War sparks dueling rallies

Simultaneous rallies for war and peace occur just blocks from each other in Fredericksburg last night.

Citizens, blocks apart, air opinions on conflict

The message from the throng gathered yesterday evening at a rally to support American troops and leaders was direct and simple.

“The time for debate is over,” Del. Mark Cole, a Spotsylvania Republican, told about five dozen rally-goers at the Religious Freedom Monument on Fredericksburg’s Washington Avenue. “The decision has been made. Once the first bullet has been fired, you can’t show support for the troops by trying to undermine leaders on the home front.”

At the same time, not far away in Hurkamp Park on William Street, people on the other side of the issue rallied to express their viewpoint.

Some 25 people gathered for a candlelight vigil touted as being pro-military but antiwar.

Both rallies came one day after the number of casualties in the allies’ campaign against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein reached double digits.

At the Washington Avenue monument, about five dozen people turned out. Carrying signs and U.S. flags, they wore yellow ribbons to indicate their support for American troops in the Middle East and to rally behind President Bush.

The crowd included GOP leaders such as Cole, Shaun Kenney, chairman of the the Fredericksburg Republican Committee; former Stafford County Supervisor Ken Mitchell; and John Morris, chair of the Mary Washington College Republicans. About two dozen other College Republicans came, too.

Susan Spears, vice chairman of the Fredericksburg Democratic Committee, brought her dog Eddie, clad in a Stars-and-Stripes bandanna, to rally alongside those who are normally her political opponents.

“I’m not going to change parties or anything like that,” Spears said. “I just don’t think this should be a partisan issue. I think we should be united in a time of war behind our president and our troops.”

Many of those who attended said they rallied in the hope that the troops would learn that many people in Fredericksburg are behind them, the rally a few blocks away with the opposite message not withstanding.

“Those folks in Hurkamp Park have a right to be there,” Kenney said. “I respect that. But they must understand there are worse things in this life than war.”

“The suffering under Saddam’s regime,” for one, Kenney said.

A few blocks to the northeast, antiwar protesters assembled for their vigil–an event organized after members of the Fredericksburg Area Coalition for Peace heard about the other rally.

“We’re basically just coming together to mourn the lives that have been lost so far,” organizer Katarina Fletcher, a 27-year-old Fredericksburg resident, said before the vigil.

Participants ranged from Fletcher’s baby son, Nesta, to local residents who remembered protests from their youth.

Judith Parker, an associate professor of English and linguistics at Mary Washington College, recalled peace gatherings of yesteryear attended by famous protesters like the late poet Allen Ginsberg.

A few minutes later, as if on cue, a car drove by, Grateful Dead music blaring from its stereo.

The vigil’s participants sat in a circle, candles in front of them, and sipped apple cider while voicing their thoughts about the campaign in Iraq for nearly an hour.

Tony Sanchez said loving one’s country doesn’t mean you have to support all of its policies. That’s a lesson he wanted to show his 7-year-old daughter Dominique, whom he brought to the event.

“I love you, United States, but what you’re doing is wrong,” said Sanchez, who lives in Fredericksburg.

Andrew Sentipal, a Stafford High School senior, embraced his girlfriend, Christine Haines, as others shared their views.

When it was his turn, he said, “Diplomacy wasn’t exhausted before we went to war.”

Others said they couldn’t understand how military action against a country is supposed to liberate it.

But a pink sign on display at the vigil may have summed up participants’ feelings best.

It said, in black block letters, “Stop the War.”

Shaun was sick over the weekend but suddenly cured in time for the rally. It’s a miracle! (Just bustin’ yer balls, Shaun.)

The anti-war rally was in response to the pro-war demonstration and seems to have been hastily arranged, which may account for the small numbers. A larger rally this Saturday may have more folks. But I wouldn’t be surprized if it didn’t.

Is anyone else noticing the following trend? In large cities you have thousands of anti-war demonstrators showing up and only a few hundred supporting the war while in smaller cities there would be a couple hundred folks for the war and only a small group against. Now, it’s probably not that urbanites are more against the war, but that people are more willing to not only travel to larger cities to get their message heard but that knowing these rallies will be larger, a larger variety of groups show up to shout their various messages. The small town anti-war demonstrators are the ones who actually are focusing on their opposition to the war as opposed to the ANSWER rallies with eighteen groups that are protesting capitalism, the drug war, ‘framed’ cop killers, the IMF and a few who are actually against war specifically.

People scream “Look at these crowds, the majority of America is against you, Mister Bush!” but, really, look at the crowds in the smaller towns. There are MORE smaller towns than large cities, more of those towns have larger groups SUPPORTING the President and the smaller town rallies are with the residents of that town as opposed to the large city pulling a crowd of 50,000 from six states.

Just an observation.