The weather in Washington D.C. over the weekend of March 16^th was terrible. A cold front moved in on Friday night sleet and snow fell in Baltimore and the surrounding areas, flights were cancelled, roads were slick and the temperatures dropped dramatically. Turnout at the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq service at the Washington National Cathedral was lower than expected on Friday, March 16^th and the weather was also expected to impact the march to the Pentagon the following day.

Organizers of the march on the Pentagon planned to rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial prior to the march, cross the Arlington Memorial Bridge to the Pentagon’s north parking lot for another rally. Ironically and sadly the protest was tied to the 40^th anniversary of the 1967 march on the Pentagon in protest against the Vietnam War. There were many other reminders of the Vietnam War that weekend. As I walked toward the Lincoln Memorial I was swept up in the ‘gathering of the eagles’ a pro-war/support the troops rally, organized principally by right-wing talk radio. Here’s one observation Michelle Malkin, Shawn Hannity and their ilk are all about whipping their fans into a frenzy but you never actually see their asses at these events do you? At least I didn’t see any right wing talk radio stars at the gathering of the eagle event. I would estimate the attendance at around 1,000 at its peak. There were ten American flags for every one participant, most of those present were wearing leather and lots of patches many harkening back to the Vietnam War. Many of the protest signs referenced Jane Fonda, which seemed rather odd since that vendetta dates back to the early 1970’s. One young woman held a sign with a peace symbol and the words “international symbol of the chicken.” In order to get to the entrance of the peace rally, I had to go through a security checkpoint allow my bag to be searched and walk through a metal detector. Most of the gathering of the eagle participants were also patted down by police officers before exiting. I found the whole idea of a pro-war rally disturbing. Apparently talk radio announces persuaded the biker enthusiasts to come to Washington by stoking fears that the peace activists would deface the Vietnam war memorial as part of their far-left freak out. In truth, the gatherings were separated by fencing and securely guarded by the park police and neither side seemed to have much to do with the other. I felt like the peaceniks were a much better looking group and far more representative of a cross section of America. Whereas the gathering of the eagles seemed to be a fairly uniform bunch of white, male, biker dudes and their female companions and a few of their young ‘uns.

Conspiracy theorists obsessed with 9-11 plots were abundant on both sides of the fence I’m sorry to say. I found them to be especially annoying. If you expressed any interest or engaged them in any way including random eye contact they would immediately begin their hard sell on their particular conspiracy theory on which government entity or global concern was responsible for knocking down the twin towers. They of course had the obligatory flyers and website references to back up their theories and were more than happy to distribute those to you in abundance.

Once I finally made it through security and waded into the Pentagon peace crowd I was psyched. It was a killer crowd, around 10,000 or more. Young, old, black, white, Latino, Asian, students, teachers, veterans, clergy and parents gathered together for one unified cause peace. It was bitter cold, and I had forgotten my gloves but after awhile my excitement warmed me and I felt so much love from the crowd I couldn’t stop smiling. A beautiful lady walked by with a baby on her back, a colorful scarf around her neck holding a protest sign and when I complimented the both of them, her husband turned to me and said that one of the gathering of the eagles participants had said to his wife, “That’s no way to raise a child.” Yeah, we don’t want a child to be raised in peace, what a horrible thought! What twisted logic to teach your children that war is good and peace is bad. I interviewed an older lady who had several career military relatives involved in the war, she felt strongly moved to be part of the march. She stood next to a young boy, there pictures are in my photo gallery. As I panned my camera across the crowd all I could think about was how completely different the vibe was on this side of the fence and how much this crowd truly represented America in all its democratic glory. True democracy is about free, unhindered public speech and the right to not only question our government but to speak out loudly and protest strongly when policies hurt our people and threaten our children’s lives and the stability of our future.

As the marchers began to leave the mall and move toward the bridge I felt another surge of hope and pride in my country that I was free to be here in front of the Lincoln Memorial surrounded by others who felt as strongly as I did about ending the war and solving our political problems. I know we have a long road to travel but I feel hopeful and stronger and glad I got to see it for myself because I have absolutely no faith that the media would accurately report the story.