Antiwar Vets Upset They Are Banned From Veteran's Parade

A counter, counter protester in Oklahoma…
Pamela Harrington of Oklahoma City, holds a sign in support of President Bush and the troops, Monday, Nov. 12, 2007, while a small group holds a Veterans Day protest of the war in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo)

Sadly, the antiwar protesters were not allowed to shock the crowd in Long Beach.
The antiwar Left tried their hardest to ruin a Veteran’s Day parade in Long Beach on Saturday.
Thankfully, the parade organizers would not allow them to politicize the event.
Mercury News reported:

LONG BEACH, Calif.—Anti-war vets have been banned from marching in the 11th Veterans Day Parade in Long Beach.

A participation application filed by Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace and Military Families Speak Out was turned down because organizers want Saturday’s parade free from politics.

“They do not fit the spirit of the parade, the spirit being one of gratitude for what the veterans have done,” said Martha Thuente, coordinator for the nonprofit Veterans Day Parade Committee.

“We do not want groups of a political nature, advocating the troops’ withdrawal from Iraq,” she added.

Some veterans and anti-war groups were unhappy.

“It’s a violation of Democracy, the whole concept which we are allegedly dying for,” said Adrian Novotny, a Vietnam vet and local president of Veterans for Peace. He said it was particularly frustrating because the group was allowed to march in the parade last year.

Iraq veteran Jason Lemieux, a Marine who served three tours of duty in Iraq and is now against the war, said he had planned to march as a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

“I wanted to march like the rest of the Iraq veterans,” Lemieux said. “I served my country. I’m a veteran of a foreign war. I think I deserve that respect.”

The leading democratic blogs Daily Kos and Think Progress were, of course, outraged.

The Kos Kids can’t understand why pro-American and pro-military groups like The American Legion and VFW were allowed to participate.

Dan Riehl has more reaction.

UPDATE: In Boston 18 antiwar veterans decided to ruin the parade for everyone else:

Boston Police arrest members of Veterans for Peace for disrupting a Veterans Day ceremony at City Hall Plaza Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007, in Boston. The veterans veterans were arrested when they protested their exclusion from a Veterans Day event by refusing to move away from a podium.(AP Photo/Boston Herald,Angela Rowlings)

Michelle Malkin has a roundup on today’s outrageous antiwar demonstrations.

UPDATE 2: Barbara Ledeen, a military mother, shares her pride and gratitude on Veteran’s Day.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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