From a quick email that a reader sent from the rally in Washington DC today, I already know this Associated Press story is an absurd whitewash: Mideast rallies held in Washington, SF.

WASHINGTON - Thousands of people gathered across from the White House on Saturday, even though the president was out of town, to condemn U.S. and Israeli policies in the Middle East.

Speakers in Lafayette Park energized the most mostly Muslim crowd with chants and speeches condemning Israeli involvement in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, U.S. support for Israel and U.S. involvement in Iraq.

“Occupation is a crime,” the crowd chanted, equating the situations in the three areas. But they also called for peace and justice for all.

“We all stand united against the violence and the killing in the holy land,” said Esam Omesh, president of the Muslim American Society, a co-sponsor of the demonstration, along with the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee and the National Council of Arab Americans. “There is no difference between Muslim life, Christian life or Jewish life,” said Omesh. …

Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark drew cheers from the Washington crowd when he called for President Bush’s impeachment. “We’ve made more enemies during the presidency of George Bush than in the rest of our history combined,” Clark said. …

The family friendly crowd was filled with Muslims, but also contained many non-Muslims, including a handful of orthodox Jews. [Almost certainly the whacko Neturei Karta group. —ed.] Yeshaye Rosenverg, 23, traveled form Monsey, N.Y., to “show the support for the Lebanese and Palestine people and to make clear that it’s not a Jewish fight between Arabs and Jews.”

A law enforcement official on the scene estimated that there were about 5,000 people attending the rally and subsequent march through the streets of Washington, which was sponsored by the ANSWER Coalition, the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation and the National Council of Arab Americans.

The email I received from an LGF reader said that the Hizballah flag was waved in front of the White House today. Pictures soon.

UPDATE at 8/12/06 3:57:42 pm:

Already the outrageous bias shows up, in the caption for a photo from al-Reuters:

A woman shouts at anti-Muslim protesters during a rally in Washington against the Middle East conflict August 12, 2006. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES)

The purpose of the rally, stated above in AP’s article, was to protest US and Israeli Middle East policy. These people cheered when Ramsey Clark called for President Bush to be impeached, and according to a reader, waved Hizballah flags.

So counter-protesters would be in favor of US and Israeli policy, and against terrorism.

But al-Reuters describes them as “anti-Muslim.”