talking about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_military_history_events
The U.S. has been very busy over the years building and protecting its capitalist empire.
By the way, if you want to talk about an ideology that has been responsible for the murder of countless numbers of people, study the history of Christianity.
I welcome any educated response that would prove anything I’ve said to be incorrect.
Dan,
Your lame rebuttal is a tangled mass of obfuscation followed by an irrational tu quoque non sequitur. Communism is a terrible idea which leads to terrible government which leads to mass extermination of the very citizens it purports to be leading into its revolutionary new world. Stop evading the obvious and reject this murderous ideology as the vanguard of the bogus “peace” movement. Don’t let Stalin be your guide.
Cordially,
Tantor
Tantor,
You’ve used big words and criticized my grammar, but you have failed to illustrate how anything I’ve said is incorrect. Also, I said nothing about Stalin, and he is not my guide.