Can you supply some examples (articles) of where people are working as peace activist that have been violent and tried to restrict free speech? I'm just want to get this in the right context first.
Peace activists in Tacoma, Washington have launched a campaign to prevent the military from shipping 300 Stryker armored vehicles to Iraq. The protests are expected to intensify this weekend as activists are planning to engage in acts of civil disobedience to prevent the Stryker vehicles from leaving the port. [includes rush transcript]http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/09/1444200
In an extraordinary legal maneuver, a New York state prosecutor announced that he will not re-try four peace activists in Ithaca, but instead handed the matter off to the local U.S. Attorney to take over the prosecution.
Four peace activists in Ithaca, New York, Daniel Burns, 43, Clare Grady, 45, Teresa Grady 38, and Peter DeMott, 57, were notified that the district attorney of Tomkins County New York, George Dentes, decided not to re-try them for felony charges of pouring blood on a military recruiting center to try to stop the invasion of Iraq.
http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley06152004.html
http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com/2007/03/peace-activists-arrested-eagles-all-day.html
To set the scene:
WASHINGTON - Hundreds of anti-war demonstrators and supporters of the U.S. policy in
Iraq shouted at each other Saturday from opposite sides of a street bordering the National Mall as protesters formed a march to the Pentagon to denounce a war entering its fifth year.
The anti-war group carried signs saying "U.S. Out of Iraq Now," "Stop Iraq War, No
Iran War, Impeach" and "Illegal Combat." The other side carried signs saying "Peace Through Strength," "al-Qaida Appeasers On Parade" and "We Are At War, Liberals Root For the Enemy."
Police on horseback and foot separated the demonstrators, who were on opposite sides of Constitution Avenue in view of the Lincoln Memorial. Barriers also kept them apart.
[...]
Police on horses ensured anti-war protesters and counterdemonstrators stayed apart at the staging area. Several thousand people, many of them service members, rallied in support of the war. They played "The Battle Hymn of the Republic;" the anti-war crowd danced to Stevie Wonder's "Superstition."
Veterans, some from the Rolling Thunder motorcycle group, lined up at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Amazing to me that out of the two groups, one "supposedly" protesting for peace, the other to protect the Vietnam Memorial Wall and show full, unconditional support to our troops in the field, it is the "peace" crowd that cannot abide by the law and ends up being arrested.
That should tell us something, huh?
Today's counter-demonstration, organized by a group called the Gathering of Eagles, drew people from around the country who said they came to voice support for the war and for the troops in Iraq and to make sure that the Vietnam memorial, near the war protest's starting place, is not desecrated. Many were veterans of the Vietnam war or relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq.
Rick DeMarco, 62, from Cleveland who was a Marine in Vietnam, said plans for the rally started after reports that at a war protest in January demonstrators defaced the steps to the Capitol. Veterans became concerned, he said, that demonstrators might vandalize the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and began an e-mail campaign to recruit supporters to come to Washington today.
They began gathering at 6 a.m. and by 7 had "completely occupied the sacred ground," DeMarco said. All the entrances to the memorial were filled with Gathering of Eagles supporters, who held a rally with speakers and placards and American flags. They allowed others to view the memorial but were positioned to stop any attempt to deface it.
K.C. O'Brien, 65, flew in from Fairfield, Calif., to help serve as one of marshals for the Gathering of Eagles. "We feel that fighting terrorism around the world is better than fighting it here," he said. Pointing to the antiwar protesters, he added, "If they're anti-war, does that make me pro-war? I've been there. I've seen how awful war is. But there are things that are worse -- living under tyranny."
The most telling part of this story from Canada Free Press is:
The "These Colors Don't Run" pro-troop caravan, organized by the pro-troop grass-roots group, Move America Forward, began March 8th with three pro-troop rallies in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region that might seem like an unlikely place for pro-troop supporters to gather.
The response was phenomenal.
Pro-troop supporters outnumbered anti-war activists by a ratio of more than 1,000 to 12.
American flags waved proudly at the rallies, cleansing the negativity and defeatism of the liberal bastions of San Francisco with patriotism and pride -- pride in our troops, pride in our country and pride in the American ideals of freedom and liberty.
As the caravan has crossed the nation the number of anti-war protestors dropped to literally zero
Eagles Returning to the Nest: Mission Accomplished!!!
2 PM: The Anti-American-war protesters are moving to the Pentagon for the next stage of their defeat America rally. News reports confirm what our Eagles have been telling us: that Eagles turnout at least matched, if not exceeded, that of the Anti-American-war types who had earlier bragged about 30-40,000 marchers.
Our own Eagles, some of whom started out well before dawn, are returning to the nest. Contingents of Eagles will remain at various war memorials on the National Mall to continue protecting them from threats to deface them as protesters did recently by spray painting at the U.S. Capitol.
We look forward to fuller reports from our Eagles as they return to warmer surroundings and better Internet access.
Cajun Tiger pointed out that the Gathering of Eagles took place in a sea of American flags all snapping smartly in the brisk wind. But yet, when he surveyed the scene of the Anti-American-war protesters he saw more Palestinian flags than US flags. Grizzly Mama points out the American flags she observed were flying upside down and had been desecrated with slogans written on the fabric.
One was walking up to the Lincoln Memorial through the veteran booths. Needless to say, the Eagles were in force there. There was a couple walking through and the woman said she felt "she was in enemy territory". Hey lady, you are surrounded by people who fought for this company. Exactly WHO is the enemy?
THE LIBERALS HAVE GONE OVER THE EDGE. THEIR HATRED AND ANGER AND NEED FOR CONTOL ISSUES HAVE CAUSED THEM TO BECOME FULLY FLEDGED TREASONOUS, ELITIST, SNOBBISH ASSHOLES.
