Replies to post #10539 on Nothing But Politics

[NovoMira]

>>>Then they waited eagerly for outrageous behavior by demonstrators in New York, only to be disappointed again.

There was plenty of hatred in Manhattan, but it was inside, not outside, Madison Square Garden.<<<


PEACENIK PUNKS SOIL THE HALLOWED GROUND OF WTC

By ANDREA PEYSER

September 1, 2004 --

THE history books will fail to mark this date. But know that yesterday, Aug. 31, 2004, the spirit of Ground Zero died an angry death.

The terrorists would be proud.

It happened mere inches from the gapingly empty site where, three years ago, planes piloted by madmen thirsty for American blood crashed into buildings, forever ripping out the heart of this city. But not its soul.

Yesterday was Round 2. And this time, the city lost.
By 3 p.m., hundreds of uniformed police officers had assembled around Ground Zero. Some of these men and women lost loved ones on Sept. 11. Others simply stepped up into the gaping void to fill the shoes of the men and women who came before. Every officer among them would gladly give their lives to save any member of the snarling throng that cursed their names.

Several thousand of the usual protestors assembled in the vicinity of Ground Zero to face the cops. They carried placards, many obscene. Wore funny hats. They were pierced, affluent, educated and almost universally white.
And they wielded signs bemoaning the war overseas, but not one of these folks saw fit to commemorate the war that was waged on America, on this very site. And none saw it as awful that the same officers they met with tears and hugs on Sept. 11 were now the enemy.

Others were just itching for a thrill. At 4 p.m., they got their wish. The protesters started to march uptown, toward Madison Square Garden. "Walk double-file," the marchers were warned via megaphone. "Anyone on the street will be arrested," said a cop.

Ignoring the call, a few hundred protestors turned right onto Fulton Street. They stood next to the graveyard of Trinity Church, the spot where, on Sept. 11, 2001, I saw mounds of ash and singed paper collected on the old tombstones.

But as protesters stepped off the curb against the light, blocking traffic, the cops proved they meant business. Immediately, the renegade jaywalkers were surrounded by police on bicycles and in riot gear. "Let them go! Let them go!" un-arrested marchers said in a weak chant. But maybe the cops were too polite to hate, and the cheer fell flat. Hands joined behind their backs with plastic cuffs, the arrestees were loaded into a police van. When that filled up, an NYPD bus pulled up.

Bob and Neil Curley, a father-and-son team from Philadelphia, grinned despite the handcuffs. "I just came down to see a play," said Bob, who had tickets to "De La Guarda." Better scalp them, buddy.

Ruckus-watchers took the episode in stride. "I welcome this. This is America! This is what we're fighting the war in Iraq for — so people can demonstrate, get their freedom of speech," said Nancy Riley, a GOP delegate from Florida. I appreciated her sunny outlook on this obscenity. For here were Americans who found it appropriate to use the spot where nearly 3,000 were murdered, the place where people still come to grieve, as a backdrop against which to bash America, to malign Israel and to hurl obscenities at President Bush.

For shame.


http://www.nypost.com/commentary/27899.htm

[NovoMira]

This is a sampling of the placards from the big Peace and Justice and Hugs and Love rally that spilled through the streets of New York.

These might not reflect the mainstream opposition to Bush, but you have to ask yourself: How many Kluxers and FREE TERRY NICHOLS signs did you see protesting the Dems in Boston?


I don't think we know the full story about the protestors yet. This is supposed to be a sampling (found on another site)...of the various placards.

"BUSH" with a swastika for the S.

Bush as "The Real Terrorist" with his face imposed on Osama bin Laden's head.

John Ashcroft in a KKK outfit.

Bush with Satan horns.

"EMPTY WARHEAD FOUND IN WHITE HOUSE," with a picture of Bush.

A placard with a threat: "You're next after Milosevic."

Bush and Hitler as mirror images over the words "WANTED FOR MASS MURDER."

"Elect a Madman You Get Madness."

"George Bush is a Dry Drunk on a RAGE!"

"Satan is a Republican."

"Why did Bush knock down da towers?"

And, here's the kicker:

"Help fight population growth, Mr. Bush--send your daughters to Iraq."

How nice. Death to Jenna and Barbara, so they don't reproduce.

[Rick Faurot]

U.S. Troops Death Toll Mounts as Iraq Danger Persists
Fri Sep 3, 2004 04:40 PM ET

By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military death toll in Iraq is approaching 1,000, with the danger faced by American troops undiminished in the two months since the formation of an interim government.

The United States transferred sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi on June 28, officially ending the occupation. But more than 137,000 U.S. troops and 23,000 allied foreign soldiers remain in Iraq protecting Allawi's government and fighting a persistent insurgency that has left much of the country a battleground.

Since the March 2003 invasion to topple President Saddam Hussein, 976 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq, the Pentagon said on Friday, while another 6,916 have been wounded.

The average monthly U.S. military death toll has been about 55 troops in the 17-1/2 months of war. Forty-two U.S. troops died in Iraq in June. After the hand-over, 54 were killed in July and 66 in August.

"The hand-over to the Iraqis of political authority had virtually no impact on the military balance," said retired Army Col. Andrew Bacevich, a Boston University international relations professor.

"It didn't make the forces of order substantially stronger because Iraqi government forces did not somehow materialize instantly just because there was a new government. We basically have the same number of forces, mostly U.S. forces, and the same number, if not a larger number, of insurgents."

The worst months this year were April (135 U.S. military dead) and May (80 dead), when violence flared simultaneously in the Shi'ite Muslim south and in the Sunni city Falluja.

But August still ranked among the deadliest months of the war as U.S. forces battled fighters loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Najaf while continuing to face dangers around Baghdad and in the Sunni Triangle.