01/28/07 Octogenarian Busily Protests The War

Octogenarian Busily Protests The War

Wisconsin State Journal
Sunday, January 28, 2007
JOE ORSO La Crosse Tribune

Al Knorr knows the issues are more complex than what's on his signs.

He contrasted the words on the signs he carries -- "Stop the War Now" and "War Is Like Quicksand -- Get Out Now or Never" -- to words repeated by those on the other side of the argument: "Stay the course."

"There's a lot of slogans," he said, standing outside the La Crosse post office on State Street at 8 a.m. Monday.

But Knorr, an 80-year-old Navy veteran who protests the war in Iraq two hours a day, five days a week, talks about more than slogans.

"If you're going to demonstrate, you better know your reasons for demonstrating," he said. "We're apparently trying to raise an army to bring peace to the Iraqis. The only countries that have an army to guarantee peace are dictatorships."

Of course, some disagree with Knorr. Monday, a man in a red truck honked and waved a middle-finger salute at Knorr. Another called him a "(expletive) Communist (expletive)."

Another day, a woman told Knorr he was not respecting her son, who is in the military.

"I said, I respect your son,'" Knorr said. "'But I'm sorry, I don't respect the leaders who have our troops over there.'"

Knorr, a retired psychiatric social worker, began standing around La Crosse with his anti-war signs a year and a half ago, because he thought people opposed to the war were getting little media coverage.

He thinks the United States has wasted billions of dollars on the war.

Knorr added it's up to the Iraqis to work peace out among themselves.

He said his wife of 57 years, with whom he has two sons, sometimes grows concerned about his protests.

"My wife says, Aren't you worried for yourself?'" Knorr said. "No, I'm not. I believe people are essentially good. We can have differences of opinion. That's what makes us a democracy."