The Home-Front Front

WASHINGTON – They have a great time protesting, and many say they want an end to the war. But beyond that, participants in the weekend of protests here organized by “United for Peace and Justice” don’t seem particularly united when it comes to the question of what to do about Iraq.The protest’s organizers, United for Peace and Justice, have advocated immediate withdrawal. But the message doesn’t appear to resonate with all the rank and file. I ask protester after protester, “If you had your way, what would the administration do in response to this march?” Opinions vary, at least among the people who are willing to voice an opinion to a reporter.Five young women from the Dickinson College Democrats club tell me that they have come to oppose the draft. But Lauren Monnet, 18, whose college major is international business and management, tells me she has no opinion on what to do to end the war because she doesn’t have access to all the information leaders have about what’s happening on the ground in Iraq. Her four compatriots nod in agreement.On Sunday, a smaller group holds a “peace fair” of sorts at the base of the Washington Monument. Gathering in tents to learn how to resist military recruitment in high schools or how to resist arrest during peaceful protests, they’re long on complaints and short on solutions. Sally Milburg-Steen, 62, is director of a group called Pacem in Terris based in Wilmington, Del. She says the withdrawal “should start today,” but adds that America should still have a role in rebuilding Iraq. What the role would be is hard to say, but it would involve making administration officials spend a night with an Iraqi family.This protest is “mellower” than others in the past, says Ms. Milburg-Steen. Perhaps it’s because not everyone there knows what policy outcome they actually want. Granted, there are firmer elements. “Immediate withdrawal” is the watchword from Gary Goff and Mohamed Zaman of the New York City Electronic Data Processing Personnel Local 2627, and from Janice Hodge, a 48 year-old mother from Pittsburgh. She also wants Senators Leahy and Feingold to withdraw after their votes to confirm Judge Roberts.Maybe the only thing all the protesters can agree on is that they don’t like war very much. But they start to differ on where to go from where we are. And that doesn’t move the ball forward very much. “They’re still living in the ’60s,” says one counter-protester, Susan Johnson of Londonderry, N.H., who drove 10 hours with her husband and three pre-teen children to wave pro-troop and pro-war signs at protesters.The anti-war crowd has signs. They have t-shirts. They have drums. They have anger. They have a cause.They just don’t have an idea.Mr. Sternberg is an editorial page writer of The New York Sun.

The Home-Front Front

The Home-Front Front

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