The anti-war group carried signs saying "U.S. Out of Iraq Now," "Stop Iraq War, No Iran War, Impeach." The other side carried signs saying "al-Qaida Appeasers On Parade" and "Fight Jihad Not GIs."
The article doesn't mention International ANSWER, but the signs give the game away. Apparently the reporters in the linked story weren't curious enough to find out who organized this "anti-war" rally and who attended. But details like that would interfere with the intended message that mom and pop America are turning on our troops and our mission. No Iran war, indeed.
As for the Iraq War, I believe the protesters should be marching in Tehran, Damascus, and in small towns in Anbar. If they stop shooting, bombing, and gassing, the war will end.
But of course, the protesters aren't really anti-war. Just anti-American. These are the nutroots that our new Congress is suddenly listening to.
Americans may be tired that we haven't won yet and question the conduct of the war, but they aren't really anti-war. Given the way the press reports wrongly on the war and the failure of the administration to wage a full public campaign to maintain support, it is actually fairly amazing to me that the protests are so weak four years after we launched Operation Iraqi Freedom and 5-1/2 years after we struck the Taliban in Afghanistan.
I think that in part it is because of the blogosphere. With the press and the elites constantly portraying a losing war effort, without the blogosphere, war supporters and neutrals would not know that they are joined by tens of millions of others who don't want to surrender and who believe we either are winning or should win. I'm but a small voice on this side, but that is why I do this ultimately.
There is no substitute for victory.
Or there shouldn't be, anyway.
UPDATE: Instapundit notes a Washington Post article that highlights the size of the pro-victory marchers and the identity of the anti-war organizers.
The victory supporters, thousands of them and many veterans, made the the anti-American protesters feel unwelcome in our nation's capital:
The vets turned both sides of Constitution into a bitter, charged gantlet for the war protesters. "Jihadists!" some vets screamed. "You're brain-dead!" Others chanted, "Workers World traitors must hang!" -- a reference to the Communist newspaper. Some broke into "The Star-Spangled Banner" as war protesters sought to hand out pamphlets.
The early reports of low turnout for the communist-organized rally combined with this report of unexpected support for the war hints that the communist front people may have been outnumbered. The lack of a comparison of the two groups in the Post article also suggests that this could be so--or at least parity. If the anti-victory side had more people I find it hard to believe that the writers and editors wouldn't have put that little context in there.
Instapundit also notes the origins of the group that organized this "anti-war" rally in an article describing International ANSWER's role in the protests prior to the war:
The demonstration was essentially organized by the Workers World Party, a small political sect that years ago split from the Socialist Workers Party to support the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. The party advocates socialist revolution and abolishing private property. It is a fan of Fidel Castro’s regime in Cuba, and it hails North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il for preserving his country’s “socialist system,” which, according to the party’s newspaper, has kept North Korea “from falling under the sway of the transnational banks and corporations that dictate to most of the world.” The WWP has campaigned against the war-crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. A recent Workers World editorial declared, “Iraq has done absolutely nothing wrong.”
Officially, the organizer of the Washington demonstration was International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism). But ANSWER is run by WWP activists, to such an extent that it seems fair to dub it a WWP front. Several key ANSWER officials — including spokesperson Brian Becker — are WWP members. Many local offices for ANSWER’s protest were housed in WWP offices. Earlier this year, when ANSWER conducted a press briefing, at least five of the 13 speakers were WWP activists. They were each identified, though, in other ways, including as members of the International Action Center.
And as to my theory that blogs are helping keep support for the war stronger than it normally would be with our history of war weariness after three years, the Post article states:
The large turnout surprised even some counter-demonstrators. Polls show public opinion turning against the war in Iraq, and the November election was widely seen as a repudiation of the administration's policy.
"I've never been to a war rally. I hoped I'd never have to," said Jim Wilson, 62, a Vietnam vet from New Hampshire. "We're like what they used to call the silent majority."
Would such supporters have known their numbers with the press taking the side of the anti-war people and without the Internet to share their views and know they are not isolated?
The keyboard brigades are doing our job of maintaining the trinity of people, state, and military in support of the war. This could be an amazing story to be examined when this war is won.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Welcome Instapundit readers. In a coincidence, I think I must have been updating to link Instapundit a little before Instapundit linked here.
Remember, anti-Americans have the right to dissent, but that doesn't mean you should ignore that dissent has a price.
