Jan and Michael Bush from Linwood, NJ drove down to participate in the rally.  (Michael not pictured).

Jan Bush:

I'm here to support our troops.  I think they're working very hard to support the Iraqi people to secure freedom for their country.  And I'm happy to be here to support them and I wish them all well.

Question: What do you think about the people who were out there yesterday?

Well I support freedom of speech and they certainly have a right to their opinion.  And that's why we're all Americans.  And they have their right to voice their opinions.  I certainly do not agree with them and I wish that they would look at the whole picture and see that what our troops are actually doing in Iraq, that they actually are providing freedom for that country.

Question: Should we be doing anything differently?  A lot of people here yesterday say we should get out of there immediately.

Well it's my understanding that they're going to be voting for the Constitution on October 14 [15] and many Iraqi folk will be going back to the polls.  If we leave now they will not be protected, they will all be killed by insurgents.  We must stay, we must protect them, and we must build the Iraqi Amry and the police force so that they can protect themselves.  Then we can leave.  When we feel that they're capable of protecting their own country then we can leave.  But not until.  We have to...stand and finish what we started.
 

Michael Bush:

I want to support the troops.  I have a nephew that was in the 82nd Airborne and served a tour of duty in Afghanistan and a tour of duty in Iraq.  He's now a drill instructor at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.  I support him.  I had an uncle who was in the second World Ward in the 101st Airborne and fought in the Battle of the Bulge.  And my brother was in the Army--served in the Air Force first and then in the Army.  And I served in the Army, so we certainly know what it's like as far as cost of freedom is concerned.

Question: About the people who were here yesterday?

They certainly have freedom of speech, but I just wish they could express it in a different way without having to use such dastardly language and abrasive language, desecrating the flag and that sort of way of doing it.  I certainly disagree with that.

Question: Are you optimistic about the overall mission in Iraq?

At this point in time I am optimistic.  I wish we could in this country speak with a stronger, singular voice that what the opposition is doing right now.  I think we would finish it a lot quicker and be a lot mmore successful, sooner.  But regardlyess of how they express themselves, we're going to finish the job and it will be successufl, same as the second World War was successful.

Question: Why do you think there are some many more of them than folks who are here today?

Because most people that agree with what's going on here today have families to take care of, have churches to go to, have business to tend to, have work to go to, and they're a different type of person.  I was here yesterday, we were walking around the city, going around the White House--a lot of them were college students.  There's the old saying that when you're of college student age, you're in your 20s and 30s, if you're not a Democrat, you don't have a heart.  By the time your 40s and 50s and 60s and older, if your not a Republican you don't have a brain...

Question: There were some older people as well?

Some of the older people that were there struck me as people that were probably anti-Vietnam as well and they were there for the same sort of purpose, a feeling that we shouldn't have war at all.  And there just comes a time when you either don't have war or stand up for what you believe in and are willing to fight for it, or you lose.

Copyright © 2005  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.