This afternoon, as Examiner reporter Bill Flook and I were returning to the newsroom after lunch, we got stuck in an anti-war demonstration right outside our building on 15th Street. Before we knew what was happening, we were both splattered with red paint and the security guards wouldn’t let us in because they were afraid the crowd would storm the building. A group of D.C. cops finally came to our rescue and dispersed the chanting, sign-wielding protesters.
As anti-war demonstrations go, this one was unimpressive, mostly a bunch of professional agitators and pampered college students on spring break pretending to be revolutionaries. The level of discourse was evident earlier in the day when one speaker stood near a white tent erected in McPherson Square for the occasion and railed against cars, suburbs, and… houses!
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Yes, the place you lay your head each night is now on the list of Public Enemies right alongside Dick Cheney. Who knew?
While I waited, I wondered if any of the paint throwers had read the NYT article on how some Iraqis hanged a 10-year-old girl in Basra and left her body dangling for three days as a warning to others not to cooperate with mostly British forces then surrounding the city or rise up against Saddam Hussein.
Resistance to the invasion I get. But did the “Great American Satan” make them do that, too?
