Called to Serve Vietnam

Today’s Washington Post has an article by Dana Milbank about the protest march in Washington that it refers to as a “last hurrah” for the anti-war movement as Bush prepares to make his much awaited exit.  The article leads to the conclusion that the election of Obama and his pledge to bring the troops home in 16 months essentially ended the movement.  I don’t think so.  I believe that not only must we as a nation – or at least as as a movement of deeply committed individuals – denounce the Bush regime’s record of war crimes and barbarism, but we must also hold the Obama’s administration’s feet to the proberbial fire insofar as removing our troops and making amends to the Iraqi people are concerned.  I would greatly appreciate hearing how you see this article and our responsibility.

For a Last Hurrah, Protesters Give Bush the Boot

By Dana Milbank
Thursday, December 18, 2008; A03

For the antiwar crowd, the shoe is now on the other foot.

The activists were really cut off at the knees when the nation voted in a president who promises to bring an expeditious end to the war in Iraq. And in a month, the other shoe will drop: George W. Bush will be gone — and with him will go the raison d’être of those who have protested, picketed and heckled him these past eight years.

And so they assembled yesterday on Pennsylvania Avenue, outside the White House gate, to take a few final shots. Literally. They assembled a pile of clogs, boots, flip-flops, slippers and pumps, and, in celebration of the journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush in a news conference Sunday in Iraq, they tossed the footwear at a man wearing a papier-mâché Bush mask and a prison uniform.

“Here’s my goodbye kiss, George!” shouted Medea Benjamin, coordinator of the Code Pink activist group, as she hurled a shoe, missing her target.

“For your greed! For your politics!” shouted fellow antiwar activist David Swanson, aiming a pair of clogs at the Bush figure.

“See if you can dodge this, you draft dodger!” contributed veteran Jim Goodnow, launching a pair of boots toward the Bush character’s head.

The Bush figure dodged, weaved and taunted: “I can take it! I can take you all on!” But then somebody hit him in the crotch with a sandal, and he fell to his knees.

The street performers were putting their best foot forward, and the activists were celebratory. But walk a mile in their shoes and you’ll probably find that Jan. 20, while bringing in an administration much more to their liking, will also leave them with a certain emptiness. Who will they throw their shoes at now?

The protest organizer vowed to pursue her quarry, Ahab-like, into retirement. “While we are delighted there’s a new administration coming in, we want George Bush to be held accountable for his acts,” Benjamin told the journalists and tourists watching her demonstration. “It’s not enough to throw a shoe at him. He needs to be hauled before a court of international justice and be charged with war crimes, just like Dick Cheney.” And that’s not exactly a shoo-in.

The president — the real one, not the papier-mâché version — declined to participate in the footwear festival. While the shoes flew, his helicopter could be seen taking off from the South Lawn to take him to Pennsylvania to give a speech defending the Iraq war. Making things difficult for the demonstrators, the White House dispatched a noisy tractor to clean the sidewalk where they assembled. But the sound effects from the street cleaner and Marine One only added to the carnival atmosphere. An al-Jazeera correspondent, broadcasting in Arabic, did a stand-up while dodging shoes tossed at him by his producer.

The owner of the size 10s directed at Bush, Muntadar al-Zaidi of Cairo-based al-Baghdadia TV, eclipsed even Cindy Sheehan in the esteem of the demonstrators. “We are here to say that the reporter al-Zaidi who threw the shoe at George Bush represents the sentiment of millions of people in this country, certainly in Iraq and around the world,” declared the size-5 Benjamin, holding an umbrella that carried the message “Free the Reporter” with drawings of shoes. “His symbolic act of throwing his shoe got the whole world to revisit the idea of the ‘success’ in Iraq.”

“I served for 13 months in Iraq,” said antiwar veteran Geoffrey Milliard, and if Bush had visited his unit, “he’d have gotten more than a shoe thrown at him.”

Since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has mostly dropped his criticism of the current administration, preferring to concentrate his energies on the future. But the demonstrators were having none of that yesterday. “This nonsense about looking only forward is another name for throwing out the rule of law!” Swanson protested. Goodnow, drawing attention to his “Arrest Bush” T-shirt, warned: “We will rise up and our rage will show and we will remember the words of Molly Ivins, who said, ‘We will take to the streets and we will beat our pots and pans!’ ”

But cooking implements would wait for another day. Yesterday was all about the soles.

“Take this one, George, on behalf of peace-loving Americans!” Benjamin shouted, missing the Bush character.

“Try again, little missy,” Bush taunted.

Benjamin missed again. “Sorry, bad aim,” she explained.

With each toss of a shoe, another accusation flew: “Torturing human beings! Aggressive war! One point two million dead! PTSD! Stem cell research!”

The shoes were missing their mark, so the Bush actor moved in closer to make himself an easier target. A passerby joined in the game and hit the Bush figure with a clog. A young girl planted a flip-flop and a pump on him. Hundreds of shoes were scattered on Pennsylvania Avenue. The footwear carnival had become a stampede.

“Our Constitution!” Benjamin shouted. The green sandal she tossed grazed Bush’s papier-mâché ear.

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