Iraq War Protests, Washington, DC I went by bus to Washington, DC and protested the Iraq War in both September of 2005 and January 2003. Both events were very interesting and fulfilling to me. I’m not sure just why they were fulfilling, as I expected and later felt that they had little or no influence on national policy. I suppose its like throwing a bucket of water on a raging forest fire: you gotta do it, but you know it won’t do any good - you can’t just stand there and not throw water on the fire. I thought that some of the signs were simply fantastic. And I’m sure that the media (whores, all of them,) would never show them - even the ones written with clean language (Example: "Empty Warhead Found in White House.") So I have tried to show a lot of them here. In my opinion the best of the all was "Fighting 4 [Peace Symbol] Is Like Fucking For Virginity." That sign was at both rallies. A word about attendance: both times I made my own estimate of the crowd size, and I have included my comments to that effect. I think that there were more people at the 2003 rally than at the 2005 one. Mostly that is based on the fact that you could not get close to the speaker’s platform in 2003 because the crowd was so thick, while in 2005 it was quite possible. Interestingly enough, in 2005, nobody seemed to dispute the huge (in my opinion) exaggerations in crowd size put forth by the organizers and sympathizers. I suspect that was because the war’s popularity was less in 2005 (again my opinion.) Also Cindy Sheehan was at the 2005 event and I think her presence lent more credibility to the event; for I think a lot of people admire her greatly, I know I do. Photos of 9/24/05 Iraq War Protest, Washington, DC

Comments I posted on the Internet regarding crowd size were as follows:

These are just approximate, so take them for what it is worth:

Someone told me the parade route was 3.2 miles long, that is 16,900 feet long.

I would estimate that the streets were no more than 80 feet wide, gutter to gutter. I never saw them filled gutter to gutter but say that they were, then the total parade area was 16,900 feet times 80 feet, that is equal to 1.352,000 square feet.

I don't know how many square feet a single marcher takes, but I estimate the minimum amount would be a square yard, or 9 square feet. So if the march filled the whole route at one time, and for it to do that the head of the march would have had to meet the tail, since the start and end points were the same (Constitution and 15th,) the total number of marchers would have been 1,352,000 square feet divided by 9 square feet per marcher. This equals 150,200 marchers.

I know that the head never met the tail, so the whole route was never full of marchers. I know that when the head got to 14th and Pennsylvania, there were still marchers at 15th and Pennsylvania, so the route was probably at least half full. By the "head" I mean where most banners started and the street was crowded, there were marchers ahead of the "head" but they were extremely scattered.

My own estimate of the crowd size goes like this.

Length of the parade = 2 miles (roughly 70% of the total route)

Width of the parade = 60 feet

Average square feet used per marcher = 16 square feet (roughly a 4' by 4' space)

Based on these numbers, the number of marchers was: 2 X 5,280 X 60 / 16 = 39,600



From the aerial photo, the Ellipse is not half full, but some marchers are already on Constitution Avenue, however there appear to be very few, if any marchers as far north as the black dot on 15th Street, this indicates that the march has yet to start. (Marchers started forming very early, being bored with all the speeches, and chanting "march, march;" the master of ceremonies pleading that there was just a few more speakers.)

Here again you can use your own judgment, but I assume that the people on the street would fill the Ellipse to about 70%. The Ellipse is roughly 1,100 feet in "diameter." assuming that it were a circle. Thus its area is roughly 3.14 X 550 X 550 = 950,000 square feet. At 70% full, that would amount to 665,000 square feet. Again assuming that each person used 16 square feet (which I feel, from being there, is a very conservative number,) the number of people in this photo is

665,000 / 16 = 41,562

We can also consider how many came by bus and how many were local enough to come some other way? This is purely guesswork, but say half came by bus. If you say that the crowd was 200,000, then 100,000 came by bus. A bus holds about 50 people, so there would have to have been 100,000 / 50 = 2,000 extra buses in the DC area. Our bus picked us up at the end of the Red Line Metro station. I think many if not almost all of the buses picked up their passengers at the end of one metro line or another. Our bus left fairly late, so I got a feel for how many buses came to this station, and I would guess that it was not over 75, and probably less than 50. There are probably five, perhaps six, metro stations that the buses would have used for this purpose (that is based on the assumption that few buses were headed east.) Six stations with 50 buses each would make 300 busloads; which is equal to about 15,000 demonstrators.

A final method is to compare the crowd in the Ellipse to the crowd of 70,000 or 80,000 or whatever that you have experienced at a sporting event or concert. Does the ellipse crowd seem to be significantly larger? I say no.

I am not saying my numbers are right, they are simply educated guesses. But if I had to bet, I would bet that there were less than 100,000 people at that event. I'm glad that the media says more, for I think that is good for the cause, but I do not think it is accurate. Anyway, you are free to change my numbers to whatever you think is accurate.



Photos of 1/18/03 Iraq War Protest, Washington, DC

There are lots of photos on this page, so it will take awhile to download; thus, if you click on the links below, you may have to wait for the photos to come up. But after they have all downloaded, these links will be fast for reviewing them.

The police estimated the number of marchers to be 30,000. I suspect that is somewhat low. While I don't have any idea as to how many rally attendees did not march, I am convinced that the crowd at the rally was more than 30,000. Using three different methods to estimate the crowd, I came up with roughly 70-80,000. Organizers and enthusiasts cited numbers from 200,000 to 500,000. I wish; but I would never agree to more than maybe 120,000 max. But any way you cut it, it was a great event for me.

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NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL
January 20, 2003
A Stirring in the Nation

A largely missing ingredient in the nascent debate about invading Iraq showed up on the streets of major cities over the weekend as crowds of peaceable protesters marched in a demand to be heard. They represented what appears to be a large segment of the American public that remains unconvinced that the Iraqi threat warrants the use of military force at this juncture.

Denouncing the war plan as an administration idée fixe that will undermine America's standing in the world, stir unrest in the Mideast and damage the American economy, the protesters in Washington massed on Saturday for what police described as the largest antiwar rally at the Capitol since the Vietnam era. It was impressive for the obvious mainstream roots of the marchers -- from young college students to grayheads with vivid protest memories of the 60's. They gathered from near and far by the tens of thousands, galvanized by the possibility that President Bush will soon order American forces to attack Iraq even without the approval of the United Nations Security Council.

Mr. Bush and his war cabinet would be wise to see the demonstrators as a clear sign that noticeable numbers of Americans no longer feel obliged to salute the administration's plans because of the shock of Sept. 11 and that many harbor serious doubts about his march toward war. The protesters are raising some nuanced questions in the name of patriotism about the premises, cost and aftermath of the war the president is contemplating. Millions of Americans who did not march share the concerns and have yet to hear Mr. Bush make a persuasive case that combat operations are the only way to respond to Saddam Hussein.

Other protests will be emphasizing civil disobedience in the name of Martin Luther King Jr. But any graphic moments to come of confrontation and arrest should be seen in the far broader context of the Capitol scene: peaceable throngs of mainstream Americans came forward demanding more of a dialogue from political leaders. Mr. Bush and his aides, to their credit, welcomed the demonstrations as a healthy manifestation of American democracy at work. We hope that spirit will endure in the weeks ahead if differences deepen and a noisier antiwar movement develops. These protests are the tip of a far broader sense of concern and lack of confidence in the path to war that seems to lie ahead.



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