Arizona weather beats the hell out of Chicago weather!!!!
Now, the U.S. Veteran Dispatch announces that Rolling Thunder, the national organization dedicated to supporting veterans and their issues, will be standing guard against anti-war protesters led by Cindy Sheehan and Jane Fonda in Washington, D.C. on March 17, with other veterans from around the world.
Rolling Thunder has more than 80 chapters throughout the United States and abroad. Members are military veterans from all wars and peace-time, as well as non-military men and women who have the time and willingness to be advocates for American troops, veterans, and POW/MIAs.
"Our members will be there to protect the Wall, support our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and preserve the honor of those whose names are on the Wall and are honored at the other memorials," said Art Foss, Rolling Thunder contact at the wall.
Veterans fear the protesters will attempt to damage or deface the Vietnam War Memorial. The same protesters sprayed red paint on the Capital steps during an anti-war demonstration in January.
"We won't tolerate any destruction," said retired Air Force Col. Harry Riley. "We believe they will try to damage the wall because of their past history. We're not for a confrontation but we will be there to guard. The National Park Police will take aggressive against any attempt to damage the Wall. Still, we need to be there. It's time to fish or cut bait time. We can't allow an environment to continue that basically destroys our troops' morale."
Riley is the organizer of Gathering of Eagles, another group of veterans who also plan to be in Washington when Fonda leads her protest. Rolling Thunder is not part of Riley's group, but their mission is the similar.
Foss was stationed at the Pentagon in Washington when Fonda led the now-infamous 1967 anti-Vietnam War march, during which police arrested hundreds of Fonda followers. It was about that time that the Hollywood celebrity earned the name of "Hanoi Jane." Her latest protests against U.S. troops in the Middle East have resulted in a new name: "Jihad Jane."
"This march has the same mentality and philosophy as the one back then," Foss, a decorated Army veteran, said. "In '67, we didn't have an opposing force down there. We were all in Vietnam, or in the military stationed somewhere, when they came to Washington. They didn't have any resistance. Now, things are difference. Vietnam veterans are not about to sit back and let somebody damage any part or anything on that Wall. It's fine to have an opinion, but you can voice it without dishonoring our dead veterans -- the ones who saved your rights and privileges for what you're doing right now."
Rolling Thunder members won't attempt to prevent visitors from going to the Wall. They will react, however, to anyone carrying a can of spray paint or other item that could be used to deface the memorial.
Space around the Wall is limited and only a small percentage of the defenders will be able to guard it. Foss said police are unlikely to allow five or six organizations to be at the Wall. Protesters plan to walk past the memorial and down Henry Bacon Drive on their way to the Pentagon.
"I'm assuming that the mounted police will be up and down Henry Bacon Drive," Foss said. "The media and the camera people will be there. I'm envisioning Henry Bacon Drive being like a demarcation line. It will be interesting, to say the least."
Rolling Thunder members in the Wall's "no politics" zone will face the memorial. Those who can't fit into that area will stand along Henry Bacon Dr. facing the street and the protesters as they march by. Only a small space will physically separate the two groups. That proximity could result in protesters and Rolling Thunder members clashing.
"It's going to be sticky," Foss said. "We're not going there looking for trouble. We're going to protect the memorials, and the Wall, from anybody trying to desecrate it. We will keep the honor intact for all those that the memorials stand for."
And while Rolling Thunder members won't be "looking for trouble," that might be exactly what they find if protesters follow their past practices of goading and taunting veterans. Foss is cautioning members to leave knives, guns or other weapons at home. Anyone who ignores his advice could end up spending time in the Washington, D.C. jail, he said.
A large number of buses carrying Rolling Thunder members from across the country will be converging on Washington for the event. Other members will arrive on motorcycles, in cars, vans and planes. A caravan is driving from California. Still, Foss is reluctant to predict how many will attend.
"It could be 5,000. It could be 50,000," he said. "A lot of people say they're coming but enthusiasm sometimes wanes when the time gets closer."
Many Rolling Thunder members are also members of the VFW, American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America, Military Order of the Purple Heart and other veteran organizations. The word has spread through those groups, which also expect to be present.
Foss is asking for all interested veterans and concerned citizens to meet and organize at the Lincoln Memorial at 8 a.m. on March 17. He hopes the assembly will be similar to the annual Memorial Day gathering when thousands of Rolling Thunder members appear in Washington.
"We'll have wall-to-wall people in there," he said. "We need to let our troops know we're right here opposing these idiots opposing them."
For more information on Rolling Thunder, visit the organization's Web site at www.rollingthunder1.com and the U.S. Veteran Dispatch Eagle message board.
With the liberal Democrats in congress and the senate doing everything in their power to demoralize our troops and embolden the enemy and Hanoi Jane and her group of merry anti-military morons, not only protesting, which is their right, but also defacing the capital, which is NOT their right, we have brave veterans from the past and present, their families and their supporters countering with the moral support our troops have asked for and have not received from our politicians nor the MSM that will report only what feeds their agenda instead of reporting all the news coming out of Iraq, good and bad.
Good for them.
For example, the NYT reports that 9 US Soldiers died in Iraq, they do not show you that members of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team and the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division conducted security operations with their Iraqi counterparts and reported no hostile contact for a second day in an area known to be a stronghold of Muqtada Al Sadr, the extremist leader of rogue elements known for extrajudicial killings and attacks against coalition forces. Some residents seemed genuinely pleased to see the troops arrive, as small children were seen smiling and waving to coalition forces.
They do not show you that Baghdad Soldiers, together with Iraqi security forces uncovered more than 10 times the number of mortar rounds and small arms ammunition this week, thanks in large part to several large cache finds southwest of the Iraqi capital.
More than 21,000 small arms rounds were confiscated this week, up from 2,160 the previous week; while 937 mortar rounds were discovered, up from 89 the week before.
“Our operations are denying terrorists and extremist elements the ability to wage war against innocent Iraqi citizens and our own forces,” said Brig. Gen. John F. Campbell, deputy commanding general for maneuver for MND-B. “Together with our Iraqi counterparts, we continue the effort to provide a lasting peace here in Baghdad.”
Noting the impact of the arrival of U.S. and Iraqi troops into Baghdad to implement the new security plan, Campbell pointed to the districts of Adhamiyah and Sadr City as recent success stories, based on the decrease in the number of attacks in those areas.
In December, the two eastern Baghdad districts accounted for 440 total attacks, which include small arms fire, improvised explosive device explosions and sectarian murders. From Feb. 5 through March 5 this year, however, Campbell said those attacks dropped to 91.
“Over the past month, there were 18 small arms attacks and 19 murders,” Campbell said. “That is a dramatic decrease from December totals of 116 and 254, respectively.”
Read the rest and ask yourself why THIS isn" t told to you and why congress is still trying to force defeat now that we are seeing tremendous successes and progress being made.
More importantly, ask THEM why they refuse to show you all and only show you part of the truth.
If you are interested in all the news, not just what fits with your particular agenda politically, keep track of our troops successes and progress yourself over at Centcom and understand the nature of our MSM and democratic politicians that prefer you only see the bad, which also, is yet another way they have found to deliberately demoralize our soldiers.
(NOTE: Blogging will be light until I get some of my unpacking done and thanks again to the wonderful contributors for thier excellent posts while I was gone.)
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