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Some Republicans Are Getting It

By Bob Riggle

As the nation witnessed demonstrations during the St. Patrick's Day weekend, protesters in Phoenix, Arizona took to the streets on Monday, March 19, 2007.

The 4th Anniversary Protest Against the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq was a two front event. People began gathering about 11:30am outside the office of Senator Jon Kyle (R-AZ). At an appropriate time a delegation of vets and family members of military personnel entered Kyle's office where the names of those Arizona troops killed in Iraq (100 at the time) were read. There was also an appeal for redress read and presented to Kyle's representative which was written on a very classy scroll in ye very old fashion. The delegation returned to the growing crowd and reported on the incident before gathering forces and marching to the office of Senator John McCain (R-AZ) arriving about 3:00pm.

As the crowd continued to grow and rush hour was starting to build a good head of steam, the same delegates entered McCain's office where names of Arizona KIA's and the appeal for redress was again read and presented to McCain's representative. No, he would not come out either.

Again the delegates advised the crowd of what we had just done. As honks of support were solicited from our captive audience of rush-hour drivers stopped for long lights, a bevy of speakers from vets, former politicians and military family members addressed the crowd. It seemed like there was a dramatic increase in supportive honks from the last major outdoor demo here last July. Of course that was in one of the more elite and "Red" burbs and 9 months and how many more deaths since then. From 7:00 to 10:00 a candlelight vigil with another reading of Arizona KIA's interspersed with poetry and music. While the crowd was quite small at this point we did have about peak of about 500 people earlier. A very good turnout for this city.

The day's events were organized by the End the War Coalition which is composed of: Arizona Alliance for Peace and Justice, Code Pink Phoenix, Women in Black Phoenix, Phoenix Vets For Peace, Vietnam Veterans Against the War Cave Creek, Grandmothers for Peace and many others. Numerous smaller groups and an impressive number of high school age kids were also out for the cause. Even State Senator Karen Johnson (R-AZ) had her End the War/Bring the Troops Home sign with the rest of us. We love ya Karen.

VVAW Cave Creek Arizona Members and Supporters. Members are: Bill Clarke, Bob Riggle, Mark Flemming, Leonard Clark (rear), Bonnie Palmer, and Dave Lester.