Iowa's King: Protesters Anti-American; France Our Enemy

Wednesday April 02, 2003 08:20

by Max Dempsey - PLSoc

By Jeff Gannon; April 1, 2003

WASHINGTON -- Congressman Steve King (R-IA) has been attending anti-war rallies in the nation's capital, but it's not to support the marchers. GOPUSA News accompanied the first-term Iowa Congressman to one such rally two weeks ago. King explained that he had been criticized for calling the protesters "anti-American" and decided to observe a march to determine the background of the participants.

WASHINGTON -- Congressman Steve King has been attending anti-war rallies in the nation's capital, but it's not to support the marchers. GOPUSA News accompanied the first-term Iowa Congressman to one such rally two weeks ago. King explained that he had been criticized for calling the protesters "anti-American" and decided to observe a march to determine the background of the participants.

Rep. King commented on the "river of malcontents" that paraded past his location at Pershing Park by saying, "If you remove the communists from the march, then the socialists, then the radical Islamists and their sympathizers, then the pacifist liberals, the stream would be dry."

King cited that the primary sponsor of the march was A.N.S.W.E.R., a group with direct ties to the socialist World Workers Party. King declared, "These are not mainstream Americans."

King was particularly disturbed by a young woman who spit on a police officer standing along the parade route as well as by one of the marchers who screamed at a veteran holding up the American flag and said, "Burn that racist flag!" A small band of members of the Free Republic shouted back "War freed the slaves!"

Another protester tried to rip the flag from the veteran's hands, managing to tear it but not take it from him. King said that a replacement flag that has been flown over the Capitol specifically for the Free Republic would be delivered to him.

King also observed that there were many Palestinian flags, United Nations flags, but "far more desecrated American flags than those of any other nation or group." He told of his disgust at a cameraman who used a small American flag as a grease rag. The decidedly anti-Bush sentiment of the protesters using slogans like "Bush = Hitler," "Worse than Saddam is Bush," and references to "King George" prompted King to comment, "George Bush is not King George, but if it weren't for our own Revolutionary War, we would be ruled by a descendant of George III."

King said the slogan "I think, therefore I am dangerous," revealed the essence of the anti-war movement.

The following Sunday, the Iowa Congressman spoke at The Free Republic's Patriots Rally for America in Washington, DC and delivered a stark assessment of America's "allies." He told of the chunk of the Berlin Wall that is on his desk in his Capitol Hill office and called the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc as the most significant historical event to occur in his lifetime.

"When the [Berlin] wall hit the ground, it sparked the birth of the European Union and marked beginning of French and German economic opposition to the United States," King said. "There has been an Iron Trade Curtain built around the E.U."

King stated that his research revealed the vehemence of nations whose opposition to our policy toward Iraq is in direct proportion to the value of those countries' oil contracts with Iraq." France has $75 billion worth of oil development contracts with Saddam Hussein, more than any other nation.

King told GOPUSA News, "France will act in their own self interest, knowing that in the end they will be able to rely on the goodwill of the American people."

From the steps in front of the Lincoln Memorial, the Iowa Congressman declared, "The French government is not our friend, it is the enemy." He further stated that the oil contracts of France, Germany, Russia, and China with Iraq are now "null and void." He lamented that this was indeed a war for oil: "American and Iraqi blood for French, German, Russian and Chinese oil."

King also harshly criticized the United Nations, calling it "a third world class envy debate society." He cited the fallacy of the United Nations trying to "create a world democracy governed by dictators." He said, "The dynamics of the U.N. changed when we went into Iraq."

King spoke of his colleagues in Congress, who have come out to express their support for the troops, but not the Bush administration's policy. He said, "You just can't have it both ways."

King cited the resolution passed by the House recently to support the troops. "The resolution included support for President Bush, the Commander-in-Chief," he said. While not naming those wanting to support the President, King said, "Look up their names, they're the ones who voted against the resolution."

When asked about his support of the troops, King told GOPUSA News, "They are in my prayers every day. The have seen the demonstrators but ordinary Americans are in full support of them. I will do everything in my power to support them and their families. We are a grateful nation."