GI deaths raise anti-war sentiment
By
Martha Grevatt
Cleveland
Published Aug 10, 2005 10:20 PM
The Cleveland metropolitan
area remains in shock after 20 Ohio Marines, 14 from this area, recently died in
Iraq. Public outpourings of grief have taken a variety of forms, from anonymous
flowers to Sunday sermons. Funerals and memorials have brought out tens of
thousands who never knew the men who died.
Aug. 6 counter-recruitment protester.
|
Public anger about the
Marines’ deaths, however, is by and large not directed at the Iraqi
people. Rather, it’s aimed at President George W. Bush.
Local TV
news polls show 68 percent opposed to Bush’s handling of the Iraq
war.
The father of Augie Schroder, one of the Marines killed, openly
blasted the Bush administration and the Democrats who voted for the war.
Schroder’s mother said, “I didn’t raise my son to be cannon
fodder.”
U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones has called for an end to
the war.
It was against this backdrop that 80 youths and their supporters
engaged in a counter-recruiting action Aug. 6 outside a military recruiting
station. Many had joined the demonstration after getting a leaflet at their high
school. Others joined in off the street.
Honks of support were non-stop,
not only from motorists but from bus drivers and truck drivers on the job. The
recruiting office was open—but no one signed up during the
protest.
The demonstration was organized by Stop Recruitment in Cleveland,
a project of the Northeast Ohio Antiwar Coalition.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email:
[email protected]
Subscribe
[email protected]
Support independent news
DONATE