Coverage of Yesterday's Peace Rallies

Yesterday's peace rally in Washington DC brought active-duty military, military families and concerned citizens together to call for an end to the Iraq War, and real leadership on the issue from the U.S. Congress. According to organizers, hundreds of thousands of people rallied; major media put the number at tens of thousands. Here are some excerpts from news accounts of the event.

From the DC Indymedia site:

Another speaker at the event, Rabbi Michael Lerner, said that if Congress doesn't cut off the funds for the war, then they are acting as "enablers" of the Bush-Cheney administration. The Rev. Jesse Jackson said: "It was easy to admire the late Martin Luther King Jr., but it was hard to follow him... We need new leaders and new priorities... Bush ignored Katrina... We need more money and justice at home... Stop spending $8.5 billion a month on madness. End the war."

From the Washington Post:

Oriana Futrell, 21, of Spokane, Wash., came with a sign that said: "Bring my husband home now." She said her husband, Dan, an Army lieutenant, was in Baghdad. They were married in April. She said she was weary of attending military funerals. ... "I don't know what else to say, other than: 'Bring them home,'" she said. "It is time. We need to bring them home where they can be safe."

From The New York Times:

Tassi McKee, from Bastrop, La., who said she was a staff sergeant in the Air Force, was among a small contingent of about 20 active-duty service members who turned out. "I believe this has become a civil war, and we are being hurt and making matters worse by staying in the middle of it," Sergeant McKee said.

She said that it was not illegal for active-duty members to attend protests but that it was strongly discouraged.

Veterans were more numerous among the crowd. ...

Fernando Braga, a 24-year-old Bronx native who is a member of the Army National Guard, said that he was skeptical of the war before it started. Mr. Braga said his views hardened into opposition while he served in Iraq from March 2004 through January 2005.

"My own commander told us when we arrived that if we thought we were there for any reason other than oil then we had another think coming," he said. "I realized even commanding officers were against it but following orders."

Michael McPhearson, executive director of Veterans for Peace, said more than 100 veterans from the Iraq war participated in the march, and several hundred veterans from previous wars attended as well.

And the Isthmus' Daily Page has a good account of yesterday's Madison rally.