Activists get ready for anti-war rally in capital  

By Jack Komperda

Daily Herald Staff WriterPosted

Saturday, September 24, 2005  

Their eyes couldn’t pull away from the image of the crying child.  
Katy Scott’s opposition to the Iraq war was made clear to passers-by in
the signs she carried as the Chicago woman made her way through downtown
Elmhurst.  

Some stared in disbelief at the emblazoned words: "Are your children
praying for Iraqi children?" Clerks walked to the edges of their store
windows to take a peak. A woman lost in conversation on her cell phone
stopped silent.    

"We each make different choices" on the war, Scott said.  Scott’s
decision will take her and 50 anti-war protesters from the western
suburbs to Washington, D.C., this weekend. Organizers said they hope the
peace rally will be the largest since the U.S. invasion of Iraq more
than two years ago.  

Another image she carries, a photo of her son in full combat gear
e-mailed earlier in the day near Baghdad, symbolizes how the Iraqi
occupation is splitting families.    

"He’s asked me to take it off," Scott said of another of her son’s
photos she uses on one of her signs. This one shows him in a group with
his Army infantry battalion.  

"I support my son 100 percent; I don’t support this war," she said. "I
mean, the weapons Jason commands are so deadly and powerful."  

Before boarding a charter bus for the weekend journey to Washington,
the participants assembled at Wilder Park in Elmhurst to sing.  

And they urged more people to spread the message against Iraq.  
"Instead of spending money on an unjust war, we should be using it to
meet human needs," said Kevin Lindemann, a Winfield resident and rally
organizer.  

More than 100,000 people are expected to gather Saturday on the grounds
of the Washington Monument, the centerpiece of a three-day weekend of
events that will include interfaith services, civil disobedience acts
and congressional lobbying.  

Naperville resident John Bagley said he hopes the actions draw at least
some attention from lawmakers.  

"I don’t think Congress will agree in a day to move the troops out," he
said. "But it’s a start."  

From http://www.dailyherald.com/search/printstory.asp?id=97733