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VVAW Marches in DC

By Ward Reilly

On a mercifully overcast day in Washington, DC on Saturday, September 24, a crowd of approximately 250,000 people gathered in protest of the wars in the Middle East. This protest had the feel of the late 60s and early 70s, and it was heartwarming to see so many youth in attendance, a group that has been sorely lacking in the current antiwar movement in the United States. The Campus Anti-War Network had many hundreds in their group, and they were just one of several youth groups to have their voices heard on the streets of DC.

A strong contingent of VVAW members joined antiwar groups from all over the nation such as Gold Star Families for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, UFPJ, ANSWER and CAN in condemning the neocon-inspired disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan, illegal wars that have cost us more than 2,000 KIA U.S. troops and almost 20,000 WIA, not to mention the staggering cost of $300 billion.

September 24, Washington, DC (photo courtesy of Charles Jenks, Traprock Peace Center)

$300 billion for what? The Iraq mess continues to get worse, as the Bush administration continues to make more and more enemies by using our troops as a police force, which is not their job. Had our Louisiana National Guard and their equipment been home to protect our citizens, the disastrous Katrina would have resulted in far fewer casualties, and there would have been a much faster first response, which was virtually nonexistent due to Bush's misuse of our National Guard in the Middle East, and the general ineptness that is apparent in everything the administration does.

There were many, many VVAW buttons and symbols adorning the banners, shirts and hats of the crowd members that gathered around the "Camp Casey III" staging area directly in front of the Washington Monument. The tent was named after the KIA son of Cindy Sheehan, a Gold Star Mother who has become the face of the national antiwar movement, which has grown quickly as the reasons for the wars in the Middle East change by the month.

The Arlington West memorial organizers from California placed the crosses and boots of their display on the perimeter of the staging tent, in a continued strong effort to show the cost of these Middle East wars in human terms, and thousands slowly wandered through that fine exhibit for four days running.

I was very happy to be able to meet Ray Parrish in person, one of my own icons in the area of counseling vets and conscientious objector work. VVAW contacts Bill Perry, Billy Kelly, Mike Ferner, Dave Cline, Doug Nelson, Patrick McCann, and Mike Hastie were just a few of the VVAW members that again came out in support of the antiwar movement. Fighting war and injustice has been a lifetime of work for some of these fine people of VVAW.

Ray was interviewed by my good friend Donna Bassin, a psychologist and film-documentary maker from New Jersey. Donna is documenting how the current war has brought so many of the old-school vets back into hands-on activism.

The veterans marched together, and the respect they got from crowd watchers was apparent as Dave Cline, Dennis Kyne of VFP, and a couple of others kept our cadence tight and loud, as only veterans can do.

In a strange way, one of the highlights of the weekend was the pro-war counter-rally organized by the Bush-Cheney lovers; even with their strong money and advertising campaign, a pathetic 400 people showed up to voice their approval of the administration, even though Uncurious George himself came out of his hiding place to say a few words. How embarrassed he must have been to see only a few hundred supporters after our quarter-million rallied against him. What majority there might have been at the start of the war on March 19, 2003 has dwindled to a very small minority. The pro-war folks were quoted in the Washington Post as still claiming to represent "the majority." They obviously live in the same dream world as the criminals in the White House do.

Dave Kettenhofen at Camp Casey in Washington, DC

On Monday, 378 protesters were arrested for sitting in front of the White House, a house that we own. Among them were a VVAW member; IVAW members Michael Cuzzort of New Orleans and Nick Przybyla, a documentary filmmaker from Los Angeles; and Gold Star Mom Cindy Sheehan of California.

On Friday night, George Galloway spoke loudly and clearly against both the British and U.S. governments. He is the British member of parliament who ripped our Congress last month by turning a Congressional witch-hunt hearing into a trial against his accusers by pointing out that he had met with Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times that Donald Rumsfeld had, except that his role had been peaceful and political, while Rumsfeld's visit was to deliver millions of dollars worth of weaponry.

Galloway mentioned the Peace Train, organized by myself and Meredyth and Avery Friend, mother and daughter activists from south Louisiana. It was an Amtrak train originally scheduled to leave from New Orleans to get southern activists to Washington, but after Katrina, it had to depart from Meridian, Mississippi instead.

The Peace Train traversed the south and east coasts, picking up activists along the way, and it was completely full when we arrived in DC. As we pulled into Charlottesville, Virginia, we were surprised to find a huge rally in our honor.

All in all, it was a great weekend for the antiwar movement.

Washington, DC, September 24