Protesters Taunt Bush Outside Graduation

Hundreds of anti-war demonstrators and a smaller group of war supporters converged Wednesday outside the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, each trying to drown out the other's chants as President Bush addressed graduates inside.

Mr. Bush, who did not pass the protesters as he arrived, tried to rally support for the Iraq war by citing intelligence that Osama bin Laden was working in 2005 to set up a unit inside Iraq to hit U.S. targets.

Demonstrators from around the country lined the road to the academy, waving signs like "Draft young Republicans" on one side and "Safe since 9-11" on the other. They shouted at one another through megaphones as Bush addressed graduates inside the gates.

"Bush's puppets," an anti-war protester shouted.

"Surrender now," a war supporter responded. "You're French poodles."

"Impeach Bush," was the response.

New London police estimated 1,000 people gathered near the academy, most on the anti-war side. Police said they took a knife from one protester, who was not arrested.

"It's confrontational but everyone is well-behaved at this point," said Lt. Chip Segar.

Someone scrawled a peace sign and "resist empire" in chalk on the entrance sign to the academy.

Walter Ducharme, 77, of Cambridge, Mass., dressed like a war criminal, wearing prison stripes and a giant head resembling Vice President Dick Cheney. Ducharme, who wore a T-shirt proclaiming, "Bostonians for the overthrow of King George," said he recently refinanced his house to pay for the many demonstrations he attends.

"This is slaughtering people for a lie and more people die every day," Ducharme said. "I can't even think about it without crying. You've got to do something, even for your own sanity."

Ruth Hooke, 80, of Amherst, Mass., joined the anti-war side with a group called "Raging Grannies."

"I think it was an illegal war," Hooke said, sitting in a chair with a sign reading, "Bush lied people died." "It's expensive, bloody and totally unnecessary."

White House spokesman Alex Conant said protesters had the right to be there.

"Our constitution guarantees the right to peacefully express one's views," he said. "The U.S. Coast Guard and all our men and women in Iraq are fighting to defend those same rights and freedoms."

Hooke called Democrats "total wimps," for supporting funding for the war. Other anti-war protesters also quietly criticized Democrats.

On the other side, Dick Archibald, 58, of Boston, said he rode to the protest on his motorcycle with a group from the American Legion in support of his 19-year-old son, who is serving in Iraq.

"They got hit by an IED (improvised explosive device) last week but he's all right," Archibald said. "I want my son home too but he has a job to do."

Archibald, who held an American flag, said the protest reminded him of the 1960s when he served in Vietnam and his twin sister protested the war.

Larry Bailey, a retired Navy captain, said he drove from North Carolina to challenge the anti-war protesters.

"We let them have a pass in the 1960s," Bailey said. "We will defend our military and our military's honor as long as we can."

Chris Hill, an organizer for a pro-war group called the Gathering of Eagles, said he doesn't object to people opposing the war.

"Our beef is when they say they support the troops and show up and disrupt the graduation ceremony of one of the service academies," he said. "If they want to protest the president, he lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. It's thinly veiled anti-Americanism. They don't support the troops."
By John Christoffersen