FINALLY...

I pray that this is the start of a peace MOVEMENT. Not a single protest. Sheehan, despite what y'all think, helped fuel the drive. She put a human face to the loss. Katrina proved that the war WAS draining the country and actually harming it.



Associated Press (via Yahoo!):

Crowds opposed to the war in Iraq surged past the White House on Saturday, shouting "Peace now" in the largest anti-war protest in the nation's capital since the U.S. invasion.

The rally stretched through the day and into the night, a marathon of music, speechmaking and dissent on the National Mall. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey, noting that organizers had hoped to draw 100,000 people, said, "I think they probably hit that." [....]

In the crowd: young activists, nuns whose anti-war activism dates to Vietnam, parents mourning their children in uniform lost in Iraq, and uncountable families motivated for the first time to protest.

Connie McCroskey, 58, came from Des Moines, Iowa, with two of her daughters, both in their 20s, for the family's first demonstration. McCroskey, whose father fought in World War II, said she never would have dared protest during the Vietnam War.

"Today, I had some courage," she said.

While united against the war, political beliefs varied. Paul Rutherford, 60, of Vandalia, Mich., said he is a Republican who supported Bush in the last election and still does — except for the war.

"President Bush needs to admit he made a mistake in the war and bring the troops home, and let's move on," Rutherford said. His wife, Judy, 58, called the removal of Saddam Hussein" a noble mission" but said U.S. troops should have left when claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction proved unfounded.

I'm not saying there should be another Kent State (oh, trust me... when it comes to this administration, I expect the worst), but this could be the spark. Or at least now people understand that there IS a cost to war. He can't be giving out money to rich bastards and expect to fight in a dangerous and costly war at the same time. War requires sacrifice... One I'm not sure that the country is willing or able to make.