A gathering of Kool Aid drinkers

Much like the myths about returning Vietnam vets being spat upon, the right have promulgated similar stories about returning Iraq war veterans. And groups like a Gathering of Eagles and Move America Forward, convinced that the March 17 anti-war protest in DC plan to deface the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, are planning a counter demonstration and "protective" barrier at the memorial.

We could discuss the delusions of these folks for pages. Here's just one example, posted at the "Gathering of Eagles" web site:

once_a_marine_alwys February 16th, 2007 7:09 am

Thank God that he has used our military to protect his children. These lukewarm, wet-noodle liberal that call themselves peacemakers have a special place reserved for them. Wake the heck up these evil people that our troops are fighting in the middle-east are now running one of our countries parties,and have infiltrated the right as well. They will sling toothless words of nonsense in worthless resolutions only to ignore the very constitution they swore to protect against ALL enemies Foreign and domestic. Don’t allow these people destroy what took 231 years to build.

Me, I would love to know who is really funding them.

These groups conveniently ignore the prominent veteran presence in the anti-war movement, instead painting the peace groups as America-hating cowards who haven't "earned" the right to have their say.

These groups swallow the empty, superficial rhetoric of the most militarist, anti-freedom presidential administration in history. They proclaim that "surrender is not an option" and "we win in Iraq or we fight the terrorists in America."

Burbling under the surface of these groups is a virulent anti-Islamism, and, to my eyes, a simmering dash of Christian fundamentalist white supremacy as well.

From Wikipedia on Move America Forward:

"Move America Forward is a controversial, conservative non profit political action group based in the U.S. state of California. Through media-saturation campaigns that include television and radio commercials; [1] lobbying politicians at the local, state, and federal levels; and by encouraging grass-roots activism, Move America Forward has sought to advance a conservative agenda that includes the removal of the United Nations headquarters from the United States, the recalling of state governors it deems too "liberal," restricting what it terms "liberal" or "activist" media, the closing of the U.S.-Mexico border and the deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin, opposition of what it deems "liberal" political candidates and political action groups, and advocacy for conservative political candidates and appointees. Move America Forward vocally supports and advocates the policies of the Bush Administration. [2]

"Though Move American Forward describes itself as "...a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization committed to supporting America’s efforts to defeat terrorism and supporting the brave men and women of our Armed Forces" [7], its actions have been almost wholly partisan and hence restricted to the political arena.

"In 2004, what really happened.com published an online exposé revealing the ties of Move America Forward to the GOP PR firm Russo Marsh & Rogers. Using a domain name look-up service, whatreallyhappened.com showed that Russo Marsh & Rogers established the Move America Forward website. Siobhan Guiney, Executive Director of Move America Forward, admitted that Russo Marsh & Rogers did register the site for them and that the two groups shared a building and a phone receptionist [8]. Not long after the exposé Move America Forward purged all references to Russo Marsh & Rogers from its domain registration, going to so far as to list a Sacramento bar as its registrant phone number at one point. [9]

"When asked about the seeming disparity between Move America Forward's mission of supporting the troops in America's war on terror and its history of advocating for the conservative policies and agenda set forth by the Bush Administration, Siobhan Guiney, Executive Director of MAF, stated: "He's our Commander in Chief. It's his policies in place [and we] have to support those policies." [10]

"Additional controversy erupted in August 2005 centered around Move America Forward's "You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy!" campaign countering the protest of Cindy Sheehan. Observers and the press have noted that some pro-Bush activists in the MAF entourage were aggressively confrontational and verbally abusive, calling the anti-war protesters "communists", saying they are "aiding and abetting the enemy".[11]

"In April 2006 controversy erupted again when Kaloogian's campaign website posted a picture on his website that he claimed depicted a peaceful Baghdad neighborhood, and the claims that the Iraq conflict was going well. Quickly, however, internet watchdogs correctly identified the picture as coming from Istanbul, Turkey, and the picture was removed. Kaloogian later said using the photo was "a stupid mistake".[12]"