Evan Coyne Maloney: <voice over> "I went to the Peace Protest this Saturday in New York City in search of answers. What I found first was a cast of color characters."
ECM: "...got a lot of personality for a dead guy..."

Protester: "...and I never thought I would be, like, a militant nut ball about this kind of thing, but, I am turning into one...I...I just think it is so wrong..."

ECM:  "You're turning into a militant nut ball?"

Protester: <laughs> "yes!"

ECM: <voice over> "I even made some new friends"

Protester: "...nobody wants them back in... it is the United Nations...you are lying ..you are lying about things like you always do..."

ECM: "Oh, you must know me?! How are you?"

Protester: "I can tell by your face, yeah."

ECM:  <voice over>  "I discovered quickly that war isn't the answer to disarming Saddam. But the answer itself was a little more elusive."

ECM: "How would you solve the problem?  What do you think would work?"

Protester: " I don't know.  But I know that going in and bombing them and threatening the lives of civilians is not the answer."

Protester: "Why not send some body and do it, like, another way?"
Protester: "how do I think... you know...I don't really... I mean...to me, it seems... there... I don't know."
Protester: "Maybe somebody like James Bond and kill the guy."
Protester: "Patience is a virtue.  I think we could... I think we could, be like we are killing them with kindness."
Protester: "Maybe not just to kill the guy.  Maybe just talking.  You know, like, through communication.  There has got to be a way."

Protester: "How about going about it, I don't know. But, I mean, that is the government's job to figure out.and, uh,"

Woman off camera: "War is not the answer."

Protester: "thank you" <winks at woman> "war is not the answer."

ECM: <voice over> "Generally, the protesters argued that we should rely on the United Nations to disarm Iraq."

ECM: <to protester> "Why do you think it was, then, that from 1991 and 1998 when the UN was inspecting Iraq they were unable to disarm Iraq?"

Protester: "It is a horrible, huge question."

ECM: "How much time do you think the inspectors should be given?"

Protestor: "This is a ridiculous question.  I mean, I don't know."

ECM: "How long to you think the inspectors should be given in Iraq?"

Protestor: "...I mean... It is just another... I cannot tell."

ECM: "Do you think that, in the past, the world community has lived up to its responsibility to deal effectively with Saddam Hussein?"

Protestor: "No"

ECM: "But you think they would do it now?"

<long pause>

Protestor: "I don't think Saddam Hussein is the enemy."

ECM: "Is eight years enough?"

Protestor: "You know, this is a silly question."

ECM: "Well, no, it's not because they have already taken more than eight years. And they have not yet disarmed Iraq."

Protestor: "I think this is the end of it... thank you." <starts to walk away>

ECM: <voice over> "I was beginning to get the sense that some of these protesters distrusted the President's motives."

 

Protester: "It's not just about protecting Iraqis.  It is about harming Iraqis and stealing their oil."
Protester: "It is obvious that there are other interests than just finishing with this problem."

ECM: "What is the real reason?"

Protester: "So that we can drive SUV's that get twelve miles to the gallon."

Protester: "I suspect that it is oil but also I think that it is closely connected to the control of water in the Middle East."
Protester: "I think he just wants to be in charge of Iraq.  He wants to basically dominate everything."
Protester: "Oil."
Protester: "To distract us from the economy."
Protester: "World global domination."

ECM: <voice over> "The horrible atrocities and exploitations of resources committed by the American government in the wake of the fist Gulf War gave people ample reason to suspect our motives now."

ECM: <to protester> "Do you think he is going to keep the oil fields after the war?"

Protester: "well, yeah"

ECM: "Why didn't we keep the oil fields after the original Gulf War?"

Protester: "I don't know.  Perhaps we did have such a bastard as a president?"

Protester: "We occupy, like, uh, dozens of countries continuously and the idea is not to get out.  But I think the idea is to go in and pretty much be there forever."

ECM: "Why do you think, then, that we did not do that after the first Gulf War?"

Protester: "Ooo, gee, I don't know."

ECM: <shrugs> "Fair enough."

ECM:  "Why do you think that we did not do that after the first Gulf War?"

Protester: "Ah, well, that is a very good question.  I am not sure."

ECM: "Why do you think the United States did not keep the Iraqi oil fields after the Gulf War in 1991."

Protester: "Why, I think they couldn't"

ECM: "Because they couldn't?"

Protester: "That is why I think so.  Ah... Well, that I cannot answer.  I am not sure."

ECM: <voice over> "But at least they have acknowledged the good the United States has done.  They understand that no country has given more money in foreign aid or freed more people from the claws of tyranny."

ECM: "So we should allow him to stay in power?"

Protester: <defensive> "How many people has he killed in other countries? Do you not know how many people?  Why do you not know that?  Oh, you are sooo educated!"

ECM: <voice over> "And they didn't try to draw moral equivalence between the United States and Saddam Hussein's Iraq."

ECM: <to protester> "Do you believe that Saddam Hussein has chemical or biological weapons?"

Protester: "I believe that Bush has chemical and biological weapons."

ECM: "But you are not sure about Saddam Hussein"

Protester: "It doesn't worry me.  It hasn't worried me for any amount of time.  He says he does not."

Protester: "I think we pose a much larger threat and we have in all throughout South America. We have all throughout the Middle East."

Protester: "We know that we have those weapons.  We should also be disarmed."
Protester: "I think that everyone should be disarmed including the United States. We are the world's largest military and also the world's largest stockpile of weapons... biological and nuclear and tactical and everything... right?"

ECM: <voice over> "The protestors presented solid arguments to back up there skepticism of the president."

Protester:  "He wouldn't know anything about diplomacy. He has never been out of the country, you know, before he was elected.  Maybe he went to Mexico or Canada, I don't remember."

ECM: <acknowledging sign> "How would you compare Bush to Hitler.  How are they similar?"

Protester: "There are many analogies in their policies."

Protester: "How would I compare Bush to Hitler?"  <laughs> "...with the exception of the mustache."
ECM: <voice over> "Although the protesters didn't make the case to back up their opinions, the did seem like nice people for the most part -- the kind of people I would be happy to call friends.  But I don't think the name calling or the extremist language helps their cause.  And, hopefully, the more hotheaded among them will someday realize that mere disagreement does not make one evil."