Mayor Daley, anti-war firebrand: Tracking his evolution through the years

Chicago peace activists are jumping up and down about a snippet from a speech given by Mayor Daley on Tuesday evening. You can listen to it here, or read my transcript below:

We always believe America is No. 1. If you start the first World War, the second world war, then you take Korea and Vietnam, and Iraq one and 2 and Afghanistan. Just think all the money that we spend on wars to save the world.

Today we can't save America. What is it? Why do we always have to go to war, continually? Why can't we rebuild America? Why is it we have to take 300, 400 billions dollars from poor people and then tell people we're only going to be there for a year and we're coming home and then we'll declare victory?

What is it? What is it about America? How did we start this century of 10 years of war? Ten years of war we started it, and will continue to move forward.

Where are the Iraq anti-war people? I looked down at the Dirksen center  — where are they? Where are they? They disappeared. What happened? I thought war was evil. Where are the people believed in their heart against George Bush? 'We have to organize and walk down Michigan Avenue and Clark Street.' What happened? I thought they believed in their heart.

But don't you know it's a political issue. We won the election. Now we go home. What happened to America?

This priceless rant was spouted off at the 16th Annual Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards; WBEZ's Cate Cahan posted audio clips and commentary on her blog, and the jaws of those who've spent the past few years protesting the war were soon agape all over town.

To fan the flames a bit, I took some time to research what Daley told the Tribune and Sun-Times over the past seven years about the Iraq war and those who spoke out against it. The comments I found were not plentiful but definitely illuminating.

Daley said nothing after more than 800 protesters and luckless passerby were corralled and arrested (1, 2) in the Mag Mile during a demonstration that drew more than 10,000 the night after bombs began to fall on Baghdad. He let police officials defend themselves — which wasn't that difficult, since our dailies displayed no inclination to stand up for First Amendment rights amid the neo-McCarthyist frenzy of the time.

But when the city again denied activists a permit to march on Michigan Avenue on the first anniversary of the war, Daley defended the move. On Feb. 26, 2004, Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman quoted him as saying, "They have a right to be against war, but it's costing you taxpayers a lot of money," and then declining to say whether protesters who insisted on taking Michigan Avenue would be arrested.

Later in the year, Daley's only son, Patrick, joined the Army at the age of 29. On Dec. 1, 2004, Tribune columnist Jon Kass described Daley's thoughts on the matter as such:

"I'm very proud of the decision he made," Daley said. "He has friends who are in the military today. He has friends who are firemen and policemen. He believes that is part of public service. I'm very proud of his decision and stand by his decision."

Soon the second anniversary of the war came along, and once again no permit to march on Michigan Avenue was granted. Several activists who challenged the ban were arrested, including the late Malachi Ritscher; the resulting trials ranged from amusing to inspirational and included a constitutional challenge to the constitutionality of the city's disorderly conduct ordinance. 

Daley said nothing publicly in September 2005 when the City Council approved a non-binding resolution calling for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq. But a few months later, as debate about the war increased in direct proportion to the carnage in Iraq, Daley was pressed by reporters to discuss his views on the topic while giving a press conference on a totally unrelated topic — the launch of a new program to preserve affordable housing.

It was enough of a big deal to be covered in both dailies the next day (Dec. 2, 2005), but I like the Sun-Times piece better. Daley claimed his position on the war was "right in the middle — not to the left or right." But then he started to sound pretty gung-ho:

"We can't just leave the Middle East . . . Let's forget about the Middle East. Just walk away. I don't think anybody wants that. What I think we're trying to do — some way — is trying to slowly allow Iraq to take full control of their country," Daley said. 

A history buff, Daley drew a comparison between the fight for democracy in Iraq and three earlier conflicts that also centered around a quest for freedom: the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and World War II. 

"No one likes war because it's the death of someone's son or daughter, father, mother or son.

  . . . No one was for the Revolutionary War. . . . Maybe today they would doubt the Civil War -- whether or not slavery was worth fighting for. I think it was. Lincoln was right to fight slavery. No one likes war. But those people went to war at that time for an emotional issue about slavery. Were they wrong? Were people wrong when they fought Hitler? He didn't do anything against us. He didn't invade the United States."

As the third anniversary of the war approached, peace activists came up with a foul-proof legal strategy to force the city to cough up a permit for a triumphant march on Michigan Avenue. But as the end of the year approached, Daley was still feeling pretty hawkish, as this Tribune article from Nov. 2, 2006 indicates:

Mayor Richard Daley, whose son is a soldier, said Wednesday that Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) was wrong for telling students they will "get stuck in Iraq" if they don't make the most of their educational opportunities.

The remark was "uncalled for," Daley said. If Kerry's comment was meant as a joke, it was "a sad joke."

Asked if he took it personally because his son, Patrick, is in the Army, Daley said, "I think everybody should take it personally. It doesn't matter if you have a son or daughter in the military."

Fast-forward to the fourth anniversary of the war. The city didn't fight the request for a Michigan Avenue permit, and police officials begrudgingly acknowledged that peaceniks weren't such horrible people after all. But it wasn't exactly a truce; police presence at the annual mass demonstration decreased but never ceased, and activists were still getting arrested. Their unofficial ringleader, Andy Thayer, was a frequent target (1, 2), and Deputy Corporation Counsel Yvonne LaGrone attended at least two of the trials against him, issuing directions to her underlings and even speaking directly to the judge. 

As late as a year ago, after Chicago's favorite adoptive son moved into the White House due partly to (long-shattered) promises to bring the troops home, the city was still coming up with creative excuses to restrict peace protest activity.

It wouldn't be fair to attribute all of these moves directly to Daley, but let's face it: Even his admirers admit the man is a control freak tight-fisted ruler. Suggesting that he was unaware some of his top legal eagles were logging precious hours butting heads with activists would seriously stretch the bounds of credibility.

So what to make of Daley's recent anti-war tirade? Is it a sign of a previously undisclosed mayoral epiphany? Is it the sound of a father's heart heavy with concern as his son gets redeployed to an undisclosed combat zone? Is the man simply cracking under the stress of running a penniless city while federal officials breathe down his neck about corruption as he licks the wounds of a snub of Olympian proportions?

Whatever it is, the aforementioned Andy Thayer, who's busy organizing a March 18 demo observing the seventh (gawd) anniversary of the war, is finding it very amusing, as indicated by this press release put out yesterday:

“Now that our Mayor has decided that the peace movement was right about the war all along, and that marching against it on Michigan Avenue is a good thing, we’re sure he’ll soon be issuing an apology to the over 800 people who his riot police arrested at the corner of Michigan and Chicago Avenues on March 20, 2003 at the start of the invasion." 

"We’re truly grateful that he’ll apparently be issuing an apology to those of us arrested for participating in a press conference on the corner of Michigan and Oak on the third anniversary of the war, for suing us to overturn a permit we won last year, and for the periodic spying on and infiltration of our movement by his police force. We’re gratified to learn that he’ll soon have the city’s Law Department throw in the towel in its defense of the City in the lawsuits arising out of these matters. For all of this we are sincerely grateful.”