V.W.H. Campbell Jr., Post-Gazette photos Anti-war demonstrators spread out across Fifth Avenue near the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning yesterday afternoon. About 1,000 marchers, representing a number of groups but all calling for the return of U.S. troops from Iraq, took part in the demonstration as it roamed through Oakland.

By Moustafa Ayad
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sgt. Geoffrey Millard stood in front of the Veteran's Affairs Hospital in Oakland yesterday pointing in bewilderment at the construction of a new parking garage for the hospital.

"I'd rather see 1,500 more beds than 1,500 more parking spaces," said the hulking Iraq veteran who is the head of Washington, D.C., chapter for Iraq War Veterans Against the War. "Why do we have to even choose?"

Armed with another year's issues, Sgt. Millard and more than 1,000 people marched in slow procession through Oakland Saturday, marking the fourth anniversary of the Iraq War while demanding the end of combat operations and an immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops.

On the heels of recent disclosures of deplorable conditions at Walter Reed Medical Center and the subsequent findings of an internal investigation that revealed awful conditions at the nation's 1,400 veteran's clinics and hospitals, Sgt. Millard and a group of activists voiced their concern for the lack of proper healthcare for returning veterans.

Anti-war protesters march along Forbes Avenue yesterday on the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. They paraded throughout the Oakland area. Click photo for larger image.

"The doctors and nurses at the hospital are the best," said Sgt. Millard, who has been on a waiting list for the past six months to see a physician at a VA hospital about the spinal injury he suffered while in Iraq. "The problem is that one doctor is in charge of hundreds of patients. Returning veterans should not have to be placed on waiting lists while they suffer just to see a doctor."

Backed by a banner that read "Healthcare not Warfare," the sergeant and hundreds of demonstrators criticized a system that does not mind finding the funding to send men to war but does not value keeping those same men alive and well.

"They can spend billions of dollars on a war, but my father, a Korean War veteran, doesn't get the healthcare he deserves," said Linda Graham, of Point Breeze, a member of Service Employees International Union. "Something is not right."

As the marchers snaked their way down from the hospital, past an unmarked silver Ford Crown Victoria with two men inside, one with a camera, they were greeted by frustrated commuters and the jubilant shouts of passers-by and the sometimes low and sometimes high-pitched honks of car horns.

Chanting "The Road to Peace -- U.S. Out of the Middle East" and the equally catchy "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho! Occupation Has Got to Go" two groups converged near the Islamic Center to form an impressive mass of about 1,000 people.

The theater of the odd that is sometimes prevalent at protests brought out sophisticated Yuppies shoulder to shoulder with dated Hippies. Children ran by and mingled with anarchists dressed in black. There was at least one "Star Wars" storm trooper displaying his disappointment with the Bush administration and the current progression of its venture into Iraq.

Everyone was pushing an agenda or a cause, whether it was breast cancer or the killing in Darfur, but they had all gathered to champion the return of the U.S. troops and an end to the war.

"Words do not serve as armor," Sgt. Helen Gerhardt told the crowd as she chided an administration that did not properly protect her and her fellow comrades in Iraq. "The phrase 'Support our Troops' does not protect the flesh."

Camped in front of the Islamic Center, spoken word artists dropped several "f-bombs" on the steps of the mosque as a letter carrier managed to ease in and out of the crowd to deliver mail to homes.

In the midst of the speakers, a young man with an Afro wearing a tank-top and shorts, disrupted the proceedings when he decided to would be fine time to call speakers "heathens" while waving a Bible.

The gentleman was promptly arrested by police officers, whom he also called heathens, for disorderly conduct and managed to yell "I love you Mom" into a camera as he was being put in the back of a police cruiser.

The incident touched off a brief and inconsequential standoff between officers and anarchists who were questioning the officers' reasoning for the arrest.

The crowd moved slowly through Oakland -- stopping to rebuke Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute for developing technology for the military -- before finally coming to its final destination in front of the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning.

Behind the speakers stand where rally members took the time to reiterate their messages, Neil Santoriello Sr. broke into tears as he stared at his sons's combat hat. His son, Army 1st Lt. Neil Santoriello Jr., was killed by a roadside bomb on Aug. 14, 2004.

"There is not a day, not an hour, not a second that I don't think about him," he said. "I miss my friend. He was my best friend, and now a part of me is gone."