Kooky Kucinich Headlines Protest at Fort Benning

Always nice to see a presidential candidate protesting the military. This should really burnish his street cred with the nutroots wing of the Democrat Party.

COLUMBUS, Ga. - Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich said Sunday the thinking that went into producing an Army school blamed for human rights abuses in Latin America was the same that led the U.S. to war in Iraq and could cause it to raid Iran.

Kucinich was speaking at the 18th annual protest of the school at Fort Benning that trains Latin American soldiers, police and government officials. One of his first acts as president if elected would be to close the school, he said.

I don't think anyone should make plans for the closing.

"The type of thinking that produced this school is the same type of thinking that produced the war in Iraq and is producing a war against Iran," Kucinich said. The Ohio congressman and former Cleveland mayor was addressing a crowd estimated by local police to number roughly 10,000.

More sound thinking from the pipsqueak. Nothing like being unprepared in case Iran attacks our interests.

The protests outside the gate to the military installation are timed to commemorate six Jesuit priests who were killed along with their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador on Nov. 19, 1989. Some of those who killed them had attended the School of the Americas.

The military has acknowledged that some graduates committed crimes after attending the School of the Americas, but has said in the past that no cause-and-effect relationship has ever been established.

The new Western Hemisphere Institute has mandatory human rights courses, but the demonstrators contend changes at the school are only cosmetic.

Fort Benning spokeswoman Monica Manganaro said the protesters are "spectacularly misinformed."

That's an understatement.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, normal people who support our military showed up by the thousands at Fort Benning.

It was OK to hug or even kiss a complete stranger in the middle of the street on Saturday -- as long as that person was a member of the U.S. military.

This year's God Bless Fort Benning, a day of appreciation for soldiers, was held in downtown Columbus with many groups displaying random acts of kindness. The event attracted more than 20,000 people, including about 9,800 Army trainees and 2,000 officers.

Members of the armed forces were offered free movies, food and telephone calls to anywhere in the United States. Amid the food vendors and stages set for musical acts, local residents shouted thank yous from across the street and hugged and shook the hands of Fort Benning soldiers roaming downtown.

"Hug a soldier right now," event co-founder Eve Tidwell demanded of the crowd gathered around the main stage on the 1100 block of Broadway. "Bikers, you better get a hold of a soldier... I swear even if there's protesters out there -- y'all hug soldiers, because they gave you the right to protest."