Final Friday (of each month) Protest

group photo

At the end of each month, we gather in front of Philadelphia's main recruiting station and let 'em know what we think of the war.  



me baby

And sometimes, no matter how hard we try, well, it's difficult to be grim and determined all the time.

navy vet

We get lots and lots of honks.  The fellow who originally started the event off keeps a count.  We get around 400 in the hour we're out there, give or take maybe 50.  Couple of complaints and middle fingers now and then, but that's pretty rare.

april

Weather was really awful the morning of our April demonstration, but was pretty nice and clear by the time we started.  News was very encouraging, with both Houses of Congress having passed and reconciled a spending bill with deadlines in it.  As Speaker Pelosi put it:

“What is it that the Commander-in-Chief doesn’t know, that doesn’t equip him to make a regular budget request for the war? Seven supplementals, seven times unprepared?"

There are problems with making a World War II analogy (i.e., try to imagine an "emergency" bill in 1945) because by 1943, the Axis was definitely on the defensive and by the time the Normandy Beach invasion was a success, the days of Nazi Germany were clearly numbered.  In the Iraq War, victory is nowhere in sight.  

me

Fortunately the public, if not the President seems to be getting the idea:

"The fight over the Iraq supplemental bill has cemented in the public mind the idea that Congress has set a deadline for withdrawal at March 31, 2008, a deadline they wholeheartedly support regardless of the 'symbolic' nature of the vote."

grim

As of late May, President Bush has resolutely refused to see reality; he's absolutely refused any compromise that would spell the end of his "neat adventure" in Iraq.  Politcal realities are closing in on him, though.  The British Sunday Telegraph reports that Gordon Brown, the new Prime Minister after Tony Blair, may pull troops out of Iraq.  The BBC isn't so sure.  Let's hope for the best.