Thousands Gather at Pentagon for Freedom March

[Judi Lynn]

Thousands Gather at Pentagon for Freedom March

By Petula Dvorak and Michael E. Ruane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 11, 2005; 1:06 PM

Several thousand marchers gathered this morning at the Pentagon for the Department of Defense sponsored "America Supports You Freedom March" to the National Mall.

Wearing red, white and blue t-shirts and pink Deptartment of Defense-issued wrist bands, the marchers, all of whom had pre-registered for the event, first headed to Arlington National Cemetery. There they were joined by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the families of victims of the Sept. 11 terror attack on the Pentagon.

For most of the crowd, that was the most somber moment of the day. After the short ceremony, which included remarks by Rumsfeld, the crowd made its way across Memorial Bridge and along the southern rim of the Reflecting Pool, trading comments with a few protesters who held up signs saying "Shame on You" and "Bush is a liar."

"Go live in another country if you don't like it here," yelled one marcher to a sign-bearing protester.
(snip/...)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/11/AR2005091100508.html?nav=rss_metro

What a surprise to see the Washington Post speeding its report on the march to the internets only a couple of hours later, glorifying the "thousands" of marchers.

As you may remember, sometimes it was hard to locate the reports on the HUGE numbers (always, ALWAYS grossly understated in the New York Times, Washington Post, etc.) attending anti-war marches anywhere IN their papers.

[sarcasmo]

1. Since they had to register, does that put them on the no fly list?

[Todd B]

5. More like the "no-draft" list...

I mean, they wouldn't want to draft any supporters, of course!

[gumby]

2. Watching on C-Span now.

It is impossible not to compare that sea of happy white people in their matching white shirts to the sea of black people starving, dehydrating and drowning.

Stunning.

[proud2BlibKansan]

45. So is it really thousands?

[patdem]

3. I guess they thought 'wrist bands' would look better than 'arm bands'?

Wait till 9/24...lets see how that is reported..lets keep this in mind!

[MoJoWorkin]

11. Weren't the NOLA evacuees wearing pink wrist bands?

I don't think these "folks" in DC are evacuees from NOLA.:shrug:

[54anickel]

4. Pentagon march 'a stunt'

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16572879%255E1702,00.html

snip>

Pentagon officials took drastic measures to control participation in the march, with the route fenced off and lined with police. The estimated 10,000 people who took part all had to register online beforehand and city officials warned that anyone seeking to join without the proper credentials would be arrested.

snip>

Participants, many of them government employees and their families, were each given a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words Freedom Walk on the front and the name of sponsors on the back. Those included the defence contractor Lockheed Martin, the right-wing daily Washington Times, McDonald's and the US Army magazine Stars and Stripes.

But at least two protesters wearing T-shirts with messages opposing the war in Iraq managed to take part, although they were closely followed by secret service agents.

Anti-war groups denounced the event as a way to boost the war effort in Iraq and link events there with the September 11 terrorist attacks. The groups, including ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), said the march was also aimed at undercutting an anti-war demonstration planned for September 24 in Washington.

"We consider the Pentagon sponsoring of the September 11 Freedom Walk to be a crass and cynical manipulation of the events of September 11 to support the president's war policy in Iraq, which is being rejected by the American people," Brian Becker, national coordinator for the ANSWER said.

more...

[wurzel]

8. The irony of calling this a "Freedom Walk" never occured to them.

That is truly scarey.

[Catrina]

9. A government sponsored march

is of no consequence. Many of those employees probably had no choice but to participate or lose their jobs.

Millions have been marching and protesting their lies since they began their illegal invasions of other countries.

It was a stunt, not very effective imo.

The sept. 24th event will not be a government controlled and sponsored march. It will be by the people and for the people.


Let them try to dredge up their old weapons, 9/11/Iraq/WMDs is they want to. Most of the country now opposes them and are pretty tired of watching them use 9/11 to try to save their sorry rear ends, as Bush pleaded 'go back to right after 9/11'. That will never happen again. It was a once in a life-time shot they took that worked temporarily. Most people I know now, just become angry when they hear any of them try to use 9/11.

Thousands? If this was a justified war, with the government sponsoring such an event, it should have been millions. I would be very worried if I were in their position. Their tired old propaganda is falling a lot of deaf ears these days, and their controlled marches remind me of China or N.Korea ~ sad. They are still trying to use the dead of 9/11 to help them out of the mess they are in.

[earthside]

15. Repeat that over and over ...

"A government sponsored march."

In the 'good od days' that's the way we belittled pro-government demonstrations in the Soviet Union, Red China, Cuba, etc.

"A government sponsored march."

That truly is what has become of America under the Bushites and the radical Republicans. It just isn't about freedom anymore ... it's about loyalty to the neocon central government.

"A government sponsored march."

[malaise]

24. Exactly

In the 'good od days' that's the way we belittled pro-government demonstrations in the Soviet Union, Red China, Cuba, etc.

ROTFL - they seem quite desperate.

[Canuckistanian]

41. Wasn't the Bataan Death March a 'government sponsored march'?

Mind you, it was the Japanese government and they were lead by bloody, jingoistic, war-mongering, torturing and intolerant leaders.

What a difference, eh?

[mcg]

30. The employees were pressured with emails, maybe more.

see this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4728441

What I know is that repeated emails were sent and that employees were grouped by Department, what I don't know is how much more pressure was applied.

Suppose you're a government employee and your boss is a republican who will be attending. Quite a bit of pressure to attend, eh?

[IndianaGreen]

10. DOD employees sporting billboards for defense contractors. SHAME!

Participants, many of them government employees and their families, were each given a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words Freedom Walk on the front and the name of sponsors on the back. Those included the defence contractor Lockheed Martin, the right-wing daily Washington Times, McDonald's and the US Army magazine Stars and Stripes.

9/11 had nothing to do with Iraq! Anyone that still believes that lie is an idiot!

9/11 means nothing to me anymore! It has been used to justify mass slaughter in Iraq and elsewhere. The innocent victims of 9/11 have been joined by thousands of other innocent victims murdered by the US government in their name. Shame, shame, shame!

[Whoa_Nelly]

6. Since when has it been a federal agency that stages something like this?

This bugs me, especially with all the restrictions and rules of the "freedom" walk.

I did watch some of it on C-SPan, but it seems like such a strange gathering...so regimented. Reminds me of government displays of sheeple being led from other countries in our not so far distant 20th C. global past.

Have to wonder what this regimented march means to those who chose to attend. It's one thing to rememeber 9/11. It's a horse of a different color when it's an event that is completely government designed, prepared, and controlled.

[54anickel]

7. Check out Rummy's fear-mongering in this one

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/9/12/worldupdates/2005-09-11T214546Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-215858-1&sec=Worldupdates

I wish we could say ... that this is a time for peaceful remembrance, that we were gathering today to commemorate a danger that had long since past," Rumsfeld said. "... But we cannot. The enemy, though seriously weakened and continuously under pressure, continues to plot attacks and the danger they pose to the free world is real and present."

Meanwhile, at the WH...

At the White House, a U.S. Marine Corps bugler played "Taps" at 8:46 a.m. EDT (1246 GMT), the moment that a hijacked airliner slammed into the north tower at the World Trade Center four years earlier.

Bush and first lady Laura Bush, flanked by Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne, stood silently on the South Lawn of the White House for a few moments, just long enough for the song to end.

[MoJoWorkin]

12. Too bad they couldn't have trotted them on down to help out in NOLA

:eyes: Oh, I forgot, this MUST be more important than helping the "least among us.":sarcasm:

[Kolesar]

18. Good angle, MoJo

What galled me was that these marchers were employees who were probably ordered to march (although many of them were gungho for the Iraq War anyway). Brought to you by Northrup. How Orwellian.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

13. The slithering Washington Post

Hey, until there was sufficient outrage, the Post was one of the SPONSORS of this fucking sham. They pulled out, saying it was "inappropriate" for them to sponsor a government event.

Then they spent the next 48 hours peeling their collective corporate lips off Rumsfeld's bony ass.

[cornermouse]

14. Didn't the Kremlin have a pro-war march in May of every year?

Was Bush standing on a roof waving while the marchers saluted as they passed?

Didn't we used to consider stuff like this to be propaganda?

[tkmorris]

19. This look familiar?

[fasttense]

16. How disrespectful to the dead lying in the streets of New Orleans.

"There they were joined by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the families of victims of the Sept. 11 terror attack on the Pentagon.
For most of the crowd, that was the most somber moment of the day."

What? thousands lying in the street dead and we have a party to celebrate the same people who let them die? This fake concern speech by Rumsfeld was the most solemn moment? CNN reported that Germany had a memorial service for the people who died in 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. That was appropriate. That was done with class. This group of government and contract workers are despicable. We should all be in mourning not listening to music and having parties.

Of the Sept. 11 observance, she said, "You have to remember what happened. We really have to do what we can to always be observant and respectful of this day."

That was respectful? People wearing shirts advertising contractors and military recruiting? This administration has NO CLASS. We should be in mourning not having Country Western Rock concerts.

[NYC Liberal]

17. I'm sure the 10,000 dead Iraqis are grateful too.

:eyes:

[ElectroPrincess]

20. Don't you just love the whorish National Media ...

When close to a thousand or maybe a little more right wingers show up for a hoot-in' annie, its *THOUSANDS* that is published. They always over exaggerate the right wing's representation. Also notice how the television cameras, a la Saddam's staged statue toppling JOKE, are NARROW shots, all of them?

Lord help us until we get a National Media who is not whoring for the Executive Branch. Until then, the only reputable news comes out of foreign media. :puke:

[daleo]

21. It seems like a small crowd

Even in my little corner of the world (Edmonton Canada) we had nearly 20,000 protest Bush's war mongering in 2003. Only "several thousand" at the Pentagon doesn't seem like a good sign for war supporters.

[bribri16]

22. This is really strange. On our way to Sunday services which is in the

down-town area, the traffic was very light. We drive through the park near the Pentagon and the traffic was lighter than usual. We even arrived earlier than usual. I didn't see any huge crowds. They must have all been Pentagon family members.

[DesEtoiles]

23. This event was a dud.

[bikebloke]

25. I rolled nearby

The not-so-thronging crowd were all wearing identical T-shirts. Herr Goebbels must be smiling. A number of them peeled off, heading for the Arlington Cemetary Metro station. After a whole kilometer, enough of a sacrifice had been made. Anyway, I'm sure they wanted to grab good seats, so they could admire the carpet burns on Anthrax's knobby knees.

The (dis)organizers must have been expecting gazillions to show. Hurricane fences were strung up at Iwo Jima. The only folk there were usual weekend sunshine beach goers.

Speaking of hurricane, that's money squandered that could have been directed towards the folk that need it. Even those fucking T-shirts would have helped.

[Mad_Dem_X]

26. You make an excellent point about the $

They should have put that money to better use. I'm glad I missed seeing this. White shirts instead of brown shirts, but other than that...

[DavidDvorkin]

27. Ah, that "go live in another country" line

If we don't like it here, we're supposed to leave rather than change the country. But when they didn't like it here, during the 1960s, they didn't leave; instead, they set about changing the country.

But of course they think that only their idea of what the country should be is valid.

Bastards.

[Freedomfried]

31. As of 9/11/2001, they now DO live in another country, unfortunately.

[Luna_Chick]

44. My sentiments exactly

the true American patriots are those of us trying to reclaim the Constitution and overthrow the illegal occupation of the Boy King and his cronies.

[MGKrebs]

28. So who is "America" and who is "you"?

We ARE America. Is this march indicating that we are supporting someone else's freedom? Or does the "America" part actually mean "The government" supports "your" freedom? That's pretty weird. Why would they need to tell us that?

Nevermind. I read up on it a little bit more. It's us supporting the 9/11 victims families and us supporting the troops. The fact that it is organized by the Pentagon makes it confusing.

[Massachusetts]

29. "Thousands Gather at Pentagon for Freedom March"

deja vu all over again........Berlin 1939

[ElsewheresDaughter]

32. it should read....

thousands of defense department and defense contrctors families ordered to take part in Pentagons sponsored "Freedom March" in DC

[Scout1071]

33. Excuse me, but pink wristbands? Anyone get the feeling that they are

trying to somewhat neutralize Code Pink?

[Brother Buzz]

35. I don't think this has anything to do with neurtralizing codepink

rather, I see it as a feeble attempt to ride on the coattails of Lance Armstrong's wristband fad . His yellow wristband campaign was a huge success and supporters included Clinton, Kerry, Robin Williams, etc. Heck, even Bush* sprouted a yellow wristband for a contrived photo op moment when Rove noticed all the 'popular' guys were wearing them.

[Scout1071]

36. As have the pink bands for breast cancer fundraising and Code Pink.

[Brother Buzz]

37. IIRC the pink breast cancer fundraising ribbon has always been...

worn on the chest (symbolically close to the breast). The wristband thingy is 100% Lance Armstrong.

[Scout1071]

40. Actually, here is a link to the Susan G. Komen Foundation,

a/k/a the largest (or one of) breast cancer fundraising organizations in the US. I've seen many people wearing these:

http://www.efastcom.com/Marketplace/control/giftshopmain

[struggle4progress]

34. Did the Washington Post ever cancel its sponsorship of this event?

[Stand and Fight]

38. I'm not sure.

I recall reading the fact that they were going to, but it was never confirmed. Were they not listed on the backs of the white shirts as being sponsors?

[Fla4kerry]

39. Thanks for posting

this "Unfreedom March". I went looking around the net for any information. I was glad to find it here at DU.

[struggle4progress]

43. Thank Judi Lynn. I didn't post it. eom

[belle]

42. Description of the wire makes me think of a big dog run.

[Dr Fate]

46. Booooring. Please go back tot he hurricane stuff. n/t

n/t

[msongs]

47. Bush's first NUREMBURG rally nt

[GrantDem]

48. Bush is doing a fantastic job...

If your a Democrat. Let's hope he keeps talking. The more a talks the lower his rating goes.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/10/bush.poll.ap/index.html