Peace movement strategies as war continues -- support those troops (Washington Post, 3/26/03):
Nancy Lessin and Charley Richardson are frightened for their son Joe, a 25-year-old Arab-language specialist with the Marines who is stationed somewhere in the Persian Gulf region. They are also frightened for all the sons and daughters of the families they have met since forming Military Families Speak Out, a group of 200 families opposed to the war who have loved ones serving in this war. Ubiquitous at protest rallies in Washington and Boston, where they live, Lessin and Richardson were also the lead plaintiffs in an unsuccessful lawsuit that sought to stop the president from invading Iraq, on the grounds that it was illegal to do so under international law. Lessin was also arrested last week with religious leaders who tried to block access to the White House as part of a stepped-up campaign of civil disobedience to protest the war.
The couple plans more civil disobedience, and sees no inconsistency in supporting the troops and opposing the war. "We're actually surprised that people have trouble with this one," said Richardson, director of the labor extension program at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. "If this war is wrong, then stopping it is the right thing to do."
In other words, he said, "if you saw one of your kids getting into a car with a drunk driver, would you stand by the side of the road and salute? Or would you do everything in your power to stop the car?"