August 25, 2005

It's True: Anti-War Protesters Sully Walter Reed

It seems that no place is sacred anymore.

Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where wounded soldiers recuperate, has become the latest battleground in the war of public opinion regarding Iraq.

According to CNS News, these thoughtful people have been staging protests at the entrance to the hospital, using mock caskets draped with flags as props.

Code Pink Women for Peace, one of the groups backing anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan's vigil outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford Texas, organizes the protests at Walter Reed as well.

Ooh, shocker. Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin is rumored to have said regarding her trip to Cuba, "It seem[ed] like I died and went to heaven." Why didn't she stay in paradise?

[Anti-war protester] Luke accused President Bush of "exploiting American soldiers" while "oppressing the other nations of earth." The president "has killed far too many people," he added.

And he and his pals aren't exploiting soldiers? Has Luke thought about how many people the terrorists have killed?

Most of the demonstrations have been held on Friday evenings, a popular time for the family members of wounded soldiers to visit the hospital.

That's right--offend as many people as possible.

[Kevin] McCarron said he dislikes having to resort to such controversial tactics, "but this stuff can't be hidden," he insisted. "The real cost of this war cannot be kept from the American public."

The old saw: "This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you."

"If I went to war and lost a leg and then found out from my hospital bed that I had been lied to, that the weapons I was sent to search for never existed, that the person who sent me to war had no plan but to exploit me, exploit the country I was sent to, I would be pretty angry," Luke told Cybercast News Service.

First of all, you didn't enlist--others did. And if these soldiers feel exploited, isn't it up to them to make their feelings known? Are you a mind reader, Luke, like Luke in Star Wars?

"I would want people to do something about it and if I couldn't get out of my bed and protest myself, I would want someone else to do it in my name," he added.

Did the soldiers at Walter Reed specifically ask you to provide this public service? There's nothing more righteous than doing something for the good of everyone else--especially when they don't know they "need" the so-called service.

At least one anti-war demonstrator conceded that standing out in front of a military hospital where wounded soldiers and their families are entering and exiting, might not be appropriate.

Ya think? I do notice that this realization didn't stop this guy from waving his "Stop the War" sign about.

But Luke and the other anti-war protesters dismissed the message of the counter demonstrators. "We know most of the George Bush supporters have never spent a day in uniform, have never been closer to a battlefield than seeing it through the television screen," Luke said.

I'd like to know how many anti-war protesters have ever put on a uniform and served in battle? That would be an interesting statistic indeed.

Cheesy and offensive tactics like this are not the way to get the average American on the side of the "war is not the answer" folks. Give us real alternatives and we'll be happy to listen.

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