http://www.c-span.org/watch/cspan_rm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Protesters energized by fresh congressional skepticism about the Iraq war demanded a withdrawal of U.S. troops in a demonstration Saturday that drew tens of thousands and brought Jane Fonda back to the streets.

A sampling of celebrities and busloads of demonstrators from distant states joined in a spirited rally under a sunny sky, seeing opportunity to press their cause in a country that has turned against the war.

Standing on her toes to reach the microphone, 12-year-old Moriah Arnold 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." (Watch how five dozen speakers preceded the anti-war march )

The sixth-grader from Harvard, Massachusetts, the youngest speaker on the National Mall stage, organized a petition drive at her school against the war. "I encourage the youth of America to rise up and tell our government, 'Changes have to be made,' " she said.

The House Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. John Conyers, threatened to use congressional spending power to try to stop the war.

"George Bush has a habit of firing military leaders who tell him the Iraq war is failing," he said, looking out at the masses. "He can't fire you." Referring to Congress, the Michigan Democrat added: "He can't fire us.

"The founders of our country gave our Congress the power of the purse because they envisioned a scenario exactly like we find ourselves in today. Not only is it in our power, it is our obligation to stop Bush."

On the stage rested a coffin covered with a U.S. flag and a pair of military boots, symbolizing American war dead. On the Mall stood a large bin filled with tags bearing the names of Iraqis who have died.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, said Bush "tricked" the country into an immoral war. "He did not tell the truth," she said. "I will not vote one dime for this war."

In the crowd, signs reminded the masses of the November elections that defeated the Republican congressional majority in part because of Bush's Iraq policy. "I voted for peace," one said.

"We see many things that we feel helpless about," said Barbara Struna, 59, who came from Brewster, Massachusetts, to march. "But this is like a united force. This is something I can do."

Struna, a mother of five who runs an art gallery, made a two-day bus trip with her 17-year-old daughter, Anna, to the nation's capital to represent what she said was middle America's opposition to President Bush's war policy.

Her daughter, a high school senior, said she has as many as 20 friends who have been to Iraq. "My generation is the one that is going to have to pay for this," she said.

Celebrities slated to speak
Showcased speakers in addition to Fonda included actors Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Danny Glover; the Rev. Jesse Jackson; National Organization for Women President Kim Gandy; and several members of Congress who oppose the war.

Fonda was a lightning rod in the Vietnam era for her outspoken opposition to that war, earning the derisive nickname "Hanoi Jane" from conservatives for traveling to North Vietnam during the height of that conflict 35 years ago. She had avoided anti-Iraq war appearances until now.

About 40 people staged a counter-protest, including military family members and Army Cpl. Joshua Sparling, 25, who lost his leg to a bomb 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."

As protesters streamed to the mall, Bush reaffirmed his commitment to the troop increase in a phone conversation Saturday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a day when one or two rockets struck the heavily fortified Green Zone, home of the Iraqi government, thousands of Americans and the U.S. and British embassies.

Bush was in Washington for the weekend. He is often is out of town during big protest days. On Monday, for instance, he called anti-abortion marchers on the telephone from Camp David.

Opposition building
United for Peace and Justice, a coalition group sponsoring the protest, said there has been intense interest in the rally since Bush announced he was sending 21,500 additional troops to supplement the 130,000 in Iraq.

The rally was held as congressional opposition to the war is building. The Senate is considering nonbinding resolutions that would state opposition to Bush sending the extra forces to Iraq.

Frank Houde, 72, of Albany, New York, was a career Air Force pilot who served in Vietnam. Houde did not carry a sign, but said that his protest was on his hat, which said "Veterans for peace."

"The fact is war doesn't work," he said. "Iraq is not going to work. The war was started for reasons that turned out to be false."

Houde, who is retired from the antique restoration business, said he was never upset by protests at home while he was in Vietnam.

"I knew most were protesting on principle," he said. "It was a democratic process."

Houde said he came to this protest to be counted and added, "You can't sit in the middle of the stink of war for a year and not be affected by it. We changed the balance of power in Congress."

Active-duty military troops were featured in the protest. A Defense Department spokeswoman said members of the Armed Forces can speak out, subject to several restrictions. They must not do so in uniform, and they must make clear that they do not speak on behalf of their military unit, their service or the Defense Department, unless authorized to do so.

Copyright 2007 The Associated

This is our country.

For anyone interested, C-Span is re-running coverage of this event.

Seems like a bunch of well-intentioned, ill-informed people.
Contrary to what is being espoused from the speakers, an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq will not bring peace to the country.
Also, I doubt that any the people with signs and sweatshirts that bear the image of Che Guevara know much about him beyond the myth.
I give the Hollywood elites credit - they are holding the new Democratic members of Congress up to criticism and are saying that they didn't vote for non-binding resolutions.
Typical Liberal mantras - Bush is Hitler...Bush is a criminal...Bush has turned the US into a police state...the United States is an evil hegemon...and so on.

But those aren't really mantras, it's pretty close to the truth

http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/ ... ndex1.html

To switch gears drastically, there are a couple of powerful and demanding documentaries here I'd be remiss not to mention. Timeliest of these is Charles Ferguson's "No End in Sight," a systematic and rigorous history of the Iraq war to date. An MIT Ph.D. and onetime Silicon Valley pioneer (he wrote the Internet start-up memoir "High Stakes, No Prisoners"), Ferguson has no previous experience as a filmmaker. But this piercing and unbiased account of all the stupidity, venality and small-mindedness that created our nation's latest foreign policy disaster combines hardheaded journalism and a tragic sensibility.

This is no left-wing screed; Ferguson himself says he was initially optimistic about America's foray into Iraq. His interviewees include former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, retired Gen. Jay Garner (the first coalition governor of Iraq) and the principal author of the 2004 National Intelligence Estimate, which tried to warn the Bush administration about the bottomless, nightmarish money pit that lay ahead. That was the document described by George W. Bush as "guesswork," even though (its authors say) the president had not read it or even seen it.

Ferguson synthesizes existing footage and his own interviews and original research -- he spent several weeks in Iraq, working under armed guard -- to create a portrait of an ideologically driven administration that conducted a war with disastrous incompetence, in which every bad decision was followed by another one. In dissolving the Iraqi military, firing most of the Baathist bureaucracy and allowing public buildings to be looted to the bare walls, Ferguson suggests, the Americans set themselves on a course toward inevitable humiliation. This is the film those stubborn Bush supporters in your family need to see.

http://www.deconstructingsundance.com/F ... in%20Sight

its so far from the truth its nothing even funny

Project rule through divine right to provoke righteous nationalism - same as Hitler

Members of the administration lie about pretext for war - a criminal act

Wire tapping citizens without warrants, sending them to detention centers for unspecified amounts of time without trials - police state

US bypasses international laws and condemnation from much of the globe to go to war or to support human rights violations in Israel, Guantamo, etc (which is really nothing new) - Evil Hegemon

Well...the jews still run NY, right?

Not sure about that one

my hero

1. I think you need to check out some history books to see the difference between the Nazi government and the contemporary US government. President Bush does not "project rule through divine right to provoke righteous nationalism." Consider the anti-war rally today...do you think that would have been tolerated in Nazi Germany?

2. There is no proof that the Bush Administration "lied" about the pretext for War with Iraq.

3. The warrantless wiretapping was an issue that the Bush Administration was going to take to court, but then reconsidered and agreed to work the the current system. This does not constitute a "police state," however. Also, US citizens are not detained and denied Habeas Corpus (see the Military Commissions Act).

4. Both the invasion of Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq were "approved" (via resolutions) by the United Nations. Late last year, the UN passed another resolution that sanctioned the ongoing deployment of forces in both countries.

The supporters who funded his candidacy and re-election used the President's religious conviction to evoke emotionalized rhetoric that empowered themselves politically. Even Bush himself has repeatedly conjured a black and white battle of good and evil on Biblical proportions. This is how someone comes to power, so that sensibility is definitely there regardless of whether or not people can have anti-war rallies. Those people are just empowering the enemy anyway, right? Fortunately for us, Bush and Cheney are too bumbling and moronic to seize power the way that Hitler or Mao did.



haha



There's really no question that the level of authoritarianism in this country has increased dramatically since 9/11. If it weren't for anti-war protesters and people insisting on their rights, including freedom of speech, we would have been going down this path a lot quicker. I suppose I could give you even more examples if you wanted.



And? So there was no widespread international opposition to the Iraq War, to the war on terrorism, to globalization, to US environmental policies, etc?

hitler wanted to exterminate, and came pretty close to doing so, an entire race because he believed he was better than them


bush hasnt even come close to that level. as far as infringing on peoples rights. tell me one person that you know this has affected? the people they are going after are involved in some type of illegal activity

It's totally reasonable to compare Bush to Hitler is several respects, which I already explained. When people think of Hitler, they think of a short, angry little man who hated Jews. There was more to it.

I don't have to know of anybody who has been personally effected either. On a viciously personal level, the Republicans have gone after dissidents and people who speak out against the administration. We aren't living in Nazi Germany yet, but there is a pretty great cause for concern.

i disagree, there is absolutely no concern

Have you seen Jesus Camp? Wait until you see children worshipping a cardboard cutout of George Bush. None of Clinton's, Gore's, or even Kennedy's supporters did anything so outlandish. We're talking millions of people with this mindset who lobby and influence elections, public, and foreign policy.

even IF, jesus camp spoke for the majority of people out there, it would still be about a trillion times better than if hitler ruled here

i don't think the Founders would like some of the things that have happened the last couple of years.

Agreed....also, the people seen in "Jesus Camp" are a radical minority.

Also, Glorified - you pointed out that the Bush Administration has "gone after" dissidents and people who speak out against the Administration. Do you believe that the Clinton Administration didn't behave in the same way during their time? The Clintons were known to be ruthless in putting the hurt on people they saw as foes.
Speaking of fomer President Clinton....while I don't agree with his overall performance in regards to combating terrorism during his term, he didn't get it all wrong. Liberals make calls about a "police state" when they hear about wiretapping. Guess which former President pushed for an agressive wiretapping program....Bill Clinton. Was Clinton seeking a "police state" of his own?