(George Soros's MoveOn money at work in the metro station by the White House, a highly original protest sign and a selection of books on sale at the rally (including the Communist Manifesto in French).

When I showed up, a few moonbats were slowly circling around the stage, gathering their righteous energy for the impending rage against the machine. The crowd included button-hawkers, LaRouche supporters, some misguided college gals and a couple of hippy booksellers. When I took the picture of the books, I was questioned by the lady behind the table as to whether I was a journalist. I told her "no, more of a freelance hobbyist," at which point I got a barrage of questions from her and her friend. They seemed acutely sensitive to the possibility that someone may be taking photos of the books in order to mock their ideology ...

The emcee gets things rolling with a little expression of solidarity with the Iraq insurgents, who have "a proud tradition of defiance" against foreign intervention.

The prescient organizers made sure that some emergency medical aid was on hand for the crowd.

The PLO is in da house!

My buddy from Al Jazeera poses for a picture. Later he jokes around with the crew from Al Arabya: "I'm not so sure about 'useful', but they're definitely 'idiots!' Bwahahahahahahaha!" (No, not really)

Awwwww, he wants them to be friends. Wait, who are the "shites?"

The speakers were enraged by the Jooos, the military "atrocities" in Fallujah and most of all, George Bush: "I don't want Bush to go back to Texas, I want him behind bars!"

No one was spared their wrath, especially the private security contractors that were killed in Fallujah: "They get paid $1,000 a day, and what are they paid to do? They watch the oil!" Sound familiar?

The speakers were really hitting their stride, when all of a sudden some men started shouting from the right side of the stage. The cavalry had arrived, four Iraqi counter-protestors that decided to offer a different perspective:

"They are liars! These people don't know what they are talking about! They don't know what they are talking about!"

The media swarms the Iraqis.

I'm not sure that I've ever seen people move so quickly; there was literally a sucking sound as the entire horde of reporters mobbed the Iraqi counter-protestors. The International Answer folks were not pleased, and they immediately started shouting into the microphone: "These are CIA operatives! CIA operatives!" It did little good; the Iraqis effectively stole the spotlight.

An Int'l Answer speaker screams in the Iraqi's ear.

The Iraqis then moved 20 feet away from the rally to give interviews, and one of the primary International Answer speakers maneuvered behind one of them and repeatedly yelled, "These men are CIA operatives hired by Ahmed Chalabi!"

Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, aka "the Screamer," gives a cordial interview to Al Arabya. Ms Verheyden-Hilliard's more tame rhetoric can be heard in this 2003 interview on NPR.

One of the Iraqis in a heated Arabic exchange with Al Jazeera, just after declaring to the Al Arabya correspondent: "... yes, Al Jazzera and Al Arabya: if I had power, I swear to God I would not allow Al Arabya and Al Jazeera inside Iraq. Al Arabya and Al Jazeera are Saddam loyalists!"

This woman had the temerity to confront one of the Iraqis and say, "What about abortion? What about Shiite oppression of women?!" My jaw hit the ground. Five minutes prior to this exchange, her group of socialists were declaring their solidarity with the Iraqi uprising. Now that Iraqi counter-protestors had arrived, she was attacking them for their Shiite background.

Socialism, abortion rights and Islamist solidarity. What do they have in common? Hatred of this man:

Dubya steps out and makes an appearance.

A LaRouche supporter engages the Iraqi.

The exchange between the LaRouche supporter and the Iraqi was amusing. The LaRouchie asked the Iraqi, "What about how Dick Cheney and Wolfowitz lied about weapons of mass destruction?" To which the Iraqi responded, "I don't know about that, but only God or the United States had the power to remove Saddam. There are no more mass graves in Iraq!" Notice the pamphlet cover on the Larouchie's sign: a picture of Dick Cheney that reads "Children of Satan II: The Beast Men."

This local NBC reporter literally shoved the LaRouchie out of the way and started asking questions. When the Iraqi told her what he thought of the occupation, saying that "everything is fine, everyone has food, there are 200 newspapers when there were once only two" she knitted her eyebrows and gave him a blatant, condescending smirk (not in this photo).

At the end of the interview she asked him for the spelling of his name, and when he was reluctant to give it to her, she haughtily explained that she needed to say it correctly when she filed her report. I guess it totally escaped her that his background might make him hesitant to feel comfortable giving out that kind of information.

After she was done with the interview, she began laughing with her cameraman at the Iraqi's expense.

I walked over to her and asked, "Why were you laughing at that guy while he was answering your question?"

"I didn't (laughs again). I'm a journalist. I don't have opinions."

I had to walk away. Immediately.

Um ... what's in the backpack, my Palestinian friend?

A Sith Lord attends the demonstration.

Peekaboo! I see you! Notice the Rachel Corrie t-shirt.

A reporter actually gives an Iraqi respect during an interview, but meanwhile, merely 30 feet away ...

... this gentleman pedals over and starts yelling, "Fuck you! Fuck you! We're winning! We're winning!!"

Yelling behind the interview.

Meanwhile, back at the protest: "He's so dreeeamy ..."

Sample lyrics:
Internationalization,
Globalization,
It's the wise,
The worst of Asia, the Americas,
Africa, Europe and the legacy of alchemy,
Dust to gold,
Soul to spirit,
Appreciate the divine while I'm still livin',
Didn't need to die to go to heaven.
We express the omniscience of our ancestors,
Got your blood inside of me ...

Jack-booted fascist storm troopers wonder when they can go "weapons-hot."

A martyr dies for the cause.

And then I left. I wasn't sure what to think; I was torn between anger and laughter the whole time. It's difficult to get that angry with them; these people are ill, seriously ill. They are channeling their severe emotional pain into a political struggle, and no amount of reasoning with them would have any effect. Luckily, they marginalize themselves with their overt displays of insanity, and fortunately, no more than a couple of hundred people showed up for this event. I'm certainly glad that the Iraqis showed up; they likely won a media victory.

Sometimes you just have to shake your head and go home.

A last look at the White House, sans communists.

UPDATE: Speaking of Us vs. Them ...

ANOTHER UPDATE: Read about Citizen Smash's amusing stand at protests in San Diego. This is hilarious:

First up is Carl Muhammed. “Let’s get pumped up!” He shouts to the fifty people (Bryon did an actual head count) scattered in front of the stage. “Anybody have a chant they want to do?”

We burst out laughing.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader leaves a link to more photos of these kindly individuals protesting previously in DC; real crushing of dissent in John Ashcroft's America. It seems that intimidation is their style; the media presence yesterday may have saved those Iraqis from a physical confrontation. I largely flew under the radar, but was held in contempt because I wouldn't take a protest sign, and the Palestinian speaker looked fairly angry when I jumped up on the right part of the stage to snap the "reporters swarm" picture.

The best way to comport yourself at these events is to smile, be really nice and tell them that you are a freelance journalist.

UPDATE: Also visit this post regarding subsequent protests in DC.