Saturday was a cold, clear, fine day without much wind. I took the Metro to Foggy Bottom, just up the hill from where the protesters were gathering. A female protester asked me where to get off for the rally. I told her, "Reagan National". These people were a mix of long haired white, black & Latino activists wearing berets and impeach Bush t-shirts. A few were carrying homemade signs but most took up signs at the rally point. They were unattractive and ill-informed, but not physically threatening. I had a short haircut and dressed in black combat boots, black chinos, a black fleece jacket, black windbreaker and black gloves. I wanted to make it obvious that I was not a protester.
The anti-war protest rally was sponsored by ANSWER - a communist & socialist group bent on humiliating America. They are well funded by George Soros, who chartered busses, printed signs, and paid the hotel bills for their people. Looking at their signs and listening to their speeches, they were a wide range of very radical groups - open borders, communist party, black panthers, greenpeace, recognize cuba. You name the left wing group, they were there.
GoE was not well organized and had zero funding. At first, I was a little worried about our chances if the numbers that were being advertised were accurate. ANSWER was touting 100,000 protesters and GoE had only signed up 900. I had no idea how many Rolling Thunder guys, VFW members, American Legionnaires, of Purple Heart guys would actually show up. Fortunately, all the estimates were wrong. The Park Police had UH-60s overhead with cameras to document their estimate of 30,000 Pro American Demonstrators and 5,000 -10,000 ANSWER protesters. Several times the speakers said that many of their folks were stuck in the snow storm in the North East. We laughed at them.
The ANSWER crowd was intimidated big time. For the last 40 years the radical left has had the streets to themselves. Their opposition was an undermanned police force or a few National Guardsmen with strict ROE. They always had numerical superiority. We in the military were prohibited, by law, from participating in a counter protest. This demonstration was very different.
As I was walking down the hill from Foggy Bottom, a GoE guy ahead of me took a Stop The War sign tore it in half and threw it in the trash. There were about 1,000 protesters watching him and one guy said, "hey, you can't do that!" The GoE guy stopped and asked, "What are you going to do about it?" The question was met with silence.
In another incident, five of the unwashed made it around the Lincoln Memorial. They were spotted almost immediately. Three of these brave souls dropped their signs and ran away, but two continued. The were rather quickly surrounded by big Rolling Thunder guys in their leathers. The bikers stared at the remaining two, who quickly put down their signs, avoided making eye contact and left. No one raised their voice or touched these young men. The thing young men fear most is intimidation in front of their friends, especially girlfriends. Intimidated they were.
On the ground, there was considerable Pro-American verbal push back. The protesters had the amplified sound system, but GoE had the balls. As the leftist speakers ranted, we cheered "USA, USA, USA..". When they said something we disagreed with, we shouted them down. It was good clean fun.
On the ground, it was obvious who had more people. We occupied the wall, the north side of the Lincoln Memorial, the apron west side of the reflecting pond, and the Korean War Memorial. They had a strip of land between 23rd and Constitution Ave. The mounted police kept the groups apart.
These were big guys, the ones who did not run to Canada or Oxford to avoid serving their country. The elite leftists are not accustomed to real opposition.
When I left, I walked down the mall to the Washington Monument to the Smithsonian Museum and I could no longer hear the shrill loudspeakers of the ANSWER sound system, but I could clearly hear Gathering of Eagles' voices.
We must continue this real grass roots effort. Wherever these idiots go, we must go. ANSWER cannot go unanswered.
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