[Mb-civic] For Many, Anger Has Grown Since Start of War - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

For Many, Anger Has Grown Since Start of War

By Carol Morello
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 25, 2005; Page A12

John McNamara never believed the 2003 invasion of Iraq was justified, 
but as a soldier in an Army transportation unit, he dutifully took part 
in a war he did not support.

When he left Iraq six months later, he was just happy that he survived.

Now out of the military, McNamara donned his desert camouflage uniform 
again yesterday to march against the war in which he served.

"Being part of something I didn't agree with didn't sit well in my 
stomach," said McNamara, 25, of Boston, carrying one corner of a banner 
for a small, fledgling group called Iraq Veterans Against the War. 
"Joining this protest, it is the only way I can help end it. It feels good."

Like McNamara, many marching in Washington's streets yesterday have 
opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning. The protest drew a broad 
cross section of young and old, veteran activists and first-timers. But 
of more than 50 marchers interviewed, nearly all said their convictions 
deepened, not changed, as the war progressed. What they shared was the 
belief that their suspicions about President Bush and the war had been 
right all along.

So there was a quiet, often angry determination in the crowd, with 
little of the jovial street theater that marks much political protest. 
Most placards did not simply call to bring troops home. At turns they 
labeled Bush a liar, a traitor, a fascist, a coward and a war criminal 
worthy of impeachment. Some asked plaintively, "Where's the outrage?"

"I'm very angry," said Amy Campbell-Pitts, 28, of Nashville, whose 
husband, Jason, is an Army medic. A veteran of Afghanistan, he just left 
on a deployment to Iraq, kept in uniform under a stop-loss program 
limiting when volunteers can quit the military. "Send my husband home," 
read the placard she carried.

"It's the stop-loss that ticks me off," said Campbell-Pitts, whose 
honeymoon was interrupted by a deployment briefing. "He kept his word, 
and the government doesn't have to keep its."

Nearby, Judy Linehan led more than 300 military family members marching 
against the war. The mother of an Army major from Olympia, Wash., 
Linehan said Americans are more receptive to the antiwar message than 
ever. The war's more ardent supporters remain committed, she said, but 
added, "I can see a change in people who were on the fence."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/24/AR2005092401615.html?nav=hcmodule
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