There are couple of new articles about the Iraq War protest that I wrote about below. The first article is from The Dallas Morning News:
65 protest war during Snow speech at A&M
Demonstrator: Many in conservative places want fighting to stop
12:00 AM CST on Sunday, March 4, 2007
By RICK ROJAS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Tired, shivering from the cold, but pumped, the five girls were huddled together at the bus stop after protesting for several hours against the war in Iraq.
They had been among about 65 protesters, mostly students at Texas A&M University, demonstrating Friday outside the Annenberg Center at the George Bush Presidential Library complex. Tony Snow, press secretary to the current President Bush, spoke inside on the president's relationship to the news media. The protest was notable because it took place at Texas A&M, which has a reputation for conservatism.
"We want to let them know that [there are] a lot of people, even in a conservative place like College Station, who don't support this war," said Melana Kasper, a 20-year-old junior kinesiology major.
Standing outside the Annenberg Center and holding signs like "Love our soldiers, hate the war; Bring them home," the protesters chanted, "Support our troops, stop the war" as people left the lecture. Former President George Bush and Barbara Bush attended, but it was not known whether they saw or heard the protesters.
While most of the people ignored the protesters, some responded.
"If we could get a few Corps boys out here," referring to A&M's Corps of Cadets, "they would take care of these people," one elderly man muttered angrily as he walked away from the protesters.
The second article is from The Battalion, the independent Texas A&M student-run newspaper:
Protesters oppose Iraq war
By: Rick Rojas and Candace Birkelbach
Issue date: 3/5/07 Section: News
A group of students and members of the community gathered outside the George Bush Presidential Library Complex during a lecture given by White House Press Secretary Tony Snow to protest the war in Iraq on Friday.
Community members, Texas A&M faculty and political action group moveon.org joined forces to stage a protest directly outside the Library, while a group of students marched over from the Century Tree holding banners and shouting slogans while beating drums and tambourines.
"Our goal is to show Tony Snow and the Bush administration the public's disapproval of the war, which is not only resulting in the deaths of innocent civilians of Iraq and United States troops, but also to express outrage at the economic cost of the war," said Wes Kimbell, a junior international studies major who coordinated the student-led protest.
Kimbell said he initiated and planned this protest because he is totally against the illegitimate war in Iraq. He said the war has cost the United States more than $360 billion, which drains the pool of loans available for student loans and health care.
There have been more than 3,000 deaths of U.S. servicemen and women, and some people don't realize that more than 120 Iraqis are dying every day from the turmoil, Kimbell said.
"We want to give awareness to the student body and show that there are people here who aren't gung-ho Bush," Kimbell said. "We are people who realize and understand the costs of war and want to avoid it at all costs."
Students participated in the protests for a variety of reasons.
"I came out here because of personal beliefs," said Sarah Campbell, a freshman management major who participated in the protest. "We all support the troops - we're proud of all the work they're doing, and a lot of our friends, people our age, are going there."
Tony Snow's appearance at the Bush Library directly encouraged some students to voice their opinions about the war.
"(Snow)'s kind of the hit man," junior kinesiology major Melana Kasper said of her reasoning for spending her Friday night protesting his visit. "We want to let them know that a lot of people, even in a conservative place like College Station, don't support this war."
Jean McCarthy, a Republican and a member of the Bush Library from Houston, said Bush had worked to make this University and Library a place for education and the actions of the protesters distracted from that.
"It's very low class," McCarthy said.
Colt Jim Clemens, chair of the College Republicans, said Americans should be more supportive of Bush's efforts in Iraq.
"I am pleased by people forming opinions and expressing views in a civil rights manner," said Clemens, a junior political science major. "However, I do believe this war is winnable and that the president and U.S. troops deserve all the support we can give them, and we should do everything in our power to ensure success for the war in Iraq."
David McWhirter, English professor and coordinator of the community and faculty protest, said Snow is a major player in the Bush administration and should not speak anywhere without having to hear from people who oppose the war.
"We are opposing the escalation of the war and support an immediate and orderly withdrawal," McWhirter said. "Everyday, Snow provides misinformation, spin and lies that have contributed to this misguiding and illegal war."
While Congress has taken some action, leaders are timid in putting an end to the war, even if American people want it to stop, McWhirter said.
Some students said they had interesting experiences while participating in the protest.
"It's not every day you get to play tug of war with a 70-year-old woman over a sign," freshman history major Jessica Googins said about a woman coming up to her behind the railings, and snatching her sign that read, "Love our soldiers, hate the war, bring them home."
One can’t come away from that protest experience, or from reading these two accounts (which provide much more detailed coverage than the short-shrift given to the protest story by The Eagle and KBTX) and my recounting below, without a realization that many of the folks who attended that Snow-job lecture haven’t a clue exactly how unpatriotic they truly are.
Oh, sure, those faux patriots I’m speaking of talk a great talk, but they all fall flat on their scowled, pinch-nosed faces when it comes to recognizing and respecting the rights to peaceable assemble and free speech enshrined in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Can anyone believe that the unidentified “elderly man” quoted in the last paragraph of the above Dallas Morning News story who said, "If we could get a few Corps boys out here," referring to A&M's Corps of Cadets, "they would take care of these people,” truly understands or respects the civil liberties we have in this country? It seems to me that he is also guilty of doing the same thing that Chickenhawks George “AWOL-from-the-National-Guard-1972-'73" Bush and Dick "I-had-other-priorities-in-the-'60s-than-military-service” Cheney do: employ violent means through younger surrogates to resolve differences of opinions.
“Take care of these people?” That doesn’t sound like an American patriot to me; it sounds like he’s been watching too many Godfather reruns. Actually, it’s much more serious than that; he sounds to me like a small-minded and ignorant hate-filled fascist.
And what’s with that “low-class” remark from Ms. McCarthy, the Republican member of the Bush Library from Houston who is quoted in The Battalion’s story above as saying the actions of the anti-war protesters were “very low class”? Low-class? What an elitist prig.
From attempting to yank anti-war signs from the hands of peaceable dissenters, to wishing them bodily harm, to yells of “go home,” to nasty disapproving looks, to elitism, those Republican lemmings guilty of uttering or approving such things are sorely in need of a civil liberties education. So I have a question for them:
Do you consider the so-called pro-lifers who demonstrate, picket and harass women entering Planned Parenthood health and medical clinics “very low-class”? Are you going to call in a Corps of Cadets to “take care” of those protesters? Are you going to yell at them to “go home”? Are any of you going to attempt to yank away any of their placards?
What’s that you just said? Those protesters have inviolable First Amendment rights to picket and demonstrate? Why yes, I agree, they certainly do. But tell me, why is it that you only recognize such civil liberties for groups or actions you support and not for groups or actions you don’t? Oh, I see, it’s a civil liberties for me, but not for thee low classes kind of a thing.
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