Traitor Hanoi Jane At It Again

[Soldier4Christ]

A nation at war with itself.


Fonda, Glover headline Iraq war protest 
Crowd praised for 'stand[ing] up against this mean-spirited, vengeful administration'

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, a half-dozen members of Congress 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.

"Silence is no longer an option," Fonda declared to cheers, addressing not only the nation's response to Iraq but her own absence from anti-war protests for 34 years.

The actress once derided as "Hanoi Jane" by conservatives for her stance on Vietnam said she had held back from activism so as not to be a distraction for the Iraq anti-war movement, but now needed to speak out.

"Thank you so much for the courage to stand up against this mean-spirited, vengeful administration," she said.

Fonda drew parallels to the Vietnam War, citing "blindness to realities on the ground, hubris ... thoughtlessness in our approach to rebuilding a country we've destroyed." But she noted that this time, veterans, soldiers and their families increasingly and vocally are against the Iraq war.
Protesters rush Capitol

The rally on the National Mall unfolded peacefully, although about 300 protesters tried to rush the Capitol, running up the grassy lawn to the front of the building. Police on motorcycles tried to stop them, scuffling and wrestling with some and setting up barricades along the front steps. (Watch women in funny hats mock President Bush's "urge to surge" Video)

Protesters chanted "Our Congress" as police faced off against them. Their ranks grew and several dozen shouting "We want a tour" broke away and tried to get into a side door.

At the rally, 12-year-old Moriah Arnold stood on her toes to reach the microphone and tell 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."

The sixth-grader from Harvard, Massachusetts, the youngest speaker on the stage, organized a petition drive at her school against the war that has killed more than 3,000 U.S. service-members.
Celebrities speak out

More Hollywood celebrities showed up at the demonstration than buttoned-down Washington typically sees in a month.

Actor Sean Penn said lawmakers will pay a price in the 2008 elections if they do not take firmer action than to pass a nonbinding resolution against the war, the course Congress is now taking. (Watch how five dozen speakers preceded the anti-war march Video)

"If they don't stand up and make a resolution as binding as the death toll, we're not going to be behind those politicians," he said. Actors Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Danny Glover also spoke.

Fonda was a lightning rod in the Vietnam era for her outspoken opposition to that war and her advocacy from Hanoi at the height of that conflict. Sensitive to the old wounds, she made it a point Saturday to thank the active-duty service-members, veterans and Gold Star mothers who attended the rally.

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. Now 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.

A small contingent of active-duty service members attended the rally, wearing civilian clothes because military rules forbid them from protesting in uniform.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Tassi McKee, 26, an intelligence specialist at Fort Meade, Maryland, said she joined the Air Force because of patriotism, travel and money for college. "After we went to Iraq, I began to see through the lies," she said.

In the crowd, signs recalled the November elections that defeated the Republican congressional majority in part because of President 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."
Counter-protest staged

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 often is out of town on big protest days.

United for Peace and Justice, a coalition group that sponsored 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.

[baxley]

I watched the protest on TV and was appalled at what I saw.

But what was the most disturbing was Tim Robbins yelling into the microphone "... we reject the God that Bush prays to ..." and it was then that I realized that this was in actuallity a protest against Christianity cloaked as a war protest. And Jesse Jackson, who had just quoted scripture, stood on the podium with them shaking his head yes.

I knew that the Christian symbols of Christmas were under attack but I never thought that the attacks on Christianity would become so blatant.

[Soldier4Christ]

Hi baxley,

It's good to see you here.

I haven't seen the televised version of the protest but it doesn't surprise me in the least to hear that about Tim Robbins or Jesse Jackson. I would not be surprised if there were more such comments from the other protesters either. Jesus Christ and true Christianity are indeed under attack and it is going to get much worse. I don't mean to sound like a fatalist here but we are told that these things will come and we can plainly see that they are coming.

There is but one solution and that is Jesus Christ Himself and that is what will happen before it is all over.

[Brother Jerry]

I pulled this from another site I was looking for information on.

Let me start by saying I was at the march on Sunday, and it as in fact a very well-organzied, orderly, and enthusiastic group of well over 100,00 people. Looking around me, I was most struck by how “mainstream” the crowd looked- this was definitely not some collection of radicals and left-wing nuts. In fact, the only extremists I saw were the small group of counter-demonstrators, who’s idea of civil discourse included crude attacks on Bill Clinton (relevance unknown) and a hanging in effigy of Jane Fonda, with a “clever” sign that said “B**ch” hanging around her neck (without the asterisks, of course). All in all, though, it was very moving to see so many people excercising their right to protest and to communicate in a powerful and direct way with their elected representatives. In terms of “our reputation on the world being ruined”…you have Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld to thank for that.

Well I find a couple of things wrong with these pictures.

1) They protest the war and say we should pull out now.  But they do not think of the consequences of those actions either.  Let us just say that the war was a bad idea.  It was a mistake to go in there.  Sure OK we can do that.  But it would be a bigger mistake right now to just up and leave.  People say we look bad, like a big bully or something.  But we would look even worse if we just up and left a fledgling government high and dry is doing nothing but inviting anarchy.  And would do nothing but worsen our effectiveness in any other theatre in the world.  And that is just a small sampling of the repercussions of an pull out now action.  But the anti-war people do not think that far in the future.  They live in the past, like Jane.  We HAVE to stay in there and see the job done.  The war may have been wrong, but it is done now...so now we need to concentrate on what we can do in the future to make things right, and pulling out to leave a collapse is not the right thing to do.

2) I have no problem with protesting and voicing an opinion.  But I wonder out the 100's of people that were out there, how many of them expressed their opinions at the voting booths?  Statistically it is around 60% for this past election, and less for most of the Congressional elections.  The power of the people is not just in your ability to go out and wave a sign in front of the Captiol or White House about how you feel things are wrong.  The power of the people is in the ability to remove people from office when they are not performing properly.  And if the election does not go your way, then you work harder at trying to convince people your way is better so that next time around you can get the vote.  The power of the people is by letting their elected officials know how they feel, either individually or in groups.  If your elected official is not doing his or her job in representing his constituency then it is up to the those people to remove them from office and get someone in there that will.  We whine and complain that politicians are corrupt and doing things that are the interest of lobbiest, well get off your duff and do something about it, write them a letter, vote against them next time around.  Tell your friends and family and have them vote against them, etc, etc, etc.  That is the real power of the people.  As it stands you said those folks were mainstream. Which mean about 40 out of 100 of them sat out of the last election.  They did not express their right to have a say in their government where it really counted.  Instead they decided to burn a day from the labor force and go to DC to feel they had done their part in the fight against Bush (face it is against Bush and nothing else), instead of taking it to the polls where it really mattered.

Our goals as a nations should be to stay the course right now in Iraq and get that country on a progressive track towards becoming a truly independant nation, able to have tolerance and free from mass violence.  And our goal should also be to keep our government in line by letting the politicians know what we think at the polls, and through letters and other avenues of communication...not as a headline on CNN.  (which is another topic altogether)

[Soldier4Christ]

A key phrase that you used in your first paragraph "inviting anarchy". This is exactly what we have, a group of anarchist that claim to be anti-war, peace advocates. One group of individuals at this "rally" has Che Guevara, a violent communist, as their role model. Many of them were a t-shirt with his picture on it, idolizing him.

Some of these people went to Israel not long ago to join in a "peaceful protest" against Israel. The individual there that they looked up to was a known felon that has used violence against Israel, bombing many of their sites including civilian. Individuals belonging to this same group have been arrested in the St Louis area numerous times for various violent acts. I don't know it to be a fact but I wouldn't doubt that this group participated in the rush on the White House.

Vote? Even if they did they are not happy with the results and will resort to other means to get what they want. If things continue in this direction I foresee worse times than we had in the 60's and 70's with the likes of the "Weathermen".