Anti-War Protests Target Wounded at Army Hospital (Cybercast News Service)
The Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the current home of hundreds of wounded veterans from the war in Iraq, has been the target of weekly anti-war demonstrations since March. The protesters hold signs that read “Maimed for Lies” and “Enlist here and die for Halliburton.”
The anti-war demonstrators, who obtain their protest permits from the Washington, D.C., police department, position themselves directly in front of the main entrance to the Army Medical Center, which is located in northwest D.C., about five miles from the White House.
Among the props used by the protesters are mock caskets, lined up on the sidewalk to represent the death toll in Iraq. Code Pink Women for Peace, one of the groups backing anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan’s vigil outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford Texas, organizes the protests at Walter Reed as well.
Oliver Willis believes this to be “another exercise in lies from CNSNews” and argues,
In fact, the protestors are quite clearly demonstrating their support of the troops and their disdain for what the Iraq war has done to the soldiers. This won̢۪t matter to the cons who trumpet this sort of thing, they don̢۪t care about the facts as long as they can smear and move on to the next thing.
Personally, I’d like to see reporting on this from a more reliable source than CNS. Still, it’s hard to view demonstrating in front of wounded vets as anything other than tacky. As Mark in Mexico observes,
The anti-war group is most visible on Friday evenings which is the most popular time for families to visit their wounded at the hospital. . . . Imagine a family that has to pass a line of coffins everytime they arrive to visit a badly wounded son or daughter who is hanging on to life inside the hospital.
People have a right to demonstrate and Walter Reed is a government institution. Still, it’s unseemly. The quarrel is with the Bush Administration and Congress, not the wounded veterans who were ordered to war.
