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Larry Syverson keeps a archive of articles, press releases, and photos from his protests of the Iraq War. He has clippings of reports of his protests in Japanese newspapers, a <\/span>full-page ad<\/span><\/a> from <\/span>The New York Times <\/span><\/i>where he calls for Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation, and copies of the signs that he carried in front of the federal courthouse in Richmond, Virginia from 2003 to 2008. He also has a 21-page, single-spaced listing all of his notable protests, TV and radio appearances, and newspaper articles that mentioned him. Syverson was not a frequent protester before the Iraq War, nor is he a historian or archivist,–so why does he have such an immense portfolio documenting protest? For Syverson, the Iraq War was personal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Syversons are a military family, and although Larry Syverson decided to protest the Iraq War, he has always supported the troops. All four of his sons enlisted right out of high school and two were active-duty military during the war. Branden Syverson joined the army in 1989, Brent and Brian joined the Navy in 1992 and 1995 respectively, and Bryce the Army in 1997. However, Larry Syverson did not support the Iraq War and he exercised his first amendment right to speak out against the conflict. \u201cI was against the Iraq war from the moment I heard about it,\u201d said Syverson. \u201cI am originally from Texas and worked in the oil industry for about 15 years. The minute I heard about Iraq, I suspected it was about oil.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Syverson didn\u2019t want to see his sons go into battle for what he deemed an unworthy and dishonest cause. In response, he began to dissent publicly. As Syverson gained media attention, he began to save clippings and other forms of documentation to send to his sons fighting abroad. One response from his son Branden explained, \u201cA lot of people here have seen the articles that you are in. They will ask if that\u2019s my dad. When I say yes they look at my funny. I tell them that you have three sons in the military and two of which are in Iraq. You can say or do whatever you want, you\u2019ve earned it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n From 2003 to 2008, Syverson protested upwards of 200 times. Although he participated in national rallies and larger protests, he is most well-known for the vigils he held each week in Richmond, Virginia. He would take his lunch breaks, about three times a week for the period in which his sons were in active duty, to protest outside the old federal courthouse. \u00a0He would stand on the corner, facing the street, holding signs that said \u201cIraqi Oil Isn\u2019t Worth my Sons\u2019 Blood\u201d and also \u201cHonk for Peace\u201d for cars and pedestrians to interact with. These signs displayed pictures of his sons Braden and Bryce with the purpose of giving a face to the soldiers in Iraq. <\/span><\/p>\n Despite his identity as a military father, Syverson faced backlash from passersby as he protested at corner of 10th & Main Streets. He says that many people would shoot him the middle finger as they passed, honk at him and tell him to \u201cgo back to France,\u201d or yell that he was a communist. At the start of the war, in 2003, Pew Research reports that <\/span>72% of Americans<\/span><\/a> agreed that military force should be used in Iraq, and supporters of the war directly challenged Syverson\u2019s right to protest. In the wake of 9\/11, George W. Bush, in his <\/span>State of the Union address<\/span><\/a> on January 29, 2002, labeled Iraq as part of an \u201caxis of evil\u201d that supported terrorists, tied to its leader Saddam Hussein to Al Queda, and claimed Hussein had developed\u201cweapons of mass destruction\u201d to be used against the United States. Syverson\u2019s dissent contradicted official and popular opinion of the war. It also violated the cultural script for the behavior of military families, who were often expected to be the most patriotic and the most supportive of government actions. <\/span><\/p>\n These protests were at times isolating for Syverson, and for many years, he knew that deciding to protest was also consenting to be ridiculed for his stand. What he was less prepared for was the stress the war and his protest placed upon him and his family.. The Syversons experienced such a high degree of unpredictability in their lives during this time, and their family routine was fractured by having their sons deployed. He and his wife asked their friends and neighbors to always call before knocking at their door, because they feared that an unidentified knock on their door would mean that one of their sons was killed or injured. <\/span>\u00a0In this context, Larry Syverson\u2019s weekly protests in front of the federal courthouse were therapeutic. They provided routine, and a chance for Syverson to put action to his anxieties about the wellbeing of his sons. <\/span><\/p>\n Through protest, Syverson was able to remake and claim his identity as a military father who spoke out against the hardships his family faced. Syverson wasn\u2019t alone in this desire. In November 2002, two military families founded the organization <\/span>Military Families Speak Out<\/span><\/a> (MFSO) in response to the planned invasion of Iraq. Founded on the premise that military families could be anti-war while still supporting the troops, MFSO gained traction in 2003 for the \u201cBring Them Home Now\u201d campaign. It also served as a haven for American families experiencing the stress and hardship of having a family member serving in Iraq. <\/span><\/p>\n Larry Syverson found MFSO in April 2003, after a disheartening first month of protesting at the federal courthouse. MFSO became a lifeline.<\/span><\/p>\n After repeated protests, such as Larry Syverson\u2019s, and veteran and military family organizations, activists began to see the tide of public opinion turn against the Iraq War. Many Americans were surprised that American troops were still being deployed to Iraq after, in 2005, Saddam Hussein was tried by Iraqi courts and hung for crimes against humanity. Also in 2005, MFSO participated in a demonstration outside of President George W. Bush\u2019s ranch called <\/span>\u201cCamp Casey\u201d <\/span><\/a>which drew even more media to military families. By 2007, it was confirmed by the Pentagon that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction or ties to al-Qaeda. Support for the war dropped to <\/span>around 40%<\/span><\/a>, and many activists believe that the work they did to personalize the war made that drop possible. \u201cWe made it okay to speak out against the war,\u201d said Syverson. \u201cMore importantly, we were able to convince people you could support the troops without supporting the war. We were able to make that separation!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Further Reading: <\/b><\/p>\n Lisa Leitz, <\/span>Fighting for Peace: Veterans and Military Families in the Anti-Iraq War Movement<\/span><\/i> (2014)<\/span><\/p>\n Dexter Filkins, <\/span>The Forever War <\/span><\/i>(2008)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Larry Syverson keeps a archive of articles, press releases, and photos from his protests of the Iraq War. He has clippings of reports of his protests in Japanese newspapers, a full-page ad from The New York Times where he calls … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rvaprotest\/files\/2018\/05\/DSC03439.jpg\")
American troops in the Iraq War were comprised of an all-volunteer force (AVF), meaning that less than one percent of the population was engaged in the conflict. Most Americans were largely unaffected by the war, or at least, did not have a personal connection to anyone on the ground. Demonstrations became a way to bring attention to the ways American military families had been affected by the war. The Iraq War appeared distant and abstract to many Americans,. Military families protesting made the dangers and sacrifices of war much more proximate and humanized. \u201cBecause such a small number of troops are being subjected to multiple deployments, the effects of the war directly impact an extremely small group of Americans,\u201d said Syverson. \u201cI don\u2019t think the other 99 percent have any idea what the 1 percent of us that deal with these multiple deployments are going through over and over and over. My three sons have had six deployments: five Iraq and one Afghanistan.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n