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BISBEE - A large postcard for the people of Spain thanking them for having the courage to vote a pro-President George W. Bush government out of office that will remove nearly 1,300 Spanish troops from Iraq was placed in Vista Park Saturday.
Johannes Wilm from Denmark was one of the first people to sign.
He was looking for the gathering to protest the war in Iraq and traveled from Douglas to Bisbee Saturday to take part in Peace and Justice Day at the park.
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Wilm, 23, moved to Douglas in January to work on his master's thesis about the U.S.-Mexico border. He is a student at the University of Norway in Oslo, where he already has earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology.
Wilm, who holds Danish and German citizenship, said 60 percent of the Danes opposed America's actions in Iraq, even though the Danish government has sent a small contingent of troops to Iraq.
Denmark still has a military draft, although those drafted cannot be used outside of the country.
"I guess I would be what you would call a draft dodger," said Wilm, who called Norway his home for the past few years.
While Bush says he has the support of Denmark and Norway, the people of both countries do not support America on this issue, he said. The outcry in Norway was big when the largest ever demonstration in Oslo filled the streets, Wilm said.
Bush says he has the support of Norway because the country has aid workers in Iraq, Wilm said. But the people do not support America's military action in Iraq, and the Norwegian government hasn't sent troops, he added.
"Unfortunately the university students in Norway have turned anti-American, which isn't right," Wilm said "I talk to them and tell them even Americans are against the war."
Nearly 35 people were at the park at the beginning of the peace rally Saturday morning. They had a variety of handmade signs.
One stated: "We mourn all people killed, including afgans (sic) killed with our tax $$$. All dead are equal."
Mary Elinor Adams, who is known as "Walking Mary" and not too long ago saw her parole ended for trespassing at the Oak Ridge, Tenn., nuclear facility, said she was glad she had the opportunity to work on the Saturday rally. She spent a couple of months in federal prison for her action before beginning her parole part of the sentence.
She said with a laugh that she had the opportunity to talk with other women prisoners about the wrongs the U.S. government is doing throughout the world.
"I was back being a schoolteacher," she said about her captive audience.
A woman who goes by the name of Alexis, made a wheel of misfortune showing some of the uses of taxpayer dollars.
Under the category of "administration of warped justice," she showed $38.76 billion being spent to limit the human rights of Americans. Under part of the wheel's pie called military it showed $399.18 billion with the word increasing. Under social welfare the cost was shown as $112.52 billion and the word reducing.
Wilm said he thinks the people of Denmark and Norway would applaud what was happening in Bisbee and other places in the United States on the weekend a year after the United States attacked Iraq.
HERALD/REVIEW senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615.
nicole ray wrote on Jun 21, 2009 3:35 PM: