Antiwar.com Blog

The “why the heck is Nancy Pelosi voting for the war” rally was great: thanks to United for Peace and Justice (Bay Area chapter) for making it possible. It was gratifying to see some of my readers there: they came up and introduced themselves, and I’m glad I could be of some assistance in building the rally. The star of the occasion, by the way, was Stephen Zunes, who gave a bang-up speech, detailing Pelosi’s two-faced campaign to present herself to her district as opposed to the war, and yet when it comes to her votes and general behavior on the floor of congress, it’s Nancy the War Goddess all the way. He cited her speeches, and pointed out how she has consistently echoed the Bush administration’s line on Iraq, even down to accusing pre-war Baghdad of harboring Al Qaeda — a charge usually reserved for the more perfervid neocons, but almost never from any Democrats. She is, Zunes, trenchantly pointed out, to the right of people like James Baker and other veterans of the Bush I administration who opposed this war and are now calling for withdrawal.

There were quite a few people there, for a mid-day Monday demonstration — at least 150 — and the media was out in force. Madame Minority Leader, who has always gotten a free ride from the San Francisco Democrats and the local media, is — I predict — in some trouble. There was just no reason for her to oppose Lynn Woolsey’s “exit strategy” resolution, which would have called on the President to set a time certain for getting our troops home, yet she quashed it without even considering the overwhelming support for withdrawal in her own district. Such arrogance is begging to be punished….

By the way, on the subject of the Jewish Community Relations Council email sent out to its members and supporters about the anti-Pelosi rally being an “anti-Israel” action — check out my blog item on the subject — nary a word was said about Israel, either by me or by any of the other speakers. I called the JCRC earlier, before the rally started, and complained: one Dganit Herzig claimed responsibility for the offending email, and, although she stuck by her guns, promised that if she turned out to be wrong about the rally, she would write to me and apologize.

I’m waitng, Dganit …..

Cindy Sheehan was just arrested during a sit-down protest on the sidewalk in front of the White House.

The sickening manipulation of ethnic and religious passions by the War Party is nowhere more dramatically demonstrated than in this “rapid response alert” sent out by someone in the office of the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, the Peninsula , Marin, Sonoma Alameda and Contra Costa Counties:

“PRO-ISRAEL ACTIVISTS – SEND A MESSAGE OF SUPPORT TO CONGRESSWOMAN NANCY PELOSI TO COUNTER AN ANTI-ISRAEL RALLY PLANNED ON

“Monday, September 26, Noon – outside Pelosi’s office at the Federal Building – 450 Golden Gate, San Francisco.

“United for Peace & Justice and ANSWER, two Anti- Israel groups, will gather outside Nancy Pelosi’s office at the Federal Building, to protest the Iraq War, and ‘the atrocities and crimes of the Israeli state.'”

The email goes on to cite a quote that does not come from UJP or Code Pink, the two co-sponsoring organizations, in an effort to link the protest — which is about the Iraq war, and nothing else — to “anti-Israel” activities. This is a lie, and a shameless one. I saw the same nonsense going on at the San Francisco antiwar rally on Saturday: there was a group of counter-protesters holding Israeli flags. I went up to one of them and said: “What does any of this has to do with Israel? After all,” I averred, “this demonstration is about the war, not Israel.” The guy told me that he had gotten an email saying that an “anti-Israel” demonstration was going to take place, and that it was his duty to show up and show the flag.

It’s interesting how the War Party lies, and manipulates ethnic-nationalist feeings to its advantage — when, in reality, the overwhelming majority of Bay Area people of the Jewish faith support the antiwar position. This email is a fraud perpetrated on the Jewish community. What in the name of all that’s holy is the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Bay Area doing acting as a shill for the War Party? An interesting question, which you might want to ask them yourself. Just call them up. Here’s the number:

415-957-1551

Just got back from the antiwar march in San Francisco: easily 20,000 people out in the streets. I’ll have more about it in my Monday column, but I just wanted to let you know about an event I found out about at the rally. “Code Pink,” the antiwar group famous for mocking and harassing the War Party wherever they may be found, had the best protest signs at the march: specifically calling attention not only to the creation of permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq, but also pointing out local Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi’s consistent support for Bush’s war. “Pelosi, Why Do You Vote Pro-War? — the neatly-lettered protest signs really stood out along the march route, and I quickly grabbed one and happily held it high. Finally Pelosi is being made to answer for her pro-war stance by her overwhelmingly anti-war district! I pointed out her lack of accountability in a recent column, and I’m glad to see that I’m not alone. But we’re going to be doing a lot more than holding picket signs….

On Monday, September 26, at noon, there is going to be a rally at the San Francisco Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, calling Pelosi to account for her pro-war stance. Not only that, but — get this — there will be a “mock trial” of Ms. Pelosi, to be held in the lobby!

Oh, please, will somebody make me one of the judges!

This, my fellow San FRanciscans, is going to be fun, fun, FUN! Finally, the imperious Pelosi — who has never had to debate an opponent, and is never questioned by the “mainstream” liberal-schmiberal local media — is going to be put in the hot seat. Will the local media black it out? I have to listen to KTVU, out of Oakland, feature EVERY NIGHT the carefully-orchestrated protests by public employee unions of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cost-cutting measures. Will a Democratic party politician, as entrenched as Pelosi, continue to get a free pass?

How long must we endure her — how long?

Monday, September 26, noon, at the San Francisco Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate Avenue — be there, or be square!

UPDATE: truthout just posted this photo:

C-Span is streaming live coverage of the Rally in Washington DC here.
William Rivers Pitt is live-blogging here and here.
UK Indymedia is posting reports on the London Rally here.

*****

UPDATE: 
WRP posts a little after noon:

Saturday 24 September 2005 12:06 PM
The march just got huge all of a sudden. Medea Benjamin has taken control of things here on the street. Cindy Sheehan just took the stage and the whole place went berzerk.

There are still people making statements to a dwindling, bored looking crowd on the ANSWER stage on C-Span. Is that the way these things always go?

Scott Galindez says that the march is huge:

Mammoth
By Scott Galindez

Saturday 24 September 2005 1:54 PM

Huge is an understatement. The march has surrounded the White House. Hundreds of thousands. This is the largest march I have seen in the over two decades that I have been attending.

The crowd is diverse. A true cross section of American culture.

Too Big
By William Rivers Pitt

Saturday 24 September 2005 1:46 PM

The march is unable to move because there are so many people coming in from all directions. Constitution Avenue is a wall of humanity. I am up on the hill that holds the Washington Monument, looking down on the crowd. This is a massive, massive showing.

Hot damn.

UPDATE: BradBlog has some of the earlier speeches from the Rally posted up if you missed them.  Cindy Sheehan is one of them. You can also read Cindy’s speech here.

UPDATE:An indymedia reporter in the march says he is seeing many families who say they came out because of Cindy Sheehan. Organizers with ANSWER are reporting that more than 250,000 people have come to march, with a crowd stretching 20 blocks.