Call to war draws some protests

Associated Press

SEATTLE — More than a hundred anti-war protesters gathered at downtown’s Westlake Center on Saturday as about a dozen people across the street rallied in support of President Bush and his declaration of war on terrorism.

One side waved signs with sayings such as "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind."

Those on the other side — with many sporting stars and stripes on their shirts — waved American flags and signs reading "Conquer or die."

"It’s emblematic of how divided our country is," said Wayne Proctor, 33, of Seattle. He was among a group of anti-war protesters who shouted back at counterdemonstrators who were chanting "USA, USA."

Proctor noted that those calling for peace well outnumbered those across the street. But he admitted he was in a minority nationwide by rejecting a full military response to the deadly attacks that killed thousands of Americans on Sept. 11.

Those on both sides said Saturday’s protest was friendly enough. But hostility reported elsewhere has caused concern among peace activists, who are swimming against the tide of nationalistic fervor.

"Cowards!" screamed one passerby, whose license plate identified him as a Naval Academy graduate, at seven or eight anti-war demonstrators along a roadside in suburban Issaquah on Friday. "You’re all cowards."

That peace protest also drew a counterdemonstration by several dozen flag-waving people, the Eastside Journal reported.

"There’s a fear among some that speaking out for a measured, cautious, well-targeted response means that somehow one’s patriotism or love of country is being called into question," Rev. Robert Taylor, dean of St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, told a Seattle newspaper.

About 3,000 people held a peace march Wednesday from St. Mark’s to downtown St. James Cathedral, a Roman Catholic church.

Taylor says he believes Americans agree the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks should be brought to justice.

"What I’m hearing is people struggling over what it would mean to launch a war where the lives of tens of thousands or more civilians would be lost," he said.

"I have heard some thoughtful people ask: Doesn’t that put us on the same page to those who had no regard to the loss of civilian life in this country? Do we really want to be a nation that embraces ‘an eye for an eye’?"

So as the nation mobilizes for war, those who oppose responding to terrorism with more violence are mobilizing as well.

Peace movement organizers are offering introspection rather than radicalism. They say they do not wish to diminish the enormity of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but neither do they wish to support policies that result in civilian deaths elsewhere.

The protesters’ message was clear — no more deaths.

"I’m trying to keep my agenda very simple: I’m just for the end of violence," said Blair Delaubenfels, 41, of Seattle, who listened to speakers rather than shouting at the counter protesters. "I’m not pointing fingers anywhere."

But Fred Ginther, 45, of Seattle, who carried a sign reading "This is war," looks at it differently.

"I’m trying to show support for whatever course of military action deemed necessary to stem terrorism, punish those involved and avoid future incidents," he said.

Ginther and his wife hurried to Westlake Center once they heard about the peace rally. He said he wasn’t calling for war, just supporting the inevitable.

"It’s anti-patriotic not to take any military action," he said.