Baltimore Grassroots Media

By Ron Kipling Williams and Mike Shea
February 2, 2007

With unseasonably mild temperatures reaching 57 degrees, a large demonstration of protestors from all over the country and parts of the world gathered on the National Mall in front of the U.S. Capitol on Saturday, Jan. 27 to rally against President George W. Bush’s latest military buildup in Iraq.

Although many major news organizations reported the attendance to be in the tens of thousands, rally organizers with United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) announced that the total was 500,000.

Similar rallies were held the same day in cities across the country such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Madison, Wis.

Activists, entertainers, political leaders, veterans and military families voiced their demands, not only for an immediate withdrawal of troops, but for Congress to impeach Bush for his handling of the Iraq War. Some protest signs read, “IMPEACH GEORGE BUSH,” “WHAT THE HELL IS CONGRESS FOR?”, “IRAQ ESCULATION? WRONG WAY”, and “9/11 TRUTH NOW.”

“There are other ways of solving problems, other than violence,” said Moriah Arnold, a 12-year-old sixth grader from Harvard, Mass., who was one of the speakers.

“He is not the decider, he is the liar,” shouted Representative Maxine Waters, D-Calif., referring to Bush.

After the rally, marchers completely surrounded the U.S. Capitol where some 300 protestors had charged the building. According to CNSNews.com, demonstrators spray-painted graffiti on the steps and pavement and the police were instructed not to arrest them.

“We need to bring an end to the training of our children to massacre the children of Iraq for Halliburton’s oil,” said Bob Watada, father of Lt. Ehren Watada, the first officer to refuse deployment to Iraq. Watada is scheduled for court-martial on Feb. 5.

Actress and activist Jane Fonda expressed her vehement opposition to the Iraq War and her support for the service men, women and their families. She was once labeled “Hanoi Jane” for her actions against the Vietnam War.

“I haven’t spoken at an antiwar rally in 34 years, because I’ve been afraid that because of the lies that have been—and continue to be spread about me and that war—that they would be used to hurt this new antiwar movement, but silence is no longer an option,” Fonda said.

Although 63% of Americans disapprove of sending more troops to Iraq, according to a Jan. 21 CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll—with an overall 70% disapproving the war—Bush reaffirmed his commitment to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to increase troop levels. Bush’s latest commitment of 21,500 was outlined in his address to the nation on Tuesday, Jan. 10 from the White House library on his latest Iraq strategy.

The next day the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to support a non-binding resolution in opposition to Bush’s latest actions, but for the hundreds of thousands gathered at the antiwar rally, it fell short of their demand that Congress block appropriations.

“We’ve heard the excuse, ‘if I had known then what I know now.’ What we’re here to tell them now—what they have to know in 2008—[is] … 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,” said actor Sean Penn.

With Bush’s approval rating at an all time low of 30%, according to a Jan. 25 Newsweek poll, more are calling for the impeachment of Bush.

“Let’s get him out of office before he starts ruling from a bunker. Let’s get him out of office before the only one on his side is his dog Barney,” said actor Tim Robbins.

Andrew Murray of the Stop the War Coalition of Britain was cheered by the crowd when he said, “Now I can tell you that in Britain the antiwar movement has hurried Tony Blair to the edge of his political grave. But there’s one thing we can’t do. We’re not allowed to impeach our prime minister. You can impeach your president.”

Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke about the need for new leadership and a new direction, and to reinvest money in domestic programs as opposed to increased military funding.

“We do not need more troops in Iraq. We need more money at home,” Jackson said.

And many Iraq veterans who have suffered from decreased services from the federal government feel that they are being neglected at home.

“I say to those who tell me that we are fighting this war over there so that it doesn’t come here, ‘listen to the sons and daughters who are returning and their families and you will know that the war is being fought here in the hearts and minds and bodies of those who are returning and have already sacrificed so much,’” shouted actress Susan Sarandon.

Sarandon listed alarming statistics of the plight of Iraq veterans: 53,000 have been wounded; one in four veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder who sought medical care from the Veterans Administration had a two to three month wait to see a physician; there is only one doctor per 500 wounded veterans; many who are being redeployed in Iraq are on potent antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications with little or no supervision, counseling or screening; there is a 70% divorce rate among veterans; Male veterans age 20 to 24 suffer twice the unemployment rate; 40% of current rotated troops are National Guard or reservists—with 95% having difficulty receiving their pay; and one in three homeless Americans is a military veteran.

Sarandon also reported that the Republican plan for 2007 drops $65 billion in benefits over the next five years. These concerns were not addressed in Bush’s State of the Union message on Tuesday, Jan. 23.

Representatives from Iraq Veterans Against the War, who claim to be the most progressive antiwar veteran organization in the nation, voiced their outrage about veterans being ignored. “I listened to the State of the Union address. In the 50 minutes of rambling George Bush not once mentioned the word ‘veteran’,” said Garett Reppenhagen, a sniper in the first infantry division who served one year in Iraq.

“Now I’m home. I’m still serving my country. I’m still serving my brothers and sisters and trying to get them home alive.”

According to the Jan. 21 CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll, 57% of Americans believe that the Iraq War is part of a separate action from the broader war on terrorism that began after Sept. 11, 2001. In a Jan. 18 Newsweek poll, 64% of Americans said they felt the Iraq War has made them less safe from terrorism. Some of this sentiment has appeared in Bush's recent speeches.

“The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people, and it is unacceptable to me,” Bush said in his Jan. 10 address.

But some question whether Bush’s actions are about stemming the increased violence in Iraq, or about advancing the neo-con agenda.

“We know George Bush does not represent you. The anti-Americans are the politicians who ignore the views and democratic wishes of the American people themselves,” Murray said.

“George Bush, forget about legacy, who cares? Not one more dollar, not one more death!” said Leslie Cagan, National Coordinator of UFPJ.

It is a legacy that might have broader implications than just the Bush administration. “We have to keep a mass movement going against the system. It’s a systematic war,” shouted Leon Madden of Appeal for Redress, a D.C.-based group sponsored by active duty service members, veterans and their families.

An Iraqi speaker expressed the opposition of many of his people to America’s military occupation of his country.

“We’ve lived together for the last thousands of years, and we know how to rule our country by ourselves,” he said.

“The only thing that the Bush Administration taught the Iraqi government to do is how to ignore their own people’s demands. We are here today to deliver a united message from the Iraqi people and from the American people. We want this war to end, and we want the troops to come home now!” he said.

What have also infuriated many are some U.S. political leaders that have implicated Muslims as “Islamofascists.” In August of 2006 George Bush said, “This nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation”. Yet the Bush administration has not attached the term ‘fascist’ to other religious groups. “… Islam means peace,” said hip hop MC Bedouin who performed at the rally. “… these actions of these individuals no more define Islam than pedophile priests define Catholicism.”

“This has been a great day today,” said George Martin, co-chair for UFPJ, who organized a grassroots lobby day on Monday, Jan. 29 when 260 congressional offices met with over 700 people from 47 states to discuss their agendas.

Founded in October 2002, UPFJ claims to be the largest grassroots peace and justice organization in the United States with 1,400 umbrella member groups and has sponsored hundreds of protests and rallies around the nation—including three of the largest Iraq antiwar marches.

Dormetria Robinson, a teacher at New Chapel Christian Academy in Camp Springs, Md. brought three of her fifth grade students. “Exposure is the key, I believe in holistic learning.” She added, “There are two wars going on, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. And there’s no wonder why people hate the United States, and to be quite honest I am embarrassed.” Her students, each 10-years-old, had very blunt remarks regarding the war and Bush.

“What’s right is to make peace and not war,” said Joi Marie Charles of Fort Washington, Md. “Bush is the one to blame,” said Kiontes Daryton of Upper Marlboro, Md. “I’d rather have Bush doing good things. Maybe if he stopped lying, maybe I would like him,” said Taylor Matthews of Baltimore, Md.

Jesselyn Radack, the ethics advisor at the Justice Department who advised that John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taliban,” be allowed representation by his lawyer, told the crowd that when her advice was “disregarded and disappeared” she blew the whistle.

“For that I was forced out of the justice department, fired from my next job at the government’s behest, referred to the state bars in which I am licensed as an attorney, placed under criminal investigation and—like many of you here—share the dubious distinction of being on the no-fly list. … this is what happens when you trade freedom for fear, confuse dissent with disloyalty and replace democracy with despotism,” she said.

These concerns were echoed later by a husband and wife walking across the Mall. They had moved from the Ukraine in the former Soviet Union to the U.S. in 1991. “What’s happening here with these homeland security measures, it’s transformed this country into something very much like the Soviet system,” the man said. His sign read “3,064 What For? Why More?” and showed newspaper images of fallen soldiers. The couple’s son is serving in the U.S. Marines.

As the rally ended Bedouin led the marchers to action, belting out the chorus to his antiwar hip hop song, “As long as we don’t take a stand, as long as we don’t demand peace all over the land, we all got blood on our hands.”

With the marchers filling the streets around the Capitol, Martin remained, a solitary figure up on the stage, observing. He summed up his thoughts this way: “People say what do these big demonstrations do? Do they really have an effect? Well I’ll tell you, half a million people are going to go home with more energy to work on ending this war in Iraq. Half a million people are going to be putting pressure on the congressional representatives to vote correctly, and voting correctly at this point right now means cutting off the money for this war, so that’s where we’re headed. Peace and love.”