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CNN SHOWDOWN: IRAQ
Anti-war Protests Staged Near White House
Aired December 10, 2002 - 12:28 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The White House says President Bush welcomes protests against a possible U.S. war against Iraq. He says this is a time-honored tradition in any democracy. This is, today, International Human Rights Day, and many are using that occasion to go ahead and protest the possibility of a U.S.-led war against Iraq. Among those protests that are taking place, one is taking place in the nation's capital in Washington, D.C. That's where we find CNN National Correspondent Bob Franken standing by -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, if the president looks outside the White House when this group of about 300 or so marches a few blocks to the park near the White House, he will not be overwhelmed with any feeling that there's a huge resistance to the possibility of war in Iraq. There's about 300 people here, far short of the thousands who poured into Washington in October to express their resistance to the idea of going to war with Iraq.
So it's difficult to draw a conclusion about whether this does represent the magnitude of the anti-war movement at this point, or if it represents something as simple as the fact that it's going into the Christmas season, and maybe people just didn't want to turn out.
Nevertheless, in Washington, there have been four or five arrests. That came when some of the younger demonstrators tried to block a couple of the military recruiting centers in Washington, and got into a couple of shoving matches. Most of the people who are here are people who are veterans of the demonstrations that occurred during the Vietnam War, and you can hear the music. It sounds very similar to that. You see many of the signs and the slogans, and look at people who, at that time were saying, Up against the wall, but now, of course, the walls in many cases, are in their homes with their neatly manicured lawns and this is probably one of the most polite demonstrations that I have seen in a long time.
In any case, politely, one would assume, they are going to be moving to the White House to try and register what they hope will be a growing anti-war feeling -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Bob Franken in Washington, D.C. Bob, thanks very much.
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