Peaceful Protesters Arrested In Washington

Apparently it's OK for a pro-war president to pray inside the White House, but it's not OK for anti-war citizens to pray outside on the sidewalk. As the Washington Post reports:

Dozens of demonstrators, many of them Christian peace activists, were arrested outside the White House late last night and early this morning as part of a protest against the war in Iraq.

About 11:30 p.m., police began handcuffing the first of about 100 protesters who had assembled on the White House sidewalk to pray in a planned act of civil disobedience.
...

Protest leaders said they still expect tens of thousands of people for the march, which will begin at 12:30 p.m. north of the Lincoln Memorial and cross the Arlington Memorial Bridge to the Pentagon's north parking lot for a rally. Organizers are tying the protest to the 40th anniversary of the 1967 march on the Pentagon against the Vietnam War, saying it represents similar public anger.

The wingnuts will be there too, spewing their old faded lies (and no doubt garnering the lion's share of the mainstream media coverage):

Members of the Gathering of Eagles group said they plan to voice support for the war and for the troops in Iraq and make sure that the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, near the war protest's starting place, is not desecrated. Antiwar demonstrators said that they, too, respect the memorial.

Organizers with Gathering of Eagles said they also will demonstrate against the protest along the march route. Many with Gathering of Eagles are Vietnam veterans or relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq.

"I've got some friends over there," said Rod Linkous of El Paso, gesturing toward the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. He served two tours in Vietnam in the 1960s and '70s.

"We defended their right to say whatever they want," Linkous, 59, said of war protesters past and present. "They have the freedom of speech. We gave that freedom by fighting and dying for it."

They've been saying the same thing for generations. The peasant rice-farmers in Vietnam were threatening our freedom of speech. Yeah, right!

Some people never learn anything. I've got a suggestion for them:

If you really support the war, then prove it -- by enlisting! And if you're not willing to do that, STFU and go home.