Breslin says that George Bush, the Mayor and the Police Chief's "only excuse could be that they were practicing for the Republican National Convention. That one is going to be the great one." And, "They penned in throngs [Breslin says "almost a million," while Chief Kelly still insists it was only a hundred thousand] of smiling people as if they were cattle. It wasn't the cops' idea to do it. All they did was carry out orders as poorly as possible."

The idea of rebuffing and then penning people up is the responsibility of Mayor Bloomberg and police commissioner Ray Kelly. They decided to suffocate free speech and right of assembly and block the march. They did it to stop the one picture that would have had the most impact of any in the world, that of an immense crowd in New York walking against war.

It was done to help George Bush have his war. Deny it if you can.