September 28, 2005
The Des Moines Register
Box 957
Des Moines, IA 50304
Dear Editor:
I was among many Iowans who traveled by bus, car, train and plane to Washington, D.C. to join the call for an end NOW to the Iraqi war. My history of participating in marches dates back to the civil rights and Vietnam eras, but this was the largest, most diverse, orderly, focused and determined one of all.
Press reports that I have seen vary the attendance from the “tens of thousands”, “100,000” and to “over 300,000”. To be sure, no one can count accurately a crowd of this magnitude, but why error on the side of understatement? The most likely reason is to diminish the power of the event.
This is what I saw: A White House Ellipse and Washington monument mall so crowded that many busloads had no place to unload except on streets at a distance from the rally. These late arrivals took the initiative and started the march before the rally had ended. We Iowans who had arrived very early had a choice rally location but by the time we could enter the street to join the march some two hours later, hundreds of thousands had already completed the march. More hundreds of thousands were behind us. By my calculations, it would require ten capacity crowds at the Hawkeye’s football stadium to create this phenomenon. The stadium capacity is 70,397. Therefore, my “official”, unbiased estimate is 10 times 70,397 or 703,970.
Whatever the number, a movement is underway that cannot be denied.
Chet Guinn
1041 8th Street
Des Moines, IA 50314
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