The Revolution Will Be Live-Blogged

The Washington Post's Marc Fisher will be live-blogging the two dueling demonstrations in Washington, DC today. Fisher will have a number of Post reporters stationed in various areas of the city and plans to update regularly as the day progresses.

Good morning, all–the weather is supposed to become lovely as the day progresses, so both sides in today's dueling demonstrations for and against the U.S. presence in Iraq have only their organizational skills and the appeal of their messages to blame for whatever size crowd they may draw as the day unfolds.

Supported by a crack team of reporters stationed all along the rally and march routes, I'll be updating the scene and the speeches, the confrontations and the passions, throughout the day.

Today's anti-war rally and march is, like several staged since before the Bush administration decided to take down Saddam Hussein's government, organized primarily by a group called the ANSWER Coalition. The pro-war rally, which was organized in response to the anti demo, is being put together by a new, ad hoc group called the Gathering of Eagles.

ANSWER has big plans for the day, protesting against the war in Iraq and against Israel at the same time. (There goes that new anti-Semitism again). Fisher isn't sure that is a good strategy:

The ANSWER Coalition is also using today's rally to fight other longstanding battles. Although many of the marchers joining the anti-war rally today may not know it, ANSWER considers this a demonstration against the war in Iraq and against what it calls "Israel's brutal repression of the Palestinian people." Today's event, organizers say, is meant to show solidarity with Palestinians and to oppose "the Israeli state's profoundly racist character." How that position will play with the bulk of the crowd remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, the Gathering of Eagles plans on guarding the capitol's monuments - to prevent more of this from happening. (See the video at their website).