Anti-War Protests Target Wounded at Army Hospital

How many times have we heard the defeat America crowd insist they "support the troops, but not the war." That on it's face is a contradiction. But do they really support the troops? Most of them would have gutted the Department of Defense long ago. Leaving it fit for little more than international wheels on meals. They support Congressional candidates who consistently vote against the weapons systems that keep our troops safe and lessen civilian casualties.

Well, now a new low. Code Pink, that iteration of socialist and marxist blame America groups (think: old commie whine in new bottles) has organized a protest outside the gates of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. Injured troops recovering from their wounds see a row of mock caskets reminding them of the friends they left behind and adding additional stress to their recovery.

Code Pinko is also one of the primary groups supporting Muther Sheehan's protest in Crawford, erecting crosses with the names of fallen soldiers without the permission of the family.

Groups like Code Pink and their sister organization MoveOn.org have become the new face of the Democrat Party. It must embarrass the few remaining Democrats who actually do support the troops to see this sad parade of defeat and the mockery of soldiers honor and memory currently in vogue with the Sheehan set.

Next time some lefty says "I support the troops, but not the war" ask them if they support Code Pink's effort to undermine the recovery of wounded soldiers? And while you are at it, make sure one of the mushy moderate middle ground voters whose only exposure to national news is the blip played in between episodes of American Idol hears the exchange.

Anti-War Protests Target Wounded at Army Hospital -- 08/25/2005:

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the current home of hundreds of wounded veterans from the war in Iraq, has been the target of weekly anti-war demonstrations since March. The protesters hold signs that read 'Maimed
for Lies' and 'Enlist here and die for Halliburton.'

The anti-war demonstrators, who obtain their protest permits from the Washington, D.C., police department, position themselves directly in front of the main entrance to the Army Medical Center, which is located in northwest D.C., about five miles from the White House.

Among the props used by the protesters are mock caskets, lined up on the sidewalk to represent the death toll in Iraq.

Code Pink Women for Peace, one of the groups backing anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan's vigil outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford Texas, organizes the protests at Walter Reed as well.

...On Aug. 19, as the anti-war protesters chanted slogans such as "George Bush kills American soldiers," Cybercast News Service observed several wounded war veterans entering and departing the gates of Walter Reed, some with prosthetic limbs. Most of the demonstrations have been held on Friday evenings, a popular time for the family members of wounded soldiers to visit the hospital.

...

Kevin Pannell, who was recently treated at Walter Reed and had both legs amputated after an ambush grenade attack near Baghdad in 2004, considers the presence of the anti-war protesters in front of the hospital "distasteful."

When he was a patient at the hospital, Pannell said he initially tried to ignore the anti-war activists camped out in front of Walter Reed, until witnessing something that enraged him.

"We went by there one day and I drove by and [the anti-war protesters] had a bunch of flag-draped coffins laid out on the sidewalk. That, I thought, was probably the most distasteful thing I had ever seen. Ever," Pannell, a member of the Army's First Cavalry Division, told Cybercast News Service.

"You know that 95 percent of the guys in the hospital bed lost guys whenever they got hurt and survivors' guilt is the worst thing you can deal with," Pannell said, adding that other veterans recovering from wounds at Walter Reed share his resentment for the anti-war protesters.

...

"If I went to war and lost a leg and then found out from my hospital bed that I had been lied to, that the weapons I was sent to search for never existed, that the person who sent me to war had no plan but to exploit me, exploit the country I was sent to, I would be pretty angry... if I couldn't get out of my bed and protest myself, I would want someone else to do it in my name," Protestor Luke said.

[Mike's America edit: Luke, who never joined the military is also one who feels perfect ease in criticizing the troops and speaking in their name. Another example of the danger of assuming "absolute moral authority."]

"[The anti-war protesters] are really showing an enormous lack of respect for just everything that America has always stood for. They lost the election and now they are really, really angry and so they are picking on the wrong people," [Counter protestor] Wilde added.

..

Code Pink, the group organizing the anti-war demonstrations in front of the Walter Reed hospital, has a controversial leader and affiliations. As Cybercast News Service previously reported, Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin has expressed support for the Communist Viet Cong in Vietnam and the Nicaraguan Sandinistas.

In 2001, Benjamin was asked about anti-war protesters sympathizing with nations considered to be enemies of U.S. foreign policy, including the Viet Cong and the Sandinistas. "There's no one who will talk about how the other side is good," she reportedly told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Benjamin has also reportedly praised the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro. Benjamin told the San Francisco Chronicle that her visit to Cuba in the 1980s revealed to her a great country. "It seem[ed] like I died and went to heaven," she reportedly said.

Apparently, when you take on the mantle of "absolute moral authority" it allows you to not only use the honor and memory of fallen soldiers for political propaganda, but impede the recovery and offend those who were injured.

How low can these people go?