Peace Marchers Make Their Way To Fort Drum
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Iraq war protesters from across upstate New York, who’ve been on the road for a few days, are marching closer to their destination - Fort Drum.
The event, New York State Marches for Peace, began May 8 with people walking from as far away as Rochester, Utica and Ithaca.
They’ve made their way through many towns and villages before meeting up in Pulaski to continue their march to Fort Drum.
Some of them stopped at the Different Drummer Café in downtown Watertown.
“These communities have been very warm and welcoming to us. People come out, you can tell they’re in pain, they want someone to talk to, they want someone that understands,” said peace marcher Nathan Lewis.
The marchers said they aren’t protesting against the troops, just the policies of the war in Iraq.
Their goal is to reach out to the soldiers and their families when it comes to health care and other support.
“We’re here to honor their service and their sacrifice. Being one of those soldiers myself, I’m an Iraq vet, I by no means am protesting my brothers and sisters in the service,” said peace marcher Eli Wright.
The marchers will hold a rally Saturday, which is Armed Forces Day.
The event will be held from 1 to 7 p.m. at the Black Water River Park & Campgrounds at 1605 Huntington Street in Watertown.
There will be information booths, music and food.
See our report:
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12 Responses to “Peace Marchers Make Their Way To Fort Drum”
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I believe if any one is protesting that is unpatriiotic, it maybe their right but they need to protest smething else, like the right to privacy. There will always be wars and no one can stop that.
bring home the soldiers make pease over there can we send back all the ones that dont belong in usa
I no longer live in Watertown, but this makes me sick. I do not see the point of marching to Fort Drum. It is an insult to march towards the soldiers and their homes against the war. Soldiers do as they are told, they take orders. If these so called “peace” marchers want to march- go to Washington. My husband did his tour in Iraq and if I were still in Watertown, I would be very annoyed with the march. Soldiers and families have other means to “reach out” and do not need thos group to do so. They are only hurting people, not helping.
Thank them for what they are doing. I would like to see more people march and end all wars we the USA do not have to be in them all. Time for a break and to help real things in the world like New orleans, China.
The peace marchers’ festival was an enormous success. The weather forced us back indoors, but many attended. The Watertown Vet Center, a VA outreach counseling clinic, joined us with an information table. We had a GI benefits information booth. There was live music, clowns, & balloons for the kids. Elliott Adams, national president of Veterans For Peace, attended. The NY TIMES covered the march, and all the local media, Channel 7, the Watertown TIMES, were very thorough and positive in their coverage. We were able to demonstrate how much we support our troops, especially Fort Drum, and how much we want them all home, safe & sound - NOW - and cared for when they get here. 175 local troops have died. This community, our home, has paid a horrible price for the wrongful actions of a few powerful Washington politicians.
Our local chapter of Veterans For Peace is happy to debate those who disagree. We’ve given 200 free phone cards to Syracuse VA patients, helped pass NY State’s depleted uranium (the “new Agent Orange”) GI health bill, informed VA headquarters of 4000 PTSD support groups nationwide, started 5 such groups near Drum, arranged PTSD training for area police, and helped lower every county vets’ property tax. We honor the Warrior - NOT the war! Our critics have mostly done little more than buy a $2 “Support Our Troops” bumper sticker. We serve America again by serving the cause of peace.
I wish people like this would get it through their thick skulls that it is a slap in the face to these soldiers when they protest this war. They are diminishing what the men and women of the military are doing over there. They need to stop following the EXTREMELY biased media and start listening to the voices of the men and women who have served in Iraq and have seen what the Iraqi people have to endure on a daily basis. My husband has been to Iraq twice from Ft. Drum since this war started. He is about to deploy for a year to Iraq to work with the Iraqi military. He has told me (as well as other countless soldiers) that we need to be there. I have not been to Iraq, so I take HIS word for it. I do not listen to the fools (Democrats) who have not been over there.
I walked in one leg of this march, not to protest the troops, but to protest the war. It was undertaken with the cooperation and sponsorship of an organization consisting of Iraq War veterans, who know more than any civilian could possibly know how wrong the war is. As far as patriotism is concerned, I think the most patriotic thing any American can do is try to make America the best it can be, and to alert other Americans to the fact that, even though our country has done some very wrong things in the last eight years or so, the fault doesn’t lie with our country itself, but with the people who are currently running it (into the ground).
It’s like having a friend who has a drug or alcohol addiction problem (America has an oil addiction problem): a true friend tries to help their friend overcome this problem, instead of just ignoring it.
I will say this again: YOU CAN NOT PROTEST THIS WAR AND SUPPORT THE TROOPS! Nobody, and I mean nobody is buying that false patriotism. The president did what he needed to. He acted on information being fed to him. Just like these people who say we should not be there. That is not truly their opinion. They are not intelligent enough to form an opinion of their own. They need to go by the total crap the morons on CNN spew out day after day. My husband is right. The media NEVER shows the Iraqi people walking around thanking they for what they are doing for them.
There were no weapons of mass destruction and Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Saddam Hussein, although he was a very bad guy, couldn’t stand Osama bin Laden, and neither could bin Laden stand Hussein. The people of Iraq did absolutely nothing to the people of the United States. Over a million Iraqis (several million more have been turned into refugees), including women and children, have died in this war, this war which was never declared a war. How did that happen, anyway, when only Congress, according to the Constitution, can declare war?
Patriotism isn’t supporting a particular war or a particular President or Vice President or political administration, instead it’s supporting the Constitution, which is the core of our country, and, since our Constitution is one of the most remarkable documents in history, no matter how low our country has fallen, it’s core is still good, so, if we try, we can bring our country back to us.
Polls have been taken in Iraq, with the poll results indicating that the majority of Iraqis want the US to leave. That is the real crux of this situation: it’s their country and they want us out of there. It’s not our decision to make.
What truly puzzles me is why so many people still think that ending the war and bringing the troops home safely is tantamount to not supporting the troops. Why is this? Why is disagreeing with the justness of the war the same thing as not supporting the troops?
I want the troops home, safe and sound. I want them to get medical and financial help when they get here, if they need it. I want Congress to fund the war only to the extent of providing enough money to bring the troops home. That would not be abandoning the troops at all. Instead, it would see to it that they were home with their families, and I don’t see what’s wrong with that.
Perhaps the problem with some peoples’ reaction to this peace march is the fact that they transmogrify the word “peace” into “protest” in their minds, and, since the word “protest” has to most people negative connotations, they think of the march as being “against” instead of “for.” The reality of it is that New York State Marches for Peace is exactly what it purports to be: a march “for” peace, as opposed to “against” war.
So is being pro-peace really a bad thing? I certainly hope not.
I noticed the “peace” marchers did not actually go to Fort Drum. Something tells me despite the ignorance of these marchers, they know full well they are not welcome on military bases. They are doing this for attention. Nothing else. I have yet to hear a soldier ask for people to slap them in the face by protesting this war.
The emotions behind some voices in this conversation, forces me to be kind and end my part in it. Having served 10 years during Vietnam, I know a bad war when I see it. I also have no wish to rent space in the heads of those forced to fight this one, or their loved ones. The sense of betrayal the war’s supporters will feel in a few years, when they see they were lied to by the politicians and the generals, will be horrid enough, and by then I hope to be working with the Gandhi Institute/ -Veterans for Peace project to help heal the nation when the war’s over. We only have 535,000 active troops, & 300,000 PTSD cases, 320,000 traumatic brain injuries, 43,000 medically unfit troops sent back into combat in the 5 years since the declaration of “Mission Accomplished”, 40,000 deserters, 80,000 troops “stop-lossed”, 600,000 vets waiting an average 6 months to get disability help, etc. Do the math. After 6+1/2 yrs., we only control 30% of Afghanistan. History has shown no democracy changes its mind again once it turns its back on a war (70% oppose it now), and no outside power has ever won a land war in Asia. We failed twice (only one at a time), with a draft, Korea a bloody stalemate & Vietnam a 10 yr. collapse. The Iraqi defense minister says he needs us 10 more years, but we’d need a draft in 5, to”win” our Iraq & Afghan wars. We almost tore America apart over Vietnam, & a new draft would surely do it this time. In Vietnam we won the battles but lost the war. Some of you will “win” the shouting matches now, until it’s too late. VAYAN CON DIOS!
I have a son in the Army for 12 years,he has been to Bosnia twice, and Iraq.
He hates the war. How many families split up because of the many months they have to leave the spouce and children. For WHAT to change a country whom don’t want change. WHY do we keep forcing the issue. Korea hates us there. They all hate us why? Have you ever in your life had someone try to make you change the way of your life? Kill your neighbors maybe by accident? Tell me you would want them around. Screw them. We can take care of our poor here. Defend our country here! Pay to rebuild OUR country. Pay for our over drawn deficit.
You don’t remember Viet-Nam? What did we do but kill our people and spend our money for WHAT? YOU are fools to believe our Government. It’s all a game with our people………