Photographs by David Doonan


On the war's anniversary, a call for troops to return
Hundreds gather at the Capitol for speeches, march down State Street

By MARC PARRY, Staff writer
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First published: Monday, March 19, 2007
ALBANY -- A peace march convened to protest the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war drew hundreds of people to the state Capitol on Sunday, many of them wearing names of fallen soldiers to illustrate the conflict's human cost.
But the name on Vincent DiMura's red parka was more than a symbol. DiMura marched in honor of his grandson, Sgt. David Fisher of Watervliet. A Humvee crash near Baghdad killed Fisher over two years ago. He was 21.

"It really does our hearts good to see all these people," said DiMura, 71, of Colonie. "I think it's really going to make a difference and help us get out of this war."

Sunday's march drew leaders of churches and mosques, kids and seniors, seasoned activists and first-time demonstrators. One woman came on stilts. One man carried a trombone. One elderly lady wore a sign that read, "A Nun for Peace."

All of them rallied outside the Capitol's snow-submerged east steps for an hour of speeches before marching down State Street to the federal building. The local gathering represented one small link in an international chain of demonstrations organized to protest an escalating war now entering its fifth year. The official anniversary is Tuesday.

A similar march in Albany drew about 200 people last year. Looking down from the Capitol steps, activist Joe Lombardo of Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace put this year's crowd total at more than 1,000 people. Looking up from City Hall, an Albany police officer observing the same scene from his horse offered a more modest estimate of 200 to 400.

Whatever the crowd's size, Dorleen Ehrlich was thrilled to be part of it. The Troy first-grade teacher came alone, finally frustrated enough to take her anger about the war into the streets for the first time. The sight of fellow protesters who depend on walkers and canes, yet came out anyway, moved Ehrlich so much she wanted to hug them.

"It's not really a lot," said Ehrlich, 53, "but it's just a good feeling to be able to do something."

Ehrlich stood not far from a much younger protester whose rabble-rousing resume ran much deeper than hers. Dave Oehl threw eggs at the limousine during President Bush's first inauguration. He got arrested outside the Republican National Convention in New York City four years later. On Sunday, he came prepared with a trombone.

"I think I'm just going to play some loud elephant-like noises," the 29-year-old University at Albany graduate student said. "I think it's unfair that the Republicans have usurped the elephant as a symbol, since elephants are really cool."

Another younger protester -- this one 7 years old -- wielded two signs. It took a little prompting from his great-aunt, Kim Knapp, for little Phoenix Humbert to articulate his views on the war.

"You want all the soldiers to do what?" Knapp, 49, said. "Get out of Iraq," replied the boy from Fulton County.

Suzanne MacDaniel, aunt of the late Sgt. Fisher, was the last speaker to address the crowd. She played a song called "I Salute You," the same song mourners heard at Fisher's funeral at St. Brigid's Church in Watervliet.

"Every day we relive David's death," said MacDaniel, 41, a clerk in Colonie Town Court. "Every day a soldier dies. That hurts us because another family is going through the pain and suffering."

Marc Parry can be reached at 454-5057 or by e-mail at mparry (at) timesunion.com


All Times Union materials copyright 1996-2007, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.

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03/19/2007
Peace rally marks war anniversary
By: Ryan T. Fitzpatrick , The Record

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ALBANY - Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at the steps of the Capitol Sunday afternoon to mark the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq and to call for withdrawing U.S. troops from the conflict.
Speakers ranging from peace activists to war veterans and labor representatives spoke in front of the Capitol and then led the protesters through downtown to the U.S. Federal Building, where participants were encouraged to leave letters for their senators.
"They are partially responsible for these deaths, and we want to make that very, very clear," said Joe Lombardo, a member of Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace, who led the rally.
Jon Millantz, a former Army combat medic and Iraq war veteran, spoke about how the war changed his life and how he found support with Veterans For Peace after nearly drinking himself to death when he returned home.
"I'd probably be dead right now if I didn't join this group," said Millantz. "I initially joined the Army to help people, and I hurt a lot more people than I helped.
"George Bush calls Osama bin Laden at terrorist, and he talks about the Axis of Evil," he added, "but he alone has killed more people than everyone on the top 10 Most Wanted list combined."
Millantz fired up the crowd to chants of "bring them home" while demonstrators held signs that displayed pictures and information about soldiers killed in action. A large banner at the foot of the Capitol steps read, "655,000 Iraqis dead."
"We're not going to stop protesting; we're not going to stop rallying until we bring our troops home," said Millantz.
Alice Green, a former Albany mayoral candidate and director of the Center for Law and Justice, questioned how else the hundreds of billions of dollars spent to fund the war could have been used.
"If our money had been used in Albany instead, we could have hired an additional 2,000 school teachers," said Green. "This insane war that has no end is not impersonal. Yet the numbers have come to mean little to many of us. We have become anesthetized to the human and social cost of war."
May Saffar, an Iraqi American whose uncle was recently killed in Baghdad, described gunfire, killing and tanks in the streets of her home country.
"For them, it's 9/11 every day," said Saffar.
The rally also highlighted the antiwar efforts of college students in the Capital District. Mike Metzger from 9/11 Truth UAlbany shunned the microphone and delivered his speech through a bullhorn.
"We are a new generation, a new breed of activists," said Metzger. "This isn't just about the American troops killed in Iraq. ... Without 9/11 you wouldn't have a war in Iraq.
"I'm overwhelmed by the sense of solidarity we have here today," he added.
Some speakers drew a parallel between the war and the treatment of Muslims in the U.S. since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Demonstrators decried the recent conviction and sentencing of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain, two members of the Masjid As-Salam mosque on Central Avenue, following an FBI sting operation.
Kathy Manley, an attorney for Aref, said the imam and Hossain are also victims of the Iraq war and a "climate of fear and mistrust of our Muslim brothers and sisters." Manley read a statement Aref wrote while behind bars.
"There is no law in Iraq. There is no peace in Baghdad," the statement said. "Stop bombing us. Stop destroying our homes. Stop demolishing our schools. Stop breaking down our hospitals."
Shamshad Ahmad, president of the mosque, also condemned the treatment of Muslims in recent years.
"Our mosque and all the other mosques in the United States were put under surveillance," said Ahmad. "Actually, no real terrorists have been found."
Suzanne MacDaniel, aunt of slain Army Sgt. David Fisher of Watervliet, briefly spoke to the crowd and played the song, "I Salute You" in dedication to her nephew and other soldiers serving overseas as the crowd solemnly marched down State Street.


©The Record 2007