Front Page  news  metro

June 3, 2004

Albuquerque Woman Displaying Anti-War Poster Says She Was Taken From Airport

The Associated Press
   DALLAS   —   An Albuquerque woman says she was ejected from a Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport terminal after showing military recruits an anti-war campaign poster.
    Carole Ward, 57, showed the recruits an 8 1/2- by 11-inch poster of a composite illustration of President Bush made up of the faces of soldiers who have died in Iraq. It bore the title "Faces of Death."
    Some people found the poster offensive and the woman became belligerent with an American Airlines gate agent, said Tim Wagner, a spokesman for the airline.
    Ward made some passengers feel uncomfortable while waiting to board her airplane during a thunderstorm Tuesday night and presented a security threat, he said.
    "She's not only going around talking to these recruits, saying they shouldn't join the Army, they shouldn't fight in the war, she's also forcing the poster on them," Wagner said.
    Ward, who was returning home from a Libertarian convention in Atlanta, said she started a conversation with a few of several dozen recruits in the airport.
    She passed around the poster that had messages to elect Libertarian Aaron Russo president and to stop a possible military draft.
    Wagner said some people thought the poster had pictures of soldiers' bodies. He said the material could be considered offensive.
    Although Wagner said the gate agent asked airport police to remove the woman from the secure side of the terminal, airport spokesman Ken Capps said the officers only monitored the situation and Ward left on her own.
    She said she was forced to leave the airport without her bag or shoes, which she left on the airplane, and spend the night in a hotel.