In the words of KNSD (NBC) reporter Steve Walker:


It began as an anti-war protest, but turned into a pro-troop “Victory Vigil” downtown today. The San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice protested at 10th and “A” Streets. They’re against the war in Iraq, and skeptical of the handover of power.

But the tables turned on them today, when others turned out to support American troops, and the handover of sovereignty. The counter-protestors say they stand by the war in Iraq...

Here’s the punch line: the other side had notified the media, but we got all the coverage.

. . . Within ten minutes, fifteen of my Protest Warriors had arrived, and we were lining the west side of 10th Street with signs and flags. By four-thirty, we had almost thirty people on site.

["Peace group" organizer] Lace [Watkins] couldn’t even muster ten. One of them was holding a rainbow flag, with the mysterious word “PACE” emblazoned on both sides in big capital letters (I’m not kidding).

Instead of clustering together, she directed her protestors to spread out, in an effort to make their numbers seem larger. But it didn’t work – they had no mass to speak of, and were effectively drowning in a sea of red, white, and blue. . . .