The Virginia Informer

The Virginia Informer

Both sides of the Iraq War debate square off in the Sunken Gardens
   Cindy Sheehan’s “Bring Them Home Now” Tour
   finds sizeable opposition in Williamsburg
By Nick Fitzgerald, Ali Hamilton & Matthew Sutton, Staff Writers
        The “Bring the Troops Home Now Tour” devised by the political protestor Cindy Sheehan set up on September 18 in the Crim Dell Meadow. Stopping in twenty-eight states, the tour has enabled Sheehan to attain her self-proclaimed purpose of “going all over the country telling moms this nation is not worth fighting for.” In response to the anti-war and anti-Bush Sheehan followers, a group of approximately thirty to forty William and Mary students and compatriots from outside of the college community responded with the simultaneously-held Support the Troops Rally in the Sunken Gardens.
        The Support the Troops constituency was comprised of the young and the old, the civilian and the soldier, the right wing and the left wing. As the girlfriend of a soldier in Korea and with her father currently in Baghdad, Elena Lower, a William and Mary freshman, came out to support the troops last Sunday. Ideologically, she defines herself as a liberal, but she feels that “the U.S. army must remain in the Middle East until the Iraqis establish their government and establish peace.” Micheal Flores, a twenty-year-old from Norfolk drove to Williamsburg for the event. When asked about his presence, he stated, “Cindy Sheehan’s denigration of her son’s service is a slap in the face to all American troops.” 
       The student effort at the Support the Troops Rally was organized by Sophomore Joe Luppino-Esposito. Alongside the student participants from both the college and surrounding areas were the FReepers. Derived from but not directly affiliated with the conservative news forum, Free Republic, the FReepers are a conservative group focused at the grass-roots movement. In response to the student involvement, one FReeper cited her excitement at “the nice, well-mannered, clean young people get[ing] involved and support[ing] the troops...It gives me hope for America.”
        The candid speakers at the Support the Troops Rally created a somber mood that contrasted the live band and pomp of the “Bring Them Home Now Tour.” 
        “Bring Them Home Now” was accompanied by representatives from such groups as Veterans for Peace, Gold Star Families for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, and Iraq Veterans Against the War. It was the Tidewater Labor Support Committee that organized and secured the space for the rally. 
        Representing Service Employees International Union Local 161 was Deborah Moore, a nurse at Eastern State Hospital. In her speech, Moore launched into a strident denunciation of the Bush Administration over the War in Iraq. According to Moore, “the Bush Administration deliberately misled the American people. Bush deliberately lied over the reasons for going to war.” She continued: “We [America and the American people] are a laughing stock.” In Moore’s view, it was not former dictator Saddam Hussein’s ruthless killing of his own people, his total disregard for United Nations sanctions, or his ties to terrorism that were the problem; in her view, “[the American] occupation is the problem.”
        Following Moore, there were several other speakers from “Camp Casey.” The term “Camp Casey” has been used by Cindy Sheehan and her followers to refer to their movement’s base of operations outside the Western White House in Crawford, Texas. Casey, who was killed in Iraq in the voluntary service of his country, was Sheehan’s son. It was his death that sparked his mother’s devotion to ending the war. After President Bush met with her once—privately, at her behest, something that was not mentioned at the rally—she demanded a second meeting a few weeks later, for which he would not oblige her. In response to this, the members of Camp Casey said that, “We, on behalf of the American people, were stiffed by the president of the United States.”
        Acting as strategist for the tour is famed protest organizer Lisa Fithian. Having done immense work in numerous anti-war demonstrations throughout the past two decades, including the World Trade Organization riots in Seattle, Fithian is known for being an aggressive protestor with a self-proclaimed goal to “create crisis.”
        Less than 75 people were present at the rally, and most of them were not students. Some were adults who themselves had lost loved ones in the war; others were there to show their dedication to the idea of bringing the troops home as soon as possible.
        The speakers following Moore conveyed the same vitriol and animus against the Bush Administration. Michelle DeFord from Portland, Oregon lost her son in the Iraq War. She claimed that “corporate greed” and “monetary gain”—presumably on the part of the Bush Administration and its “corporate cronies,” as Moore articulated—were the main driving forces behind this “wrong, illegal” war. DeFord, amidst applause, asked the crowd to help her “put a stop to this ridiculous war.”
        A husband and wife, Phil and Linda, then took the stage. They talked emotionally about their family, and Phil articulated to the crowd how he felt “guilty that I had encouraged them [his sons] to join the military. I let them down.” His wife, amidst tears, said, “There is nothing noble about the illegal occupation of Iraq. Vets are being poorly supported by this country.”
        Reactions from the students present at the rally were mixed. Tenshi, a freshman at the College, said that she “did not agree with Moore, and was not interested in hearing her demonize President Bush.” Another freshman, Aaron, who identified himself as a liberal, said, “Now that we are there, pulling out immediately would make it worse.”
        The rally closed with the MC urging students of the College to take the weekend of September 29th and head to Washington, D.C., to protest the war. Camp Casey’s goal is to have one million protestors in the District to voice their opposition to the War in Iraq that weekend. “On behalf of your professors—I’m not really authorized to speak for sthem, but I don’t think they’d mind too much,” she said, amidst some laughter, “I urge you [to come to Washington].”
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