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5 Year Anniversary of Successby Wayne Boettcher On Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 the Vets For Freedom Heroes came through Tucson, Arizona as part of their tour across America. As a member of Vets For Freedom I attended a lunch meeting held at a local American Legion Hall. The stalwart warriors explained in speeches that things were going well in Iraq but most mainstream news media refuse to report good war news. The speakers, which included retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel Steve Russell and former US Army Staff Sergeant David Bellavia, exhibited an amazing range of knowledge on a variety of subjects including military strategy, Iraqi politics and cultural diversity, intelligence matters and economics. David Bellavia's new book, House to House, is soon to become a best seller and his numerous awards for valor and combat success lend credence to his explanations of Iraq's development. Mr. Bellavia ran down a litany of Iraqi government progress that was astounding compared to US news media tales of doom and gloom. Our local Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who opposes the war, sent a representative who respectfully listened and also spoke about how deeply she was moved by the words of these veterans. Yet a Legionnaire questioner soon brought up the FISA Act that Giffords had voted against, and Colonel Russell expertly explained the details of why we needed such intelligence and how it did not affect Americans who weren't involved in terrorism. All too soon it was time to leave and get ready for the next day of troop support. On March 19th, 2008 the gleam of dawn was approaching as I loaded flags, signs and documents into the car in preparation for two rallies to support the troops on that day. There was only one thing left to do, run down the path to a yucca plant and get a long light stalk for a new American flag my wife had recently acquired. March 19th was the 5-year anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom and we local America loving troop supporters didn't know what to expect. We only knew that "anti-war" "moonbats" (a common nickname for extremists) were planning to gather at several places in Tucson that day. Even though military personnel don't make government policy, protesters have long shown up at military bases, hospitals and recruiting centers. It's obvious to most people that their aim is not to protest US Foreign Policy but to demoralize US Armed Forces and deter military recruitment. Yet some still cling to the fiction of "troop support" while simultaneously holding a sign falsely accusing our military of atrocities! I wonder if they think people believe them. Well, at least some mainstream journalists do. When I arrived at the Military Recruiting Center at 2302 E. Speedway at about 6:00 am, the rows of flags and banners had already been set up using our patented quick, easy methods, and people were attaching small American flags to a number of signs supporting the troops. I heartily joined in. A local conservative talk radio station, 104.1 FM The Truth, had planned a live broadcast, but unfortunately the host Jon Justice took ill and couldn't make it although a booth was set up. However, Justice still called in to the radio station with an encouraging message. Thanks to the station's promotion, a large number of patriotic citizens were at hand. Along with many regulars I met Ali again who had been there on 9/11/2007 supporting the troops, the large, hardworking but quiet Marine veteran Jim; also Russ and his wife, whose son had deployed to Iraq recently. Michael and Tina also have a son recently deployed, another son is soon to come home. U of A students Adam and Keith were ready to stand up for America and the troops in spite of professorial propaganda to the contrary. We were beginning to wonder if any moonbats would show up but finally some did, slowly unpacking their signs and banners. Many cars and trucks were honking for the troops and mission that morning, since most Americans actually do want us to win, slanted polls notwithstanding. Soon the "9/11 truther" section appeared but it was not the large contingent I expected. However, the one guy did have a large banner. Our new signs, "Conspiracy Nuts Are Not a Food Group" were designed to counter it. "Hey, we found out what made the twin towers fall straight down," I called across the street. The truther looked up inquiringly. "Gravity. It was gravity that that made them fall that way!" Unfortunately for him, I had a bullhorn and he didn't, so he was unable to reply across the street to give his theory. Usually that involves secret agents of the USA's warmongering imperialist government who planted explosives in the World Trade Center towers to make them come straight down and used remote control devices to fly the airliners that ran into the buildings. The moonbats left promptly at their pre-appointed surrender time of 9:00 am. There had been about 45 of us and 6 or 7 of them in the morning. In Tucson there is no protest permit system and whoever gets to a place first usually has "ownership" of it while the other side has to just go to the best other place they can. Two years ago at the downtown protest we had filled up the Federal Building plaza before moonbats got there and they went to a small sidewalk. This time they had learned their lesson and sent a contingent first to hold the ground by the time we got there at 3:00 pm for the downtown protest. Yet we had a good spot east of them and across a small street on a large wide sidewalk Their plan was to meet at Armory Park and then start marching to the Federal Building at 4:00 pm. Eventually we heard the drums and shouts of moonbat marchers approaching. They were preceded by Danza Mexica Cuauhtemoc (a socialist dance group that dresses as Aztecs) who were followed by flag-draped coffins and an assortment of wacky characters, some of whom stared at us as they walked by. Perhaps that was because we were singing: all we are saying…is give soap a chance in imitation of the Washington DC Gathering of Eagles counter-protest a year ago. Cameramen rushed around taking photos and video as Pro-Americans and "anti-war" leftists also snapped pictures and took video of the march past our group. The Tucson Citizen Video Blog captured my challenge to the leftists orange torture accusation theme as they passed. I explained on the bullhorn how to find the DoD Gitmo website by typing gitmo dod in a search engine so they could see for themselves that terrorist prisoners don't wear orange anymore. They normally wear white cotton outfits. This shows how little moonbats actually know about Guantanamo Bay. During the speeches I also admonished the crowd for blindly following Communist leaders and not knowing about successes of Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was fun to sing many patriotic songs and the first verse of all the military theme songs, which I happen to know. We also played patriotic music over a loudspeaker. Some protest kids came over to complain, saying we were interrupting liberals while they were reading the names of fallen troops to mourn them. I explained to the teenager with the Palestinian terrorist scarf that when "anti-war" people stand with a Winter Soldier sign, the troops don't want them reading the names of their fallen and pretending to support them. Because false accusations are not support, and no amount of excuses will make them so. Also I later found out the liberals had put up a crude string of printouts with photos of fallen troops; most or all were probably without the family's permission. Amazing hubris. As usual there were no undesecrated right side up American flags on the liberal side, nor were there any military branch flags like we have. And my "Say No To Communism" sign caused consternation as it normally does. When liberals began leaving I started handing out copies of the article "The killing machine that is Marxism" by Professor R.J. Rummel to them on the way by. Out of those I reached about a fourth refused unequivocally, a fourth took a copy, a fourth said there were no Communists at the protest and a fourth said they were Communists who knew far more about Communism than Professor Rummel or I ever would! Across the nation, demonstrations of support for the troops and their mission this week put the lie to protester's pusillanimous propaganda. At the evening counter-protest, there were about 200 of them and only about 10 to 12 of us, yet I felt we were very successful. I suppose if we let the odds bother us, we would have "surrendered" a long time ago. But we never will. The troops protect us from foreign threats, so let's help them defend against left-wing lies and propaganda however and whenever we can. The time is now to stand up for the troops - and America! Wayne Boettcher is the head of AmericanProtest.net Related Links: |
