We gave Charles and Amy an entire week to get settled in Annapolis before dropping in for a visit the last week of October. The occasion was an organized march in the Capital to protest W’s plans for war in Iraq.

We had been afraid that the turnout would be low due to worries about the weather and the sniper terrorizing the DC area. However, the snipers were caught a week before the march, and the weather couldn't have been better, a gorgeous fall day. When we spotted several other marchers on the Metro, we realized that there would be plenty of people there. The most valid numbers we heard was that there were 100,000 people there, about half of the best showing during the Vietnam era. That was enough to thoroughly snarl traffic anywhere near the Mall. Even public transport, one of the best features of DC, was overcrowded. The newspaper reports were disappointing, even the Post downplayed the numbers and significance. The report in the New York Times was obviously written by someone who wasn't there. Letters flooded in to the Times, forcing a correction the next day.

At the Mall, we listened to some speeches that lasted much longer than planned. Most of the crowd was ready to start marching before the word came to go. The route snaked along the Mall, then circled the White House at a respectful distance, with numerous of DC's finest on hand to make sure no one got too close. One particularly well armed representative seemed positioned mainly for a photo-op. We took advantage, as did most of the other marchers with cameras.

The march involved a lot of strange bedfellows, from Palestinians shouting, “Long live the Intifada,”— we tried to put some space between us and them — to a tired protestor without a good spelling checker carrying a sign, “Axis of Weasals.” Another group had models of ICBMs attached to represent male parts. We weren't sure exactly what they had in mind.

The march proved one thing absolutely: Washington, DC doesn’t have adequate public sanitation facilities. Portacans, though allegedly available, seemed to be located somewhere other than the Mall area. The Lincoln Memorial, where we sought relief, was overtaxed.

Regardless of whether the march changes anything, we think the war is a real bad idea.

(Click on any picture for a larger view.)

A Beautiful Fall Day for the march	Axis of Weasals	A Cop Ready for Anything	Some Really Strange Protestors	Jim Finds the Report of the March  in the Washington Post Unsatisfying