Protesters mark anniversary of Iraq war with local rallies
By MAUREEN BYRNE AHERN
Published March 21, 2004
[Times photo: Chris Zuppa]
From left, Flo Felicione, Raymond Simmons, Cookie Pinson and Safar Gorgzadeh, all of Tampa, protest on Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa the war in Iraq and what they say is poor media coverage of the Bush administration.
ST. PETERSBURG - Jeff Myers said he didn't think he'd be doing this again - protesting a war.
But there he was, 33 years later, talking to about 250 people at a peace rally Saturday afternoon at Crescent Lake Park in St. Petersburg.
Myers, 59, was an Army artillery officer during the Vietnam War. He said he had orders to go to Vietnam in 1971, but he never went. Instead, he resigned his commission and requested a discharge as a conscientious objector.
Now, he said, he's objecting to the war that his 27-year-old son is fighting in Iraq.
"I think history has proved that we were right in opposing that war and I think history will prove that we are right in opposing this war," Myers said.
Myers, a resident of St. Petersburg and a member of Veterans for Peace, was the keynote speaker at the two-hour rally, one of 150 protests planned Saturday in cities across the country and the world calling for an end to the occupation of Iraq.
Marking one year since the bombing of Iraq began, antiwar groups throughout the United States and across the globe took to the streets Saturday under the banner "The World Still Says No to War." The rallies were sponsored by United for Peace and Justice, a coalition of more than 650 local and national groups that oppose the Bush administration's policies in Iraq.
"There is nothing like the solidarity we feel when we are saying no together to this atrocity," organizer Linda Hubner, a 53-year-old Quaker who lives in St. Petersburg, told the crowd.
Some people sat in lawn chairs in the shade of oak trees, listening to speakers and musicians. Others carried signs with messages saying "United Nations Best Hope for Peace in Iraq" and "Patriot Act - Bigger Threat to Freedom than Terrorists."
The protesters carried those placards and others on Fourth Street N as they walked along one of St. Petersburg's busiest roads. Motorists honked and waved to the long line of people.
Not everyone who came to Crescent Park shared the protesters' views.
"Man, did I ever come to the park at the wrong time," said St. Petersburg resident Carole Hall.
Refuge Ministries' Rev. Bruce Wright, 42, caught up with Hall as she walked away from the rally. After asking reporters not to talk to her because the media favors her point of view, Wright and Hall engaged in a heated conversation.
"The man has done a tremendous job," Hall, 62, said of President Bush. "If only they would remember 9/11."
Antiwar protesters also gathered Saturday in Tampa to protest the media's coverage of the war in Iraq. Drivers slowed along Kennedy Boulevard during the lunch hour to read signs waved outside the headquarters of WTVT-TV Ch. 13, the local Fox affiliate.
"Bush lies, troops die," said one sign. "War is good for ratings, bad for people," said another. And: "Fox is the real weapon on mass destruction."
Organizers said they picked the Fox affiliate because the station sits along a busy thoroughfare. They said they did not single out the network's war coverage from other reports.
Spurred by honks from passersby, about 60 demonstrators appealed for better media coverage of the war in Iraq. The Tampa Interfaith Peace With Justice Network organized the rally.
"Today is the year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, and we're very concerned about the role of the media in democracy," said John Arnaldi, 52, of Tampa, an organizer with the Society of Friends, a Quaker group. "We believe the media has let the American people down."
Arnaldi passed out fliers asking a dozen questions of the media - from the connection between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein to whether President Bush lied to people about Iraq hiding weapons of mass destruction.
Linda Griffin, who lives in St. Petersburg and works at a mortgage office, attended the event in St. Petersburg. It was her first peace rally, she said, and she wanted to send a message to her 4-year-old son.
"I'm a mother and I see something I want to promote," Griffin, 34, said.
- Times staff writer Letitia Stein contributed to this report.
