Anti War Movement

An American Ordeal:the Antiwar Movement of the Vietnam Era.Charles DeBenedittiwith Charles Chatfield.Syracuse University.544 pages. $49.50; $16.95 paperback.It is difficult to know where to start a review of a book on a subject that touched everyone who lived through it so profoundly: with the huge sweep of its scope, with its account of the people and organizations who shaped it, with the broader implications it draws for American society, with its impact on the reader so dependent on his or her experience during this unique era, or with the details of the historical events themselves.

Five dollars? Really? To use your own money? Wow. Bank of America's decision to impose that fee for debit card use did not precipitate the Occupy Wall Street protests. But it does seem to embody much of what has driven thousands of people to the streets, first in the New York financial center and now in Boston, Los Angeles, Baltimore and other cities across the nation. The fee carried an odor of pecuniary pettiness not dispelled by BofA's claim that it was needed to recoup losses caused by a new federal regulation limiting the amount banks may charge retailers when you use a debit card.

Thirty years ago, when the United States was fighting the war in Vietnam, much of the peace movement revolved around the college campus. Then, anti-war protest was often associated with words like "counterculture" and "draft dodger." Today's protesters arrive from a different era, the age of a volunteer army. This week in New York, a well-dressed middle-age man was part of the protest. He bore a sign that read: Corporate Attorneys Against the War. When other demonstrators decided to make themselves heard, they blocked Fifth Avenue by staging a "die-in."

Many Americans may have felt betrayed after learning that U.S. Army officials in Iraq paid editors and TV producers to publish stories friendly to the United States, some without attributing the source. My only question was, did planting those stories help turn Iraqi hearts and minds to U.S. favor? The work was done by the Lincoln Group under contract to the Army. Critics claim this is propaganda operations run amok and pressured officials in Washington and Baghdad to investigate the practice.

It was a '90s-style peace movement but the symbolism was vintage '60s.Even before the war started, peace activists had begun to wrap a social movement around the Persian Gulf conflict. Chanting '60s-style peace slogans, protesters lashed out at American icons -- the White House, the United Nations, the Pentagon -- and across the nation, sporadic and often spontaneous protests drew thousands of supporters.It was a movement with '60s props: peace symbols, tie-dyshirts, sit-ins and teach-ins, and fiery speeches by Daniel Ellsberg and Philip Berrigan.

Clinton: 'a liar' or 'freak of nature'I am writing this letter with a sense of outrage after listening to Bill Clinton's speech before the American Legion Aug. 26.After hearing him say that, despite opposing the war in Vietnam, he was never against the heroic men and women who served in the war, I have to question either his veracity or his memory. I don't remember anyone from the anti-war movement who supported the military during the Vietnam War.By Bill Clinton's own recollections, he was a vocal and fervent supporter of the anti-war movement while studying in England.

IF PRESIDENT BUSH goes to war against Iraq, he should count on being shadowed by a large, angry anti-war movement. Students will not necessarily lead, but commentators who see nothing but Republicans and hear nothing but silence on campuses may be surprised by the level of student activism.The skeptics commonly invoke "the 1960s" as proof that today's students are largely apathetic. But they wrongly compare the uncertain pre-war present to the high tide of campus protest in 1967-1970, when U.S. casualties in the Vietnam war numbered in the tens of thousands.

WASHINGTON - Bettina Aptheker says she remembers standing outside the Berkeley Co-Op back in 1966, clipboard in hand, offering a petition against the Vietnam War. If she stood there all day, says the activist who now teaches feminist history at the University of California, Santa Cruz, she could get three dozen signatures - maybe. These days, those opposing war in Iraq have the Internet. Eli Pariser, the 22-year-old international director for MoveOn.org in New York, says his organization can gather 8,000 signatures in an hour, or an average of two a second - faster than the human hand can write.

HAVE THEY GOT this new peace movement going yet?"asked Slats Grobnik.Yes, over the weekend, rallies and marches were held in many cities."Then it's in trouble; I think it looks like a big flop."

WASHINGTON -- Although the prospect of diplomatic talks with Iraq has muffled criticism of the Bush administration in some quarters of Congress, it apparently hasn't slowed the momentum of the nation's small but growing anti-war movement."

Public has right to see findings of Clark report I applaud The Sun's tenacity in demanding that Baltimore City and Howard County release copies of the report on the investigation into allegations of domestic abuse against city Police Commissioner Kevin P. Clark ("Sun, WBAL sue for copy of Clark report," June 18). The public has the right to have access to these records and come to its own conclusions on the thoroughness and findings of the investigation. It is difficult for domestic violence victims to come forth to the police, and sometimes easier to recant if there is pressure from their partner or mistreatment by the police.

Thirty years ago, when the United States was fighting the war in Vietnam, much of the peace movement revolved around the college campus. Then, anti-war protest was often associated with words like "counterculture" and "draft dodger." Today's protesters arrive from a different era, the age of a volunteer army. This week in New York, a well-dressed middle-age man was part of the protest. He bore a sign that read: Corporate Attorneys Against the War. When other demonstrators decided to make themselves heard, they blocked Fifth Avenue by staging a "die-in."

Celebrities have always been somewhat mysterious creatures. They're beautiful people we see on magazine covers and TV screens holding hands, pushing baby strollers, ducking into stores with lattes in hand. We feel like we know them, but what's really on their minds? Well, these days, it's easy to find out -- just check out their chests. In recent months, we've seen musician Sheryl Crow on the red carpet, and The Lord of the Rings' Viggo Mortensen at a book signing, with "War is not the answer" scrawled on their shirts.

WASHINGTON - Bettina Aptheker says she remembers standing outside the Berkeley Co-Op back in 1966, clipboard in hand, offering a petition against the Vietnam War. If she stood there all day, says the activist who now teaches feminist history at the University of California, Santa Cruz, she could get three dozen signatures - maybe. These days, those opposing war in Iraq have the Internet. Eli Pariser, the 22-year-old international director for MoveOn.org in New York, says his organization can gather 8,000 signatures in an hour, or an average of two a second - faster than the human hand can write.

As talk of war with Iraq intensified a few months ago, Susan Mcfarlane decided to find a way to express her concern in some public fashion. She wound up designing a button that said WOW -- for Women Opposing War. In August, she had 250 printed in red, white and blue and began handing them out to her friends. Two months later, 10,000 buttons have been distributed, part of a nascent anti-war movement growing in the state among disparate groups of people -- from traditional peace advocates to loosely knit collections of friends, physicians and college students.

Often splashed across 50-foot walls in brilliant, hard-to-miss hues, the paintings of Mike Alewitz are hard to ignore. But Alewitz, an internationally known artist who has painted murals in Chernobyl, Baghdad and Central America, wasn't quite expecting the attention his Harriet Tubman projects have garnered in Maryland. The first mural, proposed for the headquarters of the Associated Black Charities in downtown Baltimore, was rejected by the group last month because Tubman was depicted with a musket.

It's patriotic to protest rush to war Instead of addressing the reasonable challenges put forth by the anti-war movement, Mona Charen is stunningly thoughtless and petty in dismissing it as anti-American and comprised of communist sympathizers ("Marching against America," Opinion Commentary, Jan. 27). Not only is it safe to declare communism long since dead, but one need only look to the likes of conservative luminaries such as Brent Scowcroft, Henry Kissinger and Rep. Dick Armey to find other voices who have expresses doubts about this war. The anti-war movement's motivations are rooted in a love for America and for the ideals it stands for, not in hate.

Many Americans may have felt betrayed after learning that U.S. Army officials in Iraq paid editors and TV producers to publish stories friendly to the United States, some without attributing the source. My only question was, did planting those stories help turn Iraqi hearts and minds to U.S. favor? The work was done by the Lincoln Group under contract to the Army. Critics claim this is propaganda operations run amok and pressured officials in Washington and Baghdad to investigate the practice.

Clinton toured Moscow at war's peakClinton does not recollect much of tripAs Clinton toured, Moscow shunned PerotBush: Clinton should tell all about Moscow* * * The four headlines quoted above were bannered in the right-wing Washington Times on Oct. 5, 6, 7 and 8. They represent the latest Republican foray into the ungentle art of negative campaigning, a euphemism for slinging mud with abandon. Having just about wrung the cloth dry on Bill Clinton as skirt-chaser and draft-skirter, the Bush team came up with the specter of Bill Clinton as peacenik organizer, USA trasher and dupe of the KGB.Never one to be squeamish under duress, President Bush joined in the fun by questioning his opponent's patriotism and promising he would have more later on this juicy subject.