Peace March Will End at Fort Drum on May 17
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From the Associated Press:
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - Opponents to the war in Iraq will join together from across upstate New York beginning this week for a 10-day march to the U.S. Army’s Fort Drum in northern New York.
Organizers say the event, called New York State Marches for Peace, will include peace activists, soldiers and veterans from a coalition of groups.
The peace walk will begin Thursday from Utica, Rochester andIthaca with the marchers converging in Pulaski before heading to Fort Drum, where the protesters will rally on May 17 - Armed ForcesDay - in a daylong event.
The march will unfold over several routes, passing through manytowns and cities including Syracuse, and picking up people along the way.
Organizers say people can join the march for one hour, one day, one week or ten days.
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10 Responses to “Peace March Will End at Fort Drum on May 17”
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What statement is being made by ending the march @ Ft. Drum?
To end this march at Ft. drum implies (to me) that they are protesting Ft. Drum and the soldiers stationed there and who have been deployed from there, doing their job as they have been ordered. Seems as though the focus of this march should end at the White House steps.
We march on Drum to support the troops there. As a member of Veterans For Peace who helped lower property taxes for every county veteran, informed the VA of 4000 nationwide PTSD support groups, helped pass the state depleted uranium - the new Agent orange - GI health bill, helped pass out 54,000 phone cards to patients in 148 VA hospitals, is studying with the Gandhi Institute how to heal the US after Iraq, I know we’ve sent 43,000 medically unfit troops to combat in the 5 years since “Mission Accomplished”, have 300,000 PTSD cases, 320,000 traumatic brain injuries, and only 535,000 troops. End the war now or face a draft in 5 years, forcing your children & grandkids into combat.
For Mr. Van Deusen, don’t use the military to further your groups stinkin agenda, your march on Fort Drum is just that same as the marches and protest of the 60’s and 70’s. You march for peace thats fine do it else where not on or near Fort Drum.
I’m sorry Mac’s not comfortable sharing his whole name,but that’s OK. We have nothing to hide. Hope you actually read the post on the incredible humanitarian achievements of Veterans For Peace, be glad to show you proof of same. We’re even making progress towards helping VA patients register to vote while in VA hospitals, getting around the resistance of the Bush flunkee in DC, as reported in ARMY TIMES. http://www.nysmarchesforpeace.org shows our stinkin agenda, a gathering by the Black River of Korean, Vietnam, & Iraq vets who know a bad war when we see one. We’ll have music & information booths on VA benefits, PTSD treatment, home loans, etc. Join us, Mac! Peace.
While I disagree w/ their marching and ending at Ft. Drum, they should be alowed to do so. The very people they are disrespecting by doing so, are the ones paying the price for them to be able to protest openly. Ironic eh? I think, from a vets perspective, that the young troops whom will undoubtable see them, will think the marchers are protesting their hard work and sacrifices. As if the marchers are using the base and the troops coming and going as some sort of propaganda. Also, the soldiers live there, their families are there and so are their children, marching seems like a HUGE insult to them. Go to DC, go to the capital, but do not disrespect the families who have loved ones in harms way by protesting in their very back yard.
What time is the March anticipated to reach the Ft. Drum area?
It’s an interesting statement on our culture that the automatic assumption upon seeing or hearing about a march or protest is that it’s against something, instead of for something. There isn’t much difference between a march and a parade, physically. Who ever argued with a free parade?
It’s a march for peace. It’s a march for the safe and soon return of the soldiers separated from their families. It’s a march in support of those families. It is unfortunate if it is perceived as a show of disrespect.
for Molly Reilly, who asked when marchers would arrive: some will be coming in the night before, gathering at Different Drummer Cafe in the Watertown Public Square Paddock Arcade about 6pm. The riverside festival off Huntington St. by the Eastern Blvd bridge, is 1 - 7 pm. Everyone come for proof of how much Veterans For Peace supports our troops, by wanting them home, alive, now!
Why is it called a “march” instead of a parade then? I assume, therefore, that all of the signs and banners will be only positive statements in SUPPRT of said troops. How many parades have you seen, or been a part of, during Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day or the 4th of July, that have the same agenda as the one stated by the organizers of this march…..”unjust, illegal, and immoral war”? How is “marching” to Ft. Drum, under the stated mission statement, supporting those men and women deployed? They have nothing to do w/ the politics behind why they are in harm’s way. If you want to be heard for those reasons, why do it in the residential community where those who serve live? BECAUSE of political propaganda and wanting attention and to make a political statement. None of the families who will have to put up w/ your “march” make these decisions. Call it what you want, but it is NOT in support of the troops, it is in support of your beliefs!
Has there ever been a time when so many retired US military officers have spoken out publicly in opposition to a war? If you are still in support of this war, please read what these people have said and written.
Brig. Gen. Mark Scheid, Lt. Gen. William Odom, Maj. Gen. John Batiste, Gen. Merrill “Tony” McPeak, Adm. Stansfield Turner, Gen. Anthony Zinni, Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, Gen. Wesley Clark, Adm. William Crowe, Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, Retired Major Gen. Paul Eaton, Army Maj. Gen. John Riggs, Lt. Gen. Wallace Gregson, General Paul Eaton, Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack,
Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, Col. David Hackworth, Smedley Butler
Miles Manchester
Potsdam