Gathering of Eagles After Action Report
Posted on March 19, 2007
I was proud to have flown to the capital Friday to represent STACLU and CourtZero at the Gathering of Eagles this weekend in Washington, D.C. As most of you know, the stated purpose of GOE was to stand guard at memorials in D.C., particularly the Vietnam War Memorial during “the anti-war” (and anti-a very long list of other things) protests March 17, 2007. I put anti-war in quotes for good reason; listening to the rants and speeches at the ANSWER event, it was clear that a war that would result in, say, the death of President Bush and Vice-president Cheney and the physical destruction of American-owned oil companies, to name a couple of things, would be a fine and wonderful thing to those people. A few claim to be against “all war”. Frankly, I do not believe them.
But most importantly, it can be said of the stated purpose of the GOE: Mission Complete. It was around 1130 on Saturday that I realized it: the Eagles were there in superior numbers, and any attempts to harm the memorials would be brief and one-sided. The Wall is secure.
So Mission Complete. I write those words instead of “mission accomplished” because Mission Complete means that a certain objective has been achieved (protecting the Wall and stirring the long dormant voice of patriotic veterans) and still carried implicit the fact that there are more missions ahead. I would be quite surprised if there was not a GOE2 before too long.
I exited the Farragut West Metro stop and walked down 18th Street. When I reached the area around the Vietnam Memorial, this is what I first saw:
That line of flags had a whole bunch of GOE people behind them. This was the GOE area proper, but I was soon to find that as large as that crowd was, there were many, many more.
Barely down the path, I ran into Michelle Malkin. She was friendly and kind enough to allow this picture of her and myself. By the way, Michelle’s coverage of GOE at her website is the best and most comprehensive that I’ve seen. Mrs. Malkin, thank you for the photo and for putting your shoe-leather where your mouth is on GOE!
Making my way past the Wall, it was hard to miss how big the line was. Those wanting to pay their respect at the Wall seemed almost exclusively to be with GOE.
I made my way to the area adjacent to the Lincoln Memorial where I finally found some of the ANSWER protesters. I had heard them up to that point, or at least I’d heard their sampling of what I supposed is described as “world music”, but had not seen anything resembling a crowd. When I found them, I was truly amazed. I had expected, based in part upon the GOE headcount petition, that we wouldn’t have many there.
I was wrong.
As they say, it was intuitively obvious to the casual observer that there were more Eagles at this anti-war protest than there were anti-war protesters. The Eagles stood on a stone wall and the grass at the edge of the Lincoln Memorial. Across the street (I came to think of it as “the sunken road”) from them were the protesters. Che shirts, bandanas over faces, and Palestinian flags; check, check, and check. Standard anti-war protest issue gear all present.
[I am sorry for getting this up so late in the day. I'll have more pictures, and audio from a call I just made about GOE with my local talk station at CourtZero later tonight. In the meantime, please listen in to my i-radio show at BlogTalkRadio about GOE that starts in mere moments, at 6:00 p.m. eastern. You can listen and call in by following this link.]
UPDATE: I’ve added more pictures and some other links at CourtZero. I invite you read the rest of my post by clicking here. Thanks.
–ArrMatey
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12 Responses to “Gathering of Eagles After Action Report”
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Question: what was the ratio of our pro-military “Gathering of Eagles” guys to the anti-Vietnam War retreads “protesting” the Iraq War?
According to comment made at Confederate Yankee, the ratio was 10:1 in favor of the pro-American, pro-military Gathering of Eagles. The reason that I ask is that I had thought that was about the ratio. So the question is: how in the world could not the “mainstream media” report that fact???????
I’m not going to go out on a limb enough to make an estimate on that. I do know that there were at least some Vietnam vets who were on the protest side (I rode into town on a bus and metro with an older [than me] couple who were in hippie uniform and the man carried a VVAW bag. I’m sure there were some, if not several of them. The majority, however, of the anti-war protesters seemed to be either professional protesters, geniune paleo-hippies, neo-hippies, or the grandchildren of paleo-hippies, code-pink members, imams, or college students. Just my andecdotal observation.
Most of the Eagles seemed to be of the Vietnam era, but there was a good mix of younger and older. They stood on the side where we don’t hope for America’s defeat, destruction, and humiliation.
A caller on the Mark Levin show said that he heard the ratio was 3:1 in favor of the Gathering of Eagles. Same question still applies about the media reporting.
Another caller on the Mark Levin show reports that the anti-war people were recirculating so as to give the appearance of larger numbers. So that may account for the different ratio numbers given.
Well done arrMatey, excellent report!
I’d have never imagined seeing a counter-protest that exceeded the anti’s numbers.
It took 40 years but I can say I’ve seen it.
FreeRepublic, Michelle Malkin, AR15.com and other Milblogs were stating the 3:1 ratio or 30,000 to 10,000.
It was quite an honor to be amongst all the veterans who have served our country. We are at war, we need to support the men and women of the armed forces who are putting their lives on the line for us to enjoy the freedoms we have at home. To have the gathering of eagles and stand united to support our troops; every American should thank a soldier every chance they get!
I want to say it took 40 years but several of us Vietnam vets finally felt closure.
Yes, the eagles did soar and they soared high. These pathetic protesters were outnumbered,
outprotested and generally put down. As the Park Police, themselves mostly vets said, that the police were there not to protect us from them but to protect the moonbats from us.
I came with a two bus contingent from Jacksonville NC, made up mostly of Rolling Thunder
members and Purple Heart members.I can honestly say that I came away from the event more
patriotic than before, my wife didn’t think that was possible.
Our take on the count was more like 3or4 to 1 ratio.
Semper Fi
As I traveled to DC from Florida on Friday through snow and ice, I was worried that I might be one of a few, but I had to come. On Saturday morning at 07:48 I arrived at The Wall to see a sight that made me proud, Eagles as far as your could see.
Like those Vietnam Veterans before me, when I came home 09/66 I was greeted by the same caliber of individual that I saw protesting Saturday. I believe they were carrying some of the same signs. This time it was different. I just wish my brother Dennis, also a Marine, could have been there to witness the changing of the guard.
Now we need to keep the Eagles flying and ensure that never again do the Moveon.org, Answer and Code Pink dictate our countries policy.. Semper Fi
on these 30,000 figures, the 10-1 ratio claims …
simply put, you lie.
I was there. VVAW. Rough estimate, 3-1 anti-war vs. pro-war.
Post some photos that show both groups … that show GOE en masse, instead of this family-outing shots you seem to want to claim show “thousands”.
On the overall issue - 60-70% (and grfowing) of the adult United states populace has concluded that this war is a m istyake, a fiasco, a failure, a tragedy. The mythy of the ’silent majority” died int he 70’s along with the Nixon administration.
It’s time to pull the thumbs of your foam-rubber “we’re number one!” fingers out of your ignorant [edited]and face reality , you pathetic chicken-hawks. War isn’t a “300″ CGI production. Grow up and stop lobbying for mroe detah, for wasting more american lives to save the face of the Republican Party and promolgate your silly hippie-commie-pinko-traitor myths about anyone who disagrees with you.
“SUPPORT the troops”? You don’t know how (or why). Try “SAVE THE TROOPS” for a change. Bring them home NOW.
You ARE losers, you know. Do you understand that at all? This country (all of us, mind you - this IS a demmocracy, after all, where everbody, regardless of which way they vote, bears their portion of responsibilty for all national actions - LOST its war against Vietnam’s unification. Now you sad, wounded, deluded fools are trying to re-write history so as to convince yourselves it was really some perfidous “stab in the back” that caused that (after all America NEVER loses, right?). This is the way Luddendorff and Hitler sold THAT myth to the Germans in the 1920’s. This sort of Big Lie is straight out of that playbook. You must be so proud you learned Joseph Goebbel’s lessons so well.
Promoiting the extension of this lost and wrongful war you do your country and its honored dead more than a dis-service. You essentially betray it. And this to what purpose? to satisfy your own corrupt egos.
Shameful.
Weak, dishonest and shameful.
**********************
edited for profanity rather than for stupidity
Re. “JTG Says:
March 21st, 2007 at 11:34 pm”
I’ve read a dozen accounts of this anti-war protest and the great pro-American counter protest, and was amused to read JTG’s rant and realize how perfectly JTG has epitomized the contrast between these two groups that was consistently pointed out in the articles and after action reports.
I’m always taken aback by the haste and consistency with which people claiming to be members of VVAW resort to hateful, vitriolic attacks on anyone who doesn’t share their dogma, and by their propensity to engage in mindless name-calling and profanity as though it strengthened their flawed arguments.
If JTG would check the statistics from real polls (the ones that aren’t funded by G. Soros and associates) then JTG would know that 60-70% of Americans believe it would be a catastrophic mistake to leave Iraq before it’s government is capable of protecting it’s borders and culture. Fully 70-80% of Americans want to pursue winning the war as opposed to setting a schedule to leave, without regard for conditions on the ground. JTG would probably also learn that Soros is a “self-proclaimed†Socialist, and that support for A.N.S.W.E.R. comes from a broad assortment of Communist and Socialist organizations. …Perhaps it’s time for JTG to “grow upâ€, (…or at least, wise up).
Is JTG a Vietnam Vet? I, of course, have no way of knowing for sure, but reading JTG’s diatribe leaves me with considerable doubt. John F. Kerry is a Vietnam Vet, after all, in spite of his treasonous activities in ’73. John Murtha is also a vet, in spite of his continued seditious activities in Congress, so it is without prejudice that I can believe that JTG is just plain wrong, whether a Vietnam Vet or not.
I’d remind JTG that the United States of America is indeed NOT a democracy, but a representative republic. If we were a democracy, Al Gore would have become President in 2000, and JTG’s wishes would have come true. No meaningful action would likely have been taken against a sworn enemy that attacked us at least five times without a meaningful response during Gore’s Vice Presidency, prior to September 11, 2001.
I’d also point out that JTG’s assessment of the war in Vietnam is grossly inaccurate, in that the war was not “lost†by the United States of America, it was forfeited by the actions of a Democrat Congress to defund it. Even though elements of Saloth Sar’s Khmer Rouge (as well as Osama bin Laden) have since pointed out that the Tet Offensive was failing against our troops, the Democrat Congress willingly snatched a defeat from the jaws of victory for perceived personal gains in temporary political advantage. Their action was with total disregard for the predictable consequence of the tragic massacre of over 2.5 million Cambodian and South Vietnamese men, women and children. So, “no†JTG,“we†are not all losers. The Democrat Congress of that era, as well as those who gave aid and comfort to the enemy as you are doing now, have earned that title exclusively for them selves. The current Democrat Congress seems determined to repeat that same lack of judgement in the war on terror, …and JTG has obviously chosen of free will to join with them in owning the Iraq war loss and title of “looserâ€, should they be successful in their defunding attempts.
Although my first response to JTG’s comments was anger, I now realize that JTG has provided a valuable service to all that read his rant and ultimately to the cause of exposing the anti-American left as they are.
I find it appropriate that JTG signed his rant as he did because it truly is weak, dishonest and shameful.
God Bless our Troops!
Confusion to the Enemy!
(both foreign and domestic!)
Steve Trulove
The following is spin and not true. The citizens spoke very clearly in the November 7, 2006 elections that they want a change of direction. That is the best pole of all. And most American know that the “catastrophic mistake” was Bush taking his eye off Osama Bin Forgotten and going into Iraq in the first place. And yes, I am a Viet Nam veteran, Regular Army, Airborne, Viet Nam 1967-1968.
“If JTG would check the statistics from real polls (the ones that aren’t funded by G. Soros and associates) then JTG would know that 60-70% of Americans believe it would be a catastrophic mistake to leave Iraq before it’s government is capable of protecting it’s borders and culture. Fully 70-80% of Americans want to pursue winning the war as opposed to setting a schedule to leave, without regard for conditions on the ground. JTG would probably also learn that Soros is a “self-proclaimed†Socialist, and that support for A.N.S.W.E.R. comes from a broad assortment of Communist and Socialist organizations. …Perhaps it’s time for JTG to “grow upâ€, (…or at least, wise up).”
Thank you, Terry DuBose, for your service to the United States of America. I salute you.
Ours is still a country that allows you and I to disagree without either of us fearing persecution or execution. Few nations exist on the planet that allow that freedom.
So, are you saying that if the policy would have been to stay the course in Afghanistan and concentrate solely on killing or capturing bin Laden, Sadam Hussein would have decided to take the first sixteen United Nations resolutions seriously, and there would have been no need for the seventeenth, or the subsequent invasion?
…Somehow I find that difficult to believe, but that really isn’t the point now, is it?
We are now engaged, in spite of the reasons why or whether we agree or disagree with them.
Our Nation now has two options: Win, or retreat. My preference is to win and not repeat the mistake of abandoning the Iraqi people as we abandoned the Cambodian and South Vietnamese people.
If the message that was clearly sent by the American electorate was to cut and run, the Democrats would have offered legislation to defund the war, instead of wasting seven weeks of a Congressional session debating a “NON-BINDING resolution” which is no more than a political statement.
I think I’ll continue to put more stock in my sources of “spin” than your sources of “spin”.
Cheers,
Steve Trulove