Storm's Devastation Fans Antiwar Flame
By Petula Dvorak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 8, 2005; Page A17
The calamity of Hurricane Katrina and criticism of the federal response are fast becoming a rallying cry in the antiwar debate.
About two dozen protesters staged a rally outside the White House yesterday and are redirecting their arguments to compare the relief effort in New Orleans with ongoing spending in Iraq. They even have a new slogan.
"From Iraq to New Orleans, fund human needs, not the war machine," many of the protesters shouted in Lafayette Square last night.
"We're reorienting the antiwar movement to make the connection between the vast expenditure for the war in Iraq and the woefully inadequate response to the victims of Katrina," said Brian Becker, national coordinator for the ANSWER Coalition, which sponsored the rally.
Protesters, who have sought to illustrate the domestic toll of the war, have seized on the disaster as a way to further their antiwar message.
War supporters said this tactic is predatory and political....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/07/AR2005090701999.html