Local Residents Will Take Part in National Anti-War Protest Over The Internet, Phone Today
WASHINGTON– Lawrence resident Arthur Brien doesn’t have a computer, but he didn’t let that stop him from participating in a virtual anti-war protest set to take place in the nation’s capital Wednesday.
A national anti-war group, Win Without War, mobilized dozens of organizations and thousands of people across the country in an attempt to flood government phone lines and e-mail in-boxes Wednesday with pleas for a peaceful resolution in Iraq. People who wanted to be part of the protest had to register at the group’s online headquarters, www.moveon.org/winwithoutwar. Brien, 72, asked a friend with a computer to sign him up and e-mail his letter to the White House.
“I heard that if we do strike, thousands of bombs will be dropped within a short period of time,” Brien said in a phone interview from his home Tuesday. “I think the bombing of a city like Baghdad is immoral. We would be needlessly killing civilians.”
That’s the type of message that protest organizers want President Bush and members of the United States Senate to hear. Protestors plan to inundate the White House and Senate offices with e-mails phone calls or faxes every minute Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Actor Martin Sheen, who plays a fictional U.S. president on the NBC television show “The West Wing,” has appeared in a Win Without War television ad, encouraging people to participate in this virtual march on Washington.
“Political leaders need to know we are serious, we are organized and we are growing in strength,” said former Maine Congressman Tom Andrews, the anti-war group’s national director. “We will let our fingers do the marching and demand that our voices be heard.”
Shelagh Foreman, program director of the Cambridge-based Massachusetts Peace Action, called the unconventional protest “clever.” She said she signed up to call Bay State Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry’s office and the White House.
“The people of the world and in this country are beginning to change and many are beginning to feel that (war) is not a wise thing to do,” she said. “Hopefully, we can make them think again.”
Foreman said she plans to target Kerry because he has changed his views on the war. Kerry had blasted the president for his “unilateral” approach to the war and said United Nations weapons inspectors should be allowed to keep doing their jobs. After Secretary of State Colin L. Powell revealed what he said was evidence that Iraq was hiding nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, Kerry said Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein should be given one last chance to disarm or face the possibility of military force. Foreman said she wants Kerry, a Vietnam veteran, to revert to his tough, anti-war position.
“We counted on him,” Foreman said. “We would like him to represent our opposition to the war.”
And what about Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy? If Foreman calls his office today, she said it would be only to thank him.
“He is standing up very courageously about a number of Bush’s foreign policies,” she said. “I feel like Kennedy is on our side. He is a leader.”
New Hampshire Sens. Judd Gregg and John Sununu, both Republicans, said their offices are prepared to handle a lot of calls and e-mails. Barbara Riley, Sununu’s communications director, said Sununu “strongly encourages” questions, comments and concerns from his constituents. Gregg, too, said that he always encourages residents to contact him and that Wednesday was no exception.
“I value the opinion of every Granite Stater who expresses their point of view regarding the possibility of armed conflict in Iraq and all other issues,” Gregg said in a statement Tuesday.
Both Sununu and Gregg have been staunch supporters of the Bush administration’s position on Iraq.
Published in The Lawrence Eagle Tribune, in Massachusetts.
