I find it hard to believe for somebody who follows the liberal/socdem left closely that you are so uncritical of UFPJ. Most leftists (and "post-leftists") recognize the liberal/socdem/Democratic Party/Paul Berman/DLC element lurking with UFPJ (and the Green Party and whatnot) and hate it. And so on and so forth.
The ANSWER rally was a big communist circle jerk (although lots of normal people against the war showed up as well). Their strategy is going nowhere. They haven't accomplished much, even shifting opinion.
I am well aware of all the faults you note - as far as the track record of sabotaging movements, I have heard about it but don't know many details, perhaps I'll read more on the subject. I recognize all of ANSWER's faults which you point out (with the movement-sabotaging awareness probably more vague).
I simply recognize the good and bad in all movements. ANSWER's pluses is on a day when the entire world was protesting the war, they were organizing big rallies where I was anyway. As another poster said, in London they cheered when they heard this. And their black/Latino outreach seems better than UFPJ's.
I don't have faith that UFPJ lib/socdem types will stay anti-war. Maybe they will swallow this "democracy breaking out in the Mideast" nonsense. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. I have gone to ANSWER events against US policy in Colombia, and bought their book on it. They protested in front of NYC Coca-Cola HQ, they had a forum on what was going on in Colombia with speakers from Colombia, and they published a book with articles by Gloria Gaitan, Tirofijo, Paul Wellstone and others about the war in Colombia, which I thought was pretty good.
What the hell has UFPJ or the local libs/socdems done about the billion a year going to Colombia, the hundreds of trade unionists murdered and so forth? They're probably busy getting anti-Cuban petitions signed like Leo Casey or whining about Castro in Dissent or the New Republic. At least ANSWER is doing something about it, by God. I'd rather stand with them while the libs/socdems sit on their ass and whine about Castro instead. Or about how FARC won't put down their weapons (FARC did put down their weapons and ran for elections in the Patriotic Union in the 1980s - they were slaughtered - one out of three candidates were assassinated even before the elections).
I spend most of my time working with non-hierarchical collectives, and I like to do stuff with the IWW as well. But if ANSWER is doing work on Colombia or whatever when other people aren't - I will certainly work with them.