John Ritter: Anti-War Protesters Take Cause To D.C.
Cindy Sheehan, the "Peace Mom" who led anti-war protests near President Bush's Texas ranch last month, was virtually unknown a year ago. The U.S. body count in Iraq hadn't hit 1,000 and a solid majority thought the war was just. The anti-war movement seemed dead.
As activists converge this weekend on Washington, D.C., for what they hope will be the biggest anti-war demonstration since before the invasion of Iraq, a majority now tell pollsters the war was a mistake and that troops should come home.
Bush's approval rating is as low as President Johnson's before the Vietnam War hijacked his presidency. More than 1,900 U.S. troops have died in Iraq, among them Sheehan's son, Casey. The government's initial response to Hurricane Katrina, criticized as sluggish and ineffective, fueled more opposition to the war, organizers say.
"People are reflecting on the Bush administration's callous response to the hurricane and asking what's all the money and material and people doing in Iraq when it could have been used to prepare here," says Bill Dobbs, spokesman for United for Peace and Justice, a sponsor of this weekend's Washington events.
Organizers expect more than 100,000 people for a march around the White House on Saturday. Sheehan is scheduled to speak. Rallies by war supporters are expected along the route.
On Monday, anti-war activists will lobby members of Congress. Some will return to the White House for civil disobedience, attempting to block entrances, hang placards on the White House fence and illegally occupy the sidewalk along Pennsylvania Avenue. More than 250 people are willing to risk arrest, says Gordon Clark, coordinator of the Iraq Pledge of Resistance.
A 55% majority in a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll last weekend said the United States should intensify efforts to withdraw from Iraq, up from 37% in August 2004. Historian Robert Dallek, a biographer of Johnson and President Kennedy, says Bush now has the same "credibility gap" Johnson suffered over Vietnam. The administration's democracy building in Iraq resembles LBJ's failed Vietnam policies, and the Iraqi insurgency looks more like an updated version of the Viet Cong, he says.
It took at least eight years for the public to turn against the Vietnam War. Because of Vietnam, the tide is turning more quickly today, Dallek says, although U.S. casualties in Iraq pale beside the 58,000 killed in Vietnam. "There's a kind of warning flag that has instantly gone up," he says.
As activists converge this weekend on Washington, D.C., for what they hope will be the biggest anti-war demonstration since before the invasion of Iraq, a majority now tell pollsters the war was a mistake and that troops should come home.
Bush's approval rating is as low as President Johnson's before the Vietnam War hijacked his presidency. More than 1,900 U.S. troops have died in Iraq, among them Sheehan's son, Casey. The government's initial response to Hurricane Katrina, criticized as sluggish and ineffective, fueled more opposition to the war, organizers say.
"People are reflecting on the Bush administration's callous response to the hurricane and asking what's all the money and material and people doing in Iraq when it could have been used to prepare here," says Bill Dobbs, spokesman for United for Peace and Justice, a sponsor of this weekend's Washington events.
Organizers expect more than 100,000 people for a march around the White House on Saturday. Sheehan is scheduled to speak. Rallies by war supporters are expected along the route.
On Monday, anti-war activists will lobby members of Congress. Some will return to the White House for civil disobedience, attempting to block entrances, hang placards on the White House fence and illegally occupy the sidewalk along Pennsylvania Avenue. More than 250 people are willing to risk arrest, says Gordon Clark, coordinator of the Iraq Pledge of Resistance.
A 55% majority in a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll last weekend said the United States should intensify efforts to withdraw from Iraq, up from 37% in August 2004. Historian Robert Dallek, a biographer of Johnson and President Kennedy, says Bush now has the same "credibility gap" Johnson suffered over Vietnam. The administration's democracy building in Iraq resembles LBJ's failed Vietnam policies, and the Iraqi insurgency looks more like an updated version of the Viet Cong, he says.
It took at least eight years for the public to turn against the Vietnam War. Because of Vietnam, the tide is turning more quickly today, Dallek says, although U.S. casualties in Iraq pale beside the 58,000 killed in Vietnam. "There's a kind of warning flag that has instantly gone up," he says.