TALLAHASSEE — A group of 30 military veterans critical of the war in Iraq hoped to use Tuesday’s Veterans Day parade to call attention to the increasingly deadly conflict but instead found themselves fighting for something much more fundamental.
Members of Veterans For Peace and Vietnam Veterans Against the War were yanked off a downtown Tallahassee street, directly in front of the Old Capitol, while marching in the holiday parade they had legitimately registered in.
As organizers allowed the parade to roll on — including veterans from various wars, several high school marching bands and even a group of young women from the local Hooters restaurant — the anti-war veterans were ordered onto sidewalks where they passed out leaflets and displayed a banner reading, “Honor the Warrior, Not the War.”