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...revisited.
From Andi's World:
Wednesday night, I attended a Support Our Troops demonstration, which was held in front of the White House and hosted by FreeRepublic. It was intended to counter the Cindy Sheehan candlelight vigil, and it was quite an event.Kevin is a double amputee, the result of combat in Iraq. Mrs G wrote about him here.After running the gauntlet of approximately 300 MoveOns, CodePinks and other various and sundry anti-war types, I finally reached the staging area for the FReepers, which was about thirty or so feet away from the "vigil". In the photo below you see someone holding a flag, this was one of two that we counted. MoveOn could assemble 300 people, but only two flags.
Once I was in friendly territory, I met Kevin Pannell, an OIF Veteran, and his bride-to-be, Cindy. Both are amazing individuals. Kevin was in great demand by the media, as well as the Sheehan supporters, who couldn't wait to approach him and ask him if the war was worth it. I recorded part of a conversation Kevin had with one of the more polite anti-war types.
"When I signed up, it was knowing that this might happen. I knew that. I wasn't forced to sign up." Kevin continued, "Saddam was a shi**y dog and needed to be thrown out."
The gentleman went on to ask Kevin if he thought that war was inevitable, and if he thought there would be more of it in the future.
"Yeah, oh yeah" says Kevin and he went on to explain why we're not speaking German at this very moment.
Be sure to read the whole thing at Andi's (with pictures).
Update: More story and photos at Free Republic - the group that organized the counter demonstration. Among other things you'll see a photo of Kevin Pannell being interviewed by Dana Milbank of the Washington Post. Note that Pannell was not the leader or organizer of the group - thus Milbank's finished story is a bit misleading:
That's what worries Kevin Pannell, whose knot of a dozen conservative counterdemonstrators was outnumbered 50 to 1 on Pennsylvania Avenue last night. Pannell, part of the Army's First Cavalry Division, lost both calves in Iraq last year when his patrol was ambushed in a grenade attack. He said he had never been to a political rally before, but he is worried about Sheehan's ability to spark an antiwar movement."Worried"? I didn't get that impression of this combat vet, but Milbank uses it twice. An interesting choice of quotes, too."She's stirred up a wasps' nest," he said, leaning on a flagpole to support his prosthetic legs. "It's definitely getting bigger. They're getting a little out of hand."
