War in Iraq at center of campus clash

The clock in the Student Building struck a note of discord Monday at noon as roughly two dozen students and community members used it's midday chime as a sign to begin chanting "No justice, no peace, USA out of the Middle East."\nMembers of the Bloomington Peace Action Coalition and the newly formed campus group Against the Occupation of Iraq gathered at the Sample Gates to protest the U.S. military's presence in Iraq. \nThe campus protests came after the first free Iraqi election in 50 years, which was widely viewed as successful by many world leaders.\n"To have the rally the day after the Iraqi elections says 'Bring our troops home, end the occupation,'" said Timothy Baer, a BPAC organizer.\nHe said the ends of the Iraqi election do not justify the means of the war in Iraq.\n"War is never justifiable," he said. "To kill people to save people is a ludicrous idea."\nBut not everyone at the rally agreed with Baer. Holding signs with slogans reading, "How does it feel to be irrelevant?" and "College Republicans against the leftist occupation of Bloomington," between 10 and 12 members of the IU College Republicans and like-minded community members came to the rally as well.\n"We came to make sure that the College Republicans and those that support the president and his policies are represented," said Adrianne Dunlap, the activism coordinator for the College Republicans.\nShe said because Bloomington is such a liberal town, conservatives' views are often squelched. \nTensions were high between the two groups during the hour-long rally. At one point graduate student Edward Vasquez responded to a comment by a conservative protester with a harsh obscenity.\nHe said he thought the conservatives' presence was disrespectful. "They have the right to be here, but I have the right to heckle them." said Vasquez, hoarse from shouting anti-war chants.\nBut most protesters on both sides of the issue appreciated each other's right to demonstrate. \n"I do believe that this is the spirit of peace," David Keppel, a member of BPAC, said of the conservatives' turnout.\nHe said the ability for two groups to assemble and peacefully disagree is the ideal of freedom and peace.\nGraduate student David Woken said he went to the protest because he felt IU students haven't been vocal enough against the war in Iraq. "In general I'm opposed to war," he said. "Specifically I am opposed to the war in Iraq." He said the elections were an important step, but elections do not make a democracy.\nGraduate student Amos Batto, a member of Against the Occupation of Iraq, said the goal of his group is to impact the public perception of the war. \n"It is important to contest the idea that we're being fed that the election was a success," he said.\nBatto said the U.S. government removed the names of some Iraqi candidates from the ballots because they did not agree with the U.S. occupation. He also said the elections were flawed in that voters didn't know the names of the candidates before they arrived at the polls, and because of the security situation, there was no public debate of the issues each candidate stood for.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Michael Zennie at mzennie@indiana.edu.