Gathering of the Eagles at the Mar 17th anti-war rally in Wash DC ... Mission Complete! A successful mission in protecting and honoring the Viet Nam war memorial as well as a number of other memorials. The area was cordoned off with American flags as well as members of the Gathering of the Eagles. The Gathering of the Eagles group was significantly a much larger group than the "Anti-war" group. (The National Park Service estimates of the Gathering of the Eagles turnout: 30,000 strong).
I placed anti-war in parenthesis as it was evident from the things being said there that the "Anti-war" group, that is supposedly against all war, would advocate violence if it suited their purpose. Listening to the rants and speeches at the ANSWER event, it was clear that a war that would result in, say, the death of President Bush and Vice-president Cheney and the physical destruction of American-owned oil companies, to name a couple of things, would be a fine and wonderful thing to those people.
Many of the "anti" crowd sported yellow (very appropriate color) signs sporting the logo of "U.S. Out of Iraq". The anti crowd consisted of sixties hippies; their kids; ANSWER; Che Guevara; the pacifist and anti-fight for anything crowd. They were joined by another assortment of protesters: high school kids bussed in from Philly - they get extra credit in their US History classes if they participate in a protest (note, anti, not pro); a few who dressed like Palestinians and carried signs for the oppression of the Palestinians; "No war with Iran" crowd; impeach everyone crowd; anti-Halliburton; etc.
As for the Gathering of the Eagles there were bikers who drove up all night from Huntsville, Alabama; a retired NYC firefighter who arrived here at 2am; college students who traveled from Massachusetts; a Vietnam veteran's wife who bought plane tickets at the last minute from San Francisco; countless participants who arrived as part of Move America Forward's cross-country caravan, and of course many Veterans groups such as the Rolling Thunder people, Patriot Guard Riders, and VFW representatives.
Many of the anti crowd were arrested for breaking the law, disobeying police orders, violating rules of orderly protesting. They were ordered to keep moving and instead insisted on sitting or lying down on the streets and walkways.
An interesting side point: the grounds where the Gathering of the Eagles congregated were clean, no trash; the grounds where the protesters congregated - well, they apparently don't know how to use trash cans.
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