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3,000 Vets, War Protesters Hand-Deliver Their Message
DNEVER - "Follow Us. Welcome to Denver," read the electronic sign on the police vehicle.
Members of Iraq Veterans Against The War (IVAW) march in downtown Denver, leading several thousands activists towards The Pepsi Center. While some feared police would attempt to stop the march, officers surprised the group by escorting the protesters through city streets, redirecting traffic and pedestrians along the way. (Photo: Rocky Mountain News) And with that conciliatory gesture, an unpermitted march for peace
was allowed to proceed Wednesday afternoon through downtown Denver
streets - peacefully.
It was easily the largest demonstration in a week filled with them.
See video of the march here and here.
At least 3,000 Iraq war veterans and war protesters marched from the Denver Coliseum to the Pepsi Center perimeter. The veterans' ultimate goal was to deliver a statement to presidential candidate Barack Obama, urging him to promote the immediate withdrawal of "all occupying forces" from Iraq, among other points.
After about an hourlong standoff with police at the end of the march, contact was made with an Obama aide. Mission accomplished.
Co-sponsored by the anti-war group Tent State University and the Iraq Veterans Against the War, the march began around 3:15 p.m. outside the coliseum after 9,800 people attended a free concert featuring the heavy metal/rap band Rage Against the Machine and three other acts.
During the four-hour show, audience members were urged to join the demonstration. Band members and others stressed the need for the march to remain peaceful.
At one point, rapper Jonny 5 of Denver's Flobots referred to conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh, who has been widely quoted as saying it would be his "dream" for riots to break out in Denver during the convention. The musician told the crowd the worst thing they could do was make that dream come true.
While some feared police would attempt to stop the march, officers surprised the group by escorting the protesters through city streets, redirecting traffic and pedestrians along the way.
"Under the totality of all the circumstances, it was handled in a manner that best addressed the public safety at the time," said Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the Joint Information Center, a clearinghouse for convention security information.
The group of mostly young people walked behind a banner that said: "Support GI Resistance."
Wearing T-shirts and stickers with slogans such as "Arrest Bush" and "Make Out Not War," they sang rolling chants, Marine- style. "Tell Me What We're Marching For," sang one group. "Stop the torture, stop the war," answered another.
People lined the streets to watch, most approvingly.
As the marchers wound their way through the neighborhoods west of the coliseum, they found solidarity with a group of Latinos holding up an anti-war sign and cheering them on. "Si, se puede!" shouted some young marchers. "Yes, we can!"
But not all were supportive. From the balcony of an apartment complex, a man yelled at the throngs to move on. "Don't come back here," he said.
As the march wore on under a hot sun, some dropped out. Others found ways to take shortcuts. Two teens on the 16th Street Mall shuttle wearing Rage Against the Machine T-shirts admitted they had skipped part of the march and planned to join it as it neared the end.
One foot clad in a black shoe, the other barefoot, James Koller, 17, explained: "Someone clocked me in the face and took my shoe in the mosh pit. This is a quicker route to the Pepsi Center."
Koller's friend, Joey Minicucci, 18, of Littleton, noted that his brother was in the military and would soon be sent to Iraq. That was one of the reasons he was going to the march.
Anne Hill, of Montrose, had other reasons. "I'm marching because it seems to be the last vestiges of our free speech and because people have demands and our government's not listening," she said.
The march came to a standstill at the perimeter of the Pepsi Center around 6:30 p.m., at which time the veterans attempted to have their statement delivered to Obama. Tension with police seemed to escalate, until several veterans stepped forward and saluted police.
"We are your brothers and sisters in arms," said one. "We don't want to hurt you. We don't want you to hurt us."
With that, the standoff melted away and soon an appropriate aide was contacted.
"I figured as long as we kept things peaceful, they would hear us, and they did," said Army veteran Jeffrey Wood.
Staff writers Allison Bruce, Daniel J. Chacon, Abigail Curtis, Jeff Kass, Dan Kelley, Sue Lindsay, Steve Myers and Judi Villa contributed to this report.
- Posted in
74 Comments so far
Show AllHas anyone heard Obama talk about taking troops out of Iraq and putting them into Afghanistan. I think I heard that.
I will get raked over the coals for this one but it is now time to dispense with a gluttonous military. 600 billion dollars spent on making people conform to our dictates using the excuse of national security is a ruse. Your government wants to continue the ruse by proclaiming force is necessary in order to keep your energy spigot open. This is nothing short of insanity.
Use 500 billion of that money to escalate development of clean sustaiable energy. Use it to educate people of life skills necessary outside of shopping. Use it to provide green domestic initiatives that encourage conservation, stewardship and sacifice.
For humanity's sake it is time to leap into the 21st century and put guns and bombs into the casket not bodies.
What's wrong with a society romanticizing the use of force and service of force as heroic employment of family values. Sorry, I simply can no longer stomach the line that the risk is too high so we must arm ourselves for impending annihilation. Take the time to stop and reflect on what 600 billion dollars could do.
ANd yes, that doesn't even include the supplemental which has now reached 700 billion.
I want to hear those "soldiers" cry out for the maimed and dead that our war has wrought in other countries around the world with deadly weapons. We outlaw the use of them in our own country but use them liberally in others?
No excuses. It's time to close the doors of the Pentagon.
Well put civil behavior - We could protect our "homeland" for one tenth of what we spend. Probably less than that. No country has the ability to invade America. No country is threatening to invade America. Period...
No no, us crafty Canadians are just waiting for you to cut your military back and we're going to invade. heh.
I've seen "South Park: Longer, Bigger and Uncut" (1999) and I know you Canucks are untrustworthy (and foulmouthed). We are ready for you. Men, lock and load your popguns!
if we wait a bit longer you're well on the way to cutting your own to nothing...so c'mon down
Thank God! Then you can pay to rebuild the country.
No-one wants to invade, but there are plenty of states wanting to secede.
you can't secede anymore...they amended the Constitution after the first Civil War
of course we could always pick up where we left off...start at the old scrimmage lines or what?
If anyone is going to rake you over the coals for your comment I'll be right in there roasting right along with you. The amount spent on the military is INSANE.
WE THE PEOPLE WANT IT TO STOP! NOW!
-- EKATON --
I won't roast you, as I agree "somewhat".
Yes, the Pentagon has always been about global superiority.
We will always need a defensive force, one that stays within US borders unless attacked from outside.
We will always need a defensive force, one that stays within US borders unless attacked from outside.
unfortunately Isolationism assures another World War....(think we're in a war now?...wait)
Al Queda's "Mission Statement" is that 10 Million Americans have to Die...4 Million have to be children...do we negotiate with them?...how about just 5 million...2 million kids?
This little brush war is going to go on for the next 25 years (regardless who's elected) or until we kill them all...or until THEY quit...whichever comes first...
Where did you get al Qaeda's mission statement, NoWolf? Bill O'Reilly? Seems our bloated military couldn't handle a little Bush war in the Mideast, so throwing more money at them will make it all better, eh? You and your ilk are suckers and fools, duped by the war profiteers who wave a flag in front of you eyes like a matador does to a bull.
I would like to suggest to you that we may not have a "bloated" military. After all the military under Eisenhower was 3 million. We have far, far fewer.
Fewer troops perhaps. But I believe more private contracts, contractors and expenditures considering there is no national enemy of any consequence.
Joe
How does a army that has only bullets and bombs as strategies, and speaks only English, either win over or suppress the elusive Taliban or al queda by marching unprepared into a strange land? You will inevitably kill the innocent and turn more people against you, obviously.
We need to protect people from terrorists like Timothy McVeigh and the WTC crashers, but INTELLIGENCE is required. You cannot do the job with trooops and highly paid mercenaries working on the basis of straightface lies.
Joe
I would add my voice to the request that you confirm this rather strange "mission statement" you attribute to AlQaeda. I believe that I pay attention but have never heard this before.
The twenty or thirty thousand members of AlQaeda do not at all represent the 1.4 billion followers of Islam. The way to stop this "brush war" is to stop the actions of this nation and the west that appear to be imperialism and another crusade. A rather long time ago Che Guevarra noted that, to be successful , a guerrila fighter ( archaic term for terrorist :-))had to swim through the population like a fish through water. Turn that population against them and they must fail.
I would add that Britain and France, two nations who have much experience with terrorist actions on their soil, treat such as a police matter and were quite successful using this strategy to end the bombings and catch the culprits. Contrast that with our own efforts using the military abroad, or homeland security ( a running joke)within our nation. Under Clinton those who committed the first acts of violence against the WTC were apprehended by the police, were they not?
We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
Do you think we would accept the level of intrusion that both Britain and France use to produce their results?
"a guerrila fighter ( archaic term for terrorist :-))had to swim through the population like a fish through water. Turn that population against them and they must fail."
Excellent point.
Unfortunately, Bu$h-Cheney-Rumsfeld gang squandered all the goodwill that 9/11 spawned and went full-steam ahead to loot the bank of Baghdad - but after all, that was what 9/11 was all about, I suppose.
Jeevee
BRAVO, Civil Beharior!!!
Yes. Mass murder committed by governments is still mass murder. The military should be put to rest or rather converted into a place in which young people can train for rescue missions, civil projects and public service. And the contracters like Blackwater must be fired.
The military is used for armed robbery and home invasion. The idea that you can solve problems by slicing and dicing other humans is a fiction used to disguise the real purposes of war.
War is insane.
Joe
Unfortunately there seems to be room for everything under the sun, including war and mayhem. I agree with civil behavior, and I think that unless we collectively outgrow our belligerence we will self destruct. But the military does not manufacture killers, it attracts them. Wars are outlets for our eternally adolescent, testosterone-addled young hotshots to validate their manhood. If we abolish the military, where will these people go? What will we do with our SnowWolves? Organize more SWAT teams?
Some things are not within our power to legislate. Belligerence originates in the swarmy bowels of human nature and pops out like measles without anybody's permission, making its own excuses as it goes. Freud knew this. Thomas Pynchon knew it. We sweep these guys under the rug and don't look at them. One is reminded of the Reagan years - a sleepy commander-in-chief with Cheney and Rumsfeld and Oliver North in the cellar controlling the machinery.
Iraq is already over, they are figuring when to leave right now and Afghanistan is the "popular" war (even with Democrats)...
So...another exercize in futility
Good luck with your closing the Pentagon...but thats not going to happen either...nor should it
Yes, it should be closed.
I will never agree with you.
The wonderful thing about America is we don't have to agree...and can still be friends
SnowWolf
You need to get out more if you think this quality is unique to America.
Actually...I've been around the World...couple of times
I never said it was unique to ...the "USA" (I don't want to upset my non-friend)
We could be friends I suppose.
But we aren't.
And one of the best things about the USA (America includes Mexico and Canada and other places, so I assume you meant the USA) is that here, we have the right to associate with the people we want to.
Which means I don't have to be your friend.
And I'm not.
Rancor serves only to strengthen the position of this obvious propagandist. It is his politics that is offensive, not him as an individual. He might be a good husband, father, neighbor. It is best to refute the neoconservative line he spouts and refrain from attacking him personally.
I work with blue collar guys, all hard workers, all good folks, most Bush supporters because of the difficulty in getting progressive messages to the people. I have success only because I act as a friend and not an opponent. I'm just saying here.....
We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
So mask your true feelings? Call him a neoconservative, but not to his face? Classy. About the same as the lack of civility shown above.
If you can't be civil in disagreeing, just ignore them. If you disagree say so but say why....and name calling doesnt qualify as evidence or informatiion.
This is a liberal site and we don't need neocon like behavior. Thats where disagreeing with someone makes them the enemy.
Obama is running to be Chief Honcho and Wizard of the 'Murkan Empire, not to be President of the United States. He is intelligent enough to know (unlike George Wanker Bush or McCain) that the Empire is dead man walking. Yet still he runs. In other words, the ambition is more important than anything else. Lord Acton was so right: all power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Oh I think this dead man walking has some life left in him yet...
but I do agree with you about Obama's ambition... his hubris is going to be his downfall
With that, the standoff melted away and soon an appropriate aide was contacted.
-Obama took the statement and commented: "Absolutely, yes we can. We can certainly remove the troops from Iraq. Then we'll send them to Afghanistan. Absolutely. Yes we can!
kill Taliban?...Yes we can!
He seems willing to invade Afghanistan to get Bin Laden...works for me
but its looking more and more like President McCain will be picking up the reins in november
(Betting parlor odds...considered more accurate than opinion polls)
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/08/where_the_smart_moneys_going.asp
Thou shall not kill.
That phrase is on posters all over the city of New Orleans.
It's because we are the murder capital of the US.
I guess it's something that not everyone learns as a child.
You should not kill people.
It's wrong to kill people. M'Kay.
the true commandment is "Thou Shalt Not Murder"....I do remember that from my Catholic upbringing and the Church does have a "Just War" clause...(probably inserted around the time of the Crusades...but I digress)...killing in a just war is not murder
Say what you want about Iraq...Afghanistan fits the "Just War" criteria
I don't care what Church you subscribe to, but Jesus Christ, the last of the Christians, rephrased the Golden Rule to say:
Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.
Whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also... and whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.
If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer our gift.
Judge not, lest ye be judged.
Christ never spoke of a "just war". That is a modern construct that is completely counter to his teachings.
No Dude...I said the Pope...not Jesus Christ...
and the current Pope used to be in the Wermacht...so I guess the just war clause isn't going to be dissolved anytime soon
(I'm an Agnostic but was raised in a Catholic household...pardon my blasphemous humor)
That is not the commandment I learned in Sunday school.
That is also not the slogan on the posters around town.
I'm not a catholic. Nor am I a friend of the teachings of catholics.
I believe some kinda harsh things about the rapture people and the catholics.
But I do not believe in any killing for any reason.
I don't believe in war - none of them are just.
Afgans did nothing to us.
And even if they did, I still would not kill them.
How many killings are we owed?
How many Germans can a Jewish person kill today in response to the crimes of yesterday? Why does the time betweeen now and then matter for the Jewish people but not the US? Because our deaths happened in 2001 and that was something we can remember? Well, if a Jewish person is old enough to remember do they get to take axes to Germans? I'm gay, can I bomb Iran? They kill gays. Can I bomb Germany in revenge for the pink triangle? Of course not. It's all just made up revenge mongering. Just like Afganistan.
How many killings are we owed?
2,000? 3,000? A million? When does the blood answer our desire for revenge? After it's enough to shower ourselves in it?
Just half the population?
2/3rds?
Since terrorists and the supporters of terrorists could be anyone in the country, would it be just to nuke the whole nation?
If so, why haven't we done so? Are we cruel to make them wait for the fire and brimstone we rain down on them? Would it be most just to simply get it over with? Nuke them all? Burn the shadows of the muslims into the ground. Would that answer our country's need for blood?
Afghanistan fits the just war criteria if you ignore the obvious 3 building controlled demolition carried out on September 11th, the CIA and FBI surveillance of some of the hijackers, ignore Bin Ladens 20 year service to the CIA being paid by proxy of the Head of the Pakistani Intelligence Agency who also sent Mohammed Atta $100,000 a week before September 11th, ignore the multibillion dollar insurance scam pulled off by the then new lease holder of the twin towers, ignore the enormous "put options" scam on UA and American Airlines in the days before September 11th, ignore Bush and Bin Laden are both representatives of vast financial wealth, ignore Bush seniors having traveled to Saudi Arabia to woo Daddy Bin Laden's estate into the Carlyle Group, ignore Bush junior having started his first business with bin laden money, ignore the historical perspective of Hitler having sent his own soldiers in Polish military uniforms to start the Reichstag fire which was his excuse to invade Poland, ignore the Goebbels quote that goes something like: All you have to do to drag your nation into war is concoct an external threat...
rocyahsoul@yahoo.com
www.lamegame.name
Daniel Vincent Kelley
"He seems willing to invade Afghanistan to get Bin Laden...works for me"
1. Bin Laden is dead. He was killed in December 2001 by US forces in Tora Bora. It wasn't in the MSM because they want to trot out OBL as the boogie-man to keep you Americans nice and scared.
2. Even if Bin Laden was still alive, how can you justify the mass-murder committed by NATO in the name of capturing or killing one guy? Hardly logical. You Americans want revenge for 9/11... well you've had it, 100 fold.
3. Quoting the Weekly Standard SnowWolf? Ugh... that's nothing but a neo-con propaganda outfit. You've been hanging around here long enough to know that.
That isn't the weekly standards poll...it was just published in it
its a well known fact that betting parlors get better stats because people are putting their money where their mouth is
The DNC Convention peace marchers must have tons more energy for futile acts than I do. Wouldn't it make more sense to use the energy to perform the "defiance dance" at the front of the RNC Convention? Are people too distracted/self-defeating/stupid to know who the true adversaries are?
Democrats have been on record this year for setting time lines for pulling troops out of Iraq, for stopping the funding, ad nauseum. IT IS THE REPUBLICFANS and ESPECIALLY the REPUBLICAN SENATE who have BLOCKED all these efforts.
SO WHAT??? What makes more sense? Beating up on our own, so to speak, or going after the jerks to hollowed out America???
Don't worry, Justicewoman. IVAW, Veterans for Peace and all sorts of other peace and justice groups will be in attendance in Mpls-St Paul. But, please remember that the Democrats have had control of the purse strings since January 2007 and they have continued to fully fund the war/occupation of Iraq. We cannot let the Democrats have a "pass" just because they are not quite as despicable as the Republicans!
'With that, the standoff melted away and soon an appropriate aide was contacted.'
and thus began and ended IVAW's photo-op lobbying of the Democratic Party at the convention carnival.
How come every other country in the world can manage to live within its borders? Only the USA has to fly its military 6000 miles away to "defend its nation"
Facists
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
Don't paint me with that brush. I'm more American than Bush and Cheney combined, most of us here are. We didn't want this war and we're trying hard to make it stop.
Why do war veterans, protesters and peace activists even BOTHER with Democrats?
It's like asking a serial killer to stop killing.
War is in their blood. Democrats are known as the War Party.
They gave America all the major wars of the 20th century: WW1, WW2, Korea, Vietnam. The left has GOT to stop being stupid and throw these mobsters out of office, every single one of them.
Let me guess: you're going to start chanting about 3rd parties.
You trolls need to warm up your game. It's always the same thing: Democrats are pussies who won't stand up to fight or Democrats are warmongers who have started every major conflict in the modern era.
tetti_tatti is correct. Democrats are gutless. Wars are bipartisan and always based on lies. Vote independent if you can - Mass. - vt. - n.y. ect. Vote your conscience if you must.
Typical Lesser Evilist, Dem Party Apologist nonsense.
Democrat voters are so blind, clueless.