Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November 2007, pages 24-25
Special Report
Tens of Thousands Converge on Washington to Demand End to Iraq War
By William Hughes
TENS OF THOUSANDS of anti-war activists gathered on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2007 under a sunny sky in Washington, DC to rally, march and stage a “symbolic die-in” to end the Iraq war, bring the troops home, and prevent a U.S.-led attack on Iran. An estimated 100,000 peace advocates attended the massive rally, organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War and the progressive Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition.
Activists first assembled at Lafayette Park, just north of the White House, for a spirited noontime rally. After about two hours of speechmaking, they formed a procession and headed down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the west side of the U.S. Capitol, where they staged a massive die-in. About 200 of the estimated 5,000 participants in the die-in were arrested for failing to obey a police order to disperse and/or for crossing a police line.
On Sept. 6, 2007, the ANSWER Coalition called a press conference to promote the upcoming antiwar demonstration and also to spotlight its alleged harassment by the government, both local and national. In a suit filed in federal court challenging the District of Columbia’s supposedly patently discriminatory sign regulations, the ANSWER Coalition charges it has been selectively targeted for punitive fines for its placement of posters about the rally in public places. The civil fines now total around $30,000.
Following the press conference, activists Tina Richards, a Marine Mom and CEO of Grassroots America; former U.S. Marine Sergeant Adam Kokesh, co-chair elect of Iraq Veterans Against the War; and ANSWER coalition volunteer Ian Thompson all were arrested for defying the DC government’s ban on posting signs promoting the Sept. 15th rally. Richards and Kokesh were charged with “defacing public property.” Thompson, who is from Los Angeles, was charged with “impeding an officer.” Their trials on the misdemeanor charges will be held Oct. 4, 2007, in a local District of Columbia court.
The first speaker at the Lafayette Park rally was the Rev. Lennox Yearwood, CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus. “War is obsolete,” he said. “Racism is obsolete. So, we stand here as a new generation—black and white; brown and yellow; male and female; gay and straight. I say: Power to the people...We will march to the Capitol, and we will lie down, so that the whole world can stand up!”
Reverand Yearwood reportedly was attacked by Capitol Hill police while attempting to attend a congressional hearing on Sept. 10, 2007. Wearing a pin which stated, “I love the people of Iraq,” the U.S. Air Force Reserve officer and magna cum laude graduate of Howard University’s Divinity School was seriously injured in the incident. Five days later, Reverend Yearwood was still on crutches as, assisted by fellow Iraq War veterans Kokesh and Geoffrey Millard, he spoke to those gathered in Lafayette Park.
Speaking at the rally, Brian Becker, national coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition, described the Capitol Hill die-in as “an act of civil disobedience...[and] a symbolic funeral representing the thousands of U.S. soldiers who have been killed or maimed, and the perhaps one million Iraqis who have died in this criminal war.”
Becker, who later was arrested at a police barricade on Capitol Hill for failure to obey a police order, predicted that the next anti-war rally in the nation’s capital, slated for Oct. 27, 2007, could bring “over one million” people into the streets opposing the Iraq war.
One of the speakers, Maryland-based activist Kevin Zeese, director of “Voters for Peace” and “Democracy Rising,” took a swipe at the leadership of the “War Lite” Democratic Party. “What is it that makes [Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY] the front runner,” he asked, “despite being wrong on the war and deeply indebted to the corporate powers and the right-wing pro-Israel lobby that wanted this war and wants a war with Iran? What is it that makes [Sen.] Barak Obama [D-IL] a peace candidate to some,” he continued, “even though he voted to fund this war, would consider a military attack on Iran, would use the military in Pakistan without the government’s approval, and is advocating an expanded military by 100,000 more troops? Senator Obama is not a peace candidate.”
The rally’s keynote speaker was legendary activist Ralph Nader. Ripping into the Bush-Cheney administration, he charged: “This war was launched on a platform of lies, deceptions and cover-ups that continue year after year. It was launched in violation of our Constitution, and our treatises, as well as our Federal laws.”
Nader urged the large crowd to return home and put “pressure” on their members of Congress to end the war and prevent any U.S. attack on Iran.
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark also addressed the crowd. “Bush and gang began this war of aggression [in Iraq] with criminal intent to destroy and occupy the ”˜cradle of civilization’ for the foreseeable future. Every soldier should come home,” he said. Clark demanded that the House of Representatives do its duty and impeach both President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for what he called “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan had the crowd roaring when she shouted: “Cindy for Congress! Cindy against the War Machine! Cindy for the Constitution! The power of the people against [House Speaker] Nancy Peolosi [D-CA]...George Bush and Dick Cheney.”
Like other speakers at the rally, Sheehan, a popular antiwar activist, maintained that “Congress needs to put impeachment on the table.” Demanding that the troops be brought home from Iraq, she added that we also will not allow this administration “to attack Iran.”
“Working people in Iraq and in this country want this war to end,” Fred Mason told the crowd. Added Mason, president of the Maryland and District of Columbia AFL-CIO and a rising star in the labor movement: “The way to end this war is to cut off the funding and bring the troops home, now. Working people around the world want peace and prosperity and progress and democracy. But war is not the answer for that.”
For more information see <www.ANSWERCoalition.org>. Hughes’ videos can be found at: <www.youtube.com/profile?user=liamh2>.
William Hughes is a Baltimore-based writer and radio commentator. His e-mail address is <[email protected]>.
