Army's 230th Birthday Party on Cambridge Common Bashed!

[paineinthearse]

For additional posts and photos, see the Massachusetts forum. At least two DU'ers attended.

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http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/22232/

Birthday Bashed
By Michael Blanding, AlterNet. Posted June 16, 2005.

In 1775, George Washington arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to take charge of a ragtag band of brothers who went on to liberate the colonies from the British. On Tuesday, the US Army was back on Cambridge Common to try and recapture some of that lost glory.

The gathering -- featuring a brass band, a color guard and military re-enactors -- was ostensibly the main event in a nationwide 230th birthday celebration to honor Army veterans. To several hundred protesters who arrived to crash the party, however, it looked like a thinly veiled attempt to recruit more bodies during a time when the Army has missed its recruiting goals for four months straight and Americans are increasingly viewing the Iraq war as a mistake.

"The Army has a right to celebrate its birthday," said Vietnam veteran and Veterans for Peace member Winston Warfield, "but this is a military circus."

Most of the displays were clearly calculated to appeal to a younger audience. The event began with four members of a parachute team jumping from a Blackhawk helicopter 4,000 feet above the crowd. Around the common, kids in baseball caps and teens in basketball jerseys gawked at grenade launchers and military vehicles, including a brightly painted "Super Hum-Vee" and an Army truck filled with video games. Holding a pro-war rally in Cambridge signals a new level of aggression -- or desperation -- for the Army, akin to staging an peace march on the parade ground at West Point. Nicknamed the "People's Republic" for its left-leaning politics, Cambridge ranks with Berkeley and Madison in its anti-war fervor. Many of those who came out to demonstrate decried the Army's use of the city's image for an event they did not find out about until a week before it happened. "It's interesting that there was no attempt to hold a birthday celebration for the 225th or 220th anniversary," said resident Phyllis Gately, "but now that we are in the midst of a war they come into the People's Republic and flex their muscles."

more......

[MojoXN]

1. I agree with Phyllis Gatley..

Kinda funny, idn't it?

Just the same, I'm with the protestors. I have no qualm with a celebration of the Army's anniversery, but I would be vehemently opposed to recruiters doing what they get paid to do at such an event. To be honest, if recruiters weren't actively plying the spectators during the festivities, I have no problem with anything that the article details.

MojoXN

[paineinthearse]

2. You would have had to be there

The whole thing was a staged circus.

On an pristine open park, they erected iron gates around the helicopter/parchutist landing zone, the entire perimeter and the "free speech" zone.

Regular police were not good enough. The tactical police in their black SS uniforms were out in force. I observed these guys closely, standing near one of only two entry/exit points. They were very chummy with the military and their guests, very belligerant with the protesters.

There was no need for such a staged display, perhaps a traditional parade would have been sufficient, where army vets of all ages could have joined in.

No, this was another staged dog and pony show, the difference being it was "in your face, Cambridge".

[MojoXN]

3. You said the magic words:

Free Speech "Zone".

Nuff said. I stand corrected. The hubris of these bastards makes my jaw drop. God willing, one day they'll get theirs. The memory of the one true United States isn't dead and buried just yet...take heart.

MojoXN

[unhappycamper]

4. Irony.

Here's a few more previously unposted pics. These were taken before the ceremonies started. The Trailer of Endless Service was parked next to a crosswalk on Garden Street, guarded by Patriots.

http://i17.photobucket.com.nyud.net:8090/albums/b54/unhappycamper/Cambridge-6-14-2005/Camb003-re.jpg

And directly across the crosswalkfrom them:

http://i17.photobucket.com.nyud.net:8090/albums/b54/unhappycamper/Cambridge-6-14-2005/Camb004-re.jpg