Inauguration Report

As usual, Democracy Now supplements the official story with the protests I didn’t see on CNN.

They had supporters:

I am Pat Roan. I’m from Dallas, Texas. I love Bush. I love his family, and I love America. Actually, they go to our church. And – in Dallas at Highland Park Methodist, and occasionally when Laura is in Dallas, she comes and sits right in front of us. I like his beliefs. I like his policies, and I think he’s a truly honest man, and I think he’s going to lead our country into a better role in the world — and the world into a better world.

And:

You’re not supporting the troops by protesting the war. If you are protesting the war, you’re not supporting the troops because you’re not sticking up for what the troops are doing or what the troops believe in. All the media talks about are the one or two that are dissenting, but the majority of the troops over there are not dissenting with the President, and they feel good about what they’re doing over there.

And:

The women there are much better off than they were before. And I think we did make some mistakes, but I think President Bush is admitting what he has done wrong. Maybe a little bit — he was a little bit ahead of himself on some things, but overall, I think he is a good man. He is a fabulous person, and they don’t understand. He has got a good heart.

And opposition views. A grieving mother on her son’s death and family values:

On the evening of April 26, a dog began to bark and there was someone at the door. I answered in the door, and in the dim light – it was just this time of day, was a Sergeant Major. At first I didn’t understand why he was there, and then it became clear to me. He had come to tell me that my sweet child had been killed that morning in Baghdad… [T]he first National Guardsman to die in combat in Pennsylvania since 1945. All who were silent in the face of this war are complicit in its action. And none of us – none of us can bear that sin of silence. And so we gather once again with these boots and the numbers have grown, 856 in July, 1,370 today, and behind every one is a family who every day cries for the one they have lost, and whose lives will never recover.

And undercover police perhaps provoking violence as much as they are controlling it:

Both of them looked like any number of people we had seen in the streets. And so I thought they were falling into this column of riot police and that the riot police were trying to arrest the woman and that the man in the kafia was pulling her away, but as I watched it more closely, I realized that the man in the kafia, the Arab scarf, was actually trying to get this woman with the mohawk to the ground. And ultimately he put his knee in her back, he pulled out metal pair of handcuffs, not the plastic cuffs, from behind himself and he cuffed her. And the riot police seemed like they had no idea what was going on. [T]hese two undercover police officers dressed not just like protesters, but like protesters wearing Arab scarves around their necks, which is very common now among Palestinian solidarity activists who are opposed to the war in Iraq.


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2 responses to “Inauguration Report”

  1. kc Avatar

    “The women there are much better off than they were before.”

    No. The women in Iraq are NOT better off than they were before. Any number of articles have been published telling how women in post-invasion Iraq are afraid, as they never have been before, to go out alone or with their heads uncovered.

    All we’ve done over there, basically, is liberate the terrorists and the fundamentalists.

  2. thomas nunn Avatar

    i just wanted to say thank you to all our brave young men and women in uniform, especially those in iraq and afganistan.with out your courage and sacrifice we all would not be able to enjoy safety and freedom we all enjoy everyday. so, if you support the war are not don’t forget the sacrifice these brave patriots do on a daily basis! i just say a heart felt thanks and feel safer knowing you guys are out there keeping us safe. may god grant you safety and protection and bring you home safely to your families and love ones. sincerly, thomas

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