Anniversary of Iraq invasion spurs Vermont protest, praise

By Kathryn Casa | Vermont Guardian posted March 19, 2006RUTLAND —

They came from across Vermont, across generations, and across the political spectrum.Nearly 300 people lined some four blocks of a busy Main Street intersection on Saturday. From Burlington, Middlebury Springs, St Johnsbury, Londonderry, Windham and parts beyond, they converged in sub-freezing temperatures with signs, quilts, costumes, hats, flags — anything they could think of to voice opposition to the war and, in many cases, to call for the impeachment of Pres. George Bush.

Devoid of fanfare earlier in the day, and two hours north of the rally, Gov. Jim Douglas met with reporters to talk about his recent trip to Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan as part of a Pentagon-sponsored trip last week, and praised the work of Vermont's troops.

While support to bring the troops home was evident at the rally, it was clear there was little support for the person who put them there.

David Richards, who traveled an hour and a half from Corinth to participate in the rally, held high a sign that read: "Impeach the lying son of a Bush." He said the president was guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors, including "the abrogation of our constitutional rights," and added that Congress, too, has sold out the U.S. public.

"I love your sign," commented a woman squeezing past him.

Nearby, Ken Oldrid, who drove his vegetable oil-powered Volkswagen Passat from Ripton and carried an "Impeach" sign, said Bush is "not looking out for the majority of Americans.

"Further down the line, Patrick McMorrow of East Dorset observed, "You can get impeached for a blow job but you can't get impeached for a war!"

The statewide protest, coordinated by Central Vermont Peace & Justice, was held in Rutland instead of Montpelier or Burlington, because the blue-collar town is more representative of mainstream Vermonters, said organizer Don Gray, who has been organizing events since before Bush declared war on Iraq on March 20, 2003.

Gray estimated that about 280 people had attended Saturday's event, letting neither long drives nor a late-winter cold snap dissuade them.

Gray said the theme of the day was the cost of war. "We just want to let people know, maybe as they drive by to go to the mall, that 2,217 U.S. men and women service members have been killed, and more than a 100,000 Iraqi civilians, and itís costing us more than $1 trillion."

"This money should have been spent, not on war and destruction, but on health care, education, caring for our citizens, and rebuilding our cities," said another organizer, Carol Tashie, in a statement issued before the event.

The protest was similar to those planned around the country at a time when U.S. support of the war and the president is at an all time low. One public opinion poll late last week showed only 30 percent of the U.S. public now believe Bush has a clear plan to end the war.

Nodding toward the nearly constant din of cars horns as drivers passed the "Honk if you want peace" signs, Gray noted, "Things have changed so dramatically in three years.

"Many of the other demonstrators, too, said the supportive public response was a contrast to years past, when passersby often either looked the other way, or worse, cursed at them or raised a middle finger.

Saturday's event drew a demographically and generationally diverse crowd. Several members of Burlington's Pax Christi, a Catholic peace organization, said they had been peace activists for a quarter century.

Patricia Collier couldn't even estimate how many hours she has spent at the thrice-weekly Church Street peace vigil that started before this war began. "War is outdated," she declared, "We need to move into finding another way to solve international problems.

"Next to her, Beatrice Parwatikar of Shoreham, another Pax Christi member, said, "My reason for being here, as a person of color, is that I feel that war tends to impact people of color and poor people, and usually the ones on the receiving end are people of color, too.

"On the next block, a pair of freckle-faced 10-year-olds from Mount Holly stood shoulder-to-shoulder, picket signs in hand. "Too many people are dying," said Riley Brown. "This could have been stopped earlier.

"His best friend, Josh Hekler, nodded solemnly in agreement. "It shouldn't be going on," he concurred. "Too many have died."

They weren't the only members of a new generation of anti-war activists. Eliza Skakel, 16, patted her father's shoulder good-naturedly and said her attendance was, in part, a "family thing." Seated next to her, Mark Skakel leaned a pair of crutches against his folding chair. Even knee surgery hadn't stopped him from bringing his daughter to her first protest, said the Shrewsbury resident.

"We support the troops," noted Eliza as her father nodded. "We just don't support the war."

Five protesters wore oversized Bread-and-Puppet style costumes of black-clad Iraqi women with starkly sorrowful faces, carrying bleeding bundles of gauze that looked like a dead babies.

Further down the line, Steve Wilson, pastor of Rutland's Unitarian Universalist Church, held up one end of a quilt made by Rutland resident Kate Taylor from panels created by people throughout the country, bearing messages of peace.

Wilson said his congregation has erected a memorial in front of their church as a tribute those who have died in the war and as a reminder of the conflicts human toll.

Joseph Gainza, Vermont program coordinator of the American Friends Service Committee and a member of the Vermont Says No to War Coalition, drove a car full of people down from Montpelier. In a statement last week, Gainza said, "It is becoming clearer everyday that, beside the terrible cost in lives, this war is taking resources from the most vulnerable in our society, reducing our ability to protect the environment and, most ominously, weakening the very structure of our democracy."

That had Becky Logan of Monkton worried, too. Near the end of the protest ine, she stood quietly with a small, hand-lettered placard that read "RFID Bush."

"Radio frequency ID," she explained to a quizzical onlooker. A computer programmer who lives what she described as a conservative lifestyle, Logan said an erosion in civil liberties has prompted her to become "radical politically."

One of Logan's fears is that electronic ID tags used for domestic livestock will eventually be used to track humans, she said.

"It used to be in this country that if you wanted to, you always had the chance to drop out. You could burn your credits cards and go back to the land, but with radio frequency ID of domestic animals, suddenly you can't even go back to the land," she observed. "This could really erode our freedoms."

Message from the battlefield

Gov. Jim Douglas' meeting with reporters was held inside the Green Mountain Armory, at Camp Johnson in Colchester, where he spoke from the same podium Maj. Gen. Martha Rainville has used nearly every two months since the war began. Rather than pure praise, Rainville has stood there to announce the death of another National Guard soldier.

Rainville, who flanked Douglas during his 30-minute debriefing, was silent this time. To date, 21 soldiers with ties to Vermont have died in the war, the most per capita of any state. Nearly 2,300 soldiers have died, 17,000 wounded and more than 30,000 Iraqis killed during the three-year old conflict.

Despite a strong lack of support for the war in Vermont, Douglas said he had no specific conservations with Vermont troops about the policies or politics of the war.

"I went there to talk about the well-being of the troops," said Douglas, who has voiced some concern over how the occupation has been handled and how long troops have remained in the country. "They don't focus on the policy or the politics," said Douglas, but finishing their mission.

The most common request from troops was for the governor to deliver personal messages to family and friends in Vermont. Some were interested in Town Meeting Day votes, including a resolution in Burlington that would have urged city officials to cancel a lease to the Pentagon at the Burlington International Airport.

That ballot item was defeated by a 57-43 percent margin. "Some were pleased that the ballot measure was defeated, but others were concerned that it was not more overwhelming," Douglas noted.

In return, Douglas' message to the troops was simple. "I told them that we would do everything in our power to make sure that the sacrifices of time that they have made, and their families have made, as well as those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, are not in vain," said Douglas. That includes ensuring they are well supported when they return home from the battlefield, he said.

Douglas travelled with three other governors to the region, as part of an ongoing Pentagon program to bring elected officials into the region to meet with troops from their respective home states. At no time was Douglas able to simply walk the streets of any Iraqi city, as he was transported, outfitted in kevlar helmets and armored clothing, in heavily armored humvees, tanks and helicoptors.

Douglas, a Republican, toured the countries with Gov. Phil Bredesen, D-TN, Gov. Kenny Guinn, R-NV, and Gov. Tim Kaine, D-VA. Douglas returned to Vermont Friday night.

Douglas met with active duty soldiers while in Kuwait, and spent one day in Ramahdi, one of the most violent cities in Iraq, meeting with Vermont guardsman who are part of the 172nd batallion as part of Task Force Saber. Six of the Vermonters killed in the past three years have been from this one batallion, which arrived in Iraq in July.

— Shay Totten contributed to this report