[Mb-civic] Battle Lines Behind the Battle Lines - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Battle Lines Behind the Battle Lines
Protest to Make D.C. A Flash Point for Rift Among Military Families

By Petula Dvorak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 21, 2005; Page B01

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- In military communities across the United States, 
a debate over the Iraq war is being waged by reluctant, neophyte 
activists. Their microphones chirp and squeak, or don't pick up their 
quiet voices at all. Their signs are too small. They forget the banners.

"This is my community. I don't want to offend people here. But my 
husband is a soldier; he can't say anything. So it's my duty as a 
citizen to speak up," Kara Hollingsworth, a D.C. native and Army wife at 
Fort Bragg whose husband served two tours in Iraq, said as she took a 
seat on a panel of antiwar activists last week.
A few hours earlier, another Army spouse stood in the red-brick village 
square near the base and held up a handmade sign supporting the war. She 
threw it together after she heard that an antiwar caravan was coming to 
town.

"I've never done this before. I'm usually a quiet military wife. But I 
can't take this anymore," said Marlene Lowrey, whose husband also served 
in Iraq. "This isn't right, coming into a town like this with that 
antiwar stuff. Those people don't realize this brings down morale."

Military families, stoic and tight-lipped during most of the nation's 
wars, have become a powerful voice on both sides of the bitter argument 
over U.S. involvement in Iraq. And their growing prominence will add a 
poignant note to Saturday's antiwar march and rally near the White House.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/20/AR2005092001739.html
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