On 8-year anniversary of Afghanistan war, peace activists protest

Eight years ago Timothy Baer was driving with his daughter when he heard about the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.

“I pulled over and wept,” Baer said, the campaign coordinator from Declaration of Peace and the Bloomington Peace Action Coalition. “I knew that many people were going to die.”

Baer was not alone Wednesday as more than 30 people attended an anti-war protest that took place in front of the Bloomington City Courthouse. Wednesday marked the eight-year anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan.

Protestors from Bloomington and surrounding communities held up peace signs and banners as people drove by, honked and looked on with curiosity.

Baer said he’s been a peace activist since the ’80s, standing up to American attacks against Nicaragua and El Salvador.

He said that he was out to show solidarity with the Afghan people and the efforts to pull American troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq. The group has been protesting the war since it started in 2001.

David Stewart, a ClassPak materials specialist at the IU Document Services Centers, said most people at the rally are older – old enough to realize that war is not the answer.

“Look at history, people don’t want us there,” Stewart said. “There is no legitimacy to the U.S. troops being present in Afghanistan.”

Baer said that he believes that oil and economic oppression are the reasons we are fighting wars in the Middle East. He even said that the U.S. has not told the whole truth about 9/11, making this war pointless.

The same stance was held by Pam Raider, a protestor from Nashville, Ind. Raider said she thought that the U.S. was not fighting a war against terror and that the war in Afghanistan causes terrorism. She was also very critical of the money spent on war instead of economic development.

“What if we spent as much money on destroying Afghanistan to fix the place?” Raider said.

Though the turnout numbers of the protest were not as large as usual, Kyle Knight, an IU graduate student, said he believed that it did not properly show the numbers of people who are against military efforts in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

“If you believe in peace, you shouldn’t quit. No matter what the numbers of protestors are.” Knight said.

Rita Lichtenberg, a Bloomington resident, was not only critical of the war but of American politicians as a whole. She said that the U.S. was fighting for Afghanistan’s freedom but it placed a corrupt government.

Lichtenberg said that Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai’s election was manipulated by the Americans and the British.

“Our troops are sent over there and they are turned into enemies by the locals,” Lichtenberg said.

Even Rep. Baron Hill, D-9th District, was not spared by the protestors. The flyers called out for people to get in touch with the congressman and tell him not to vote for the troop surge in Afghanistan.

“The way Baron Hill can support the troops – well,  that’s an easy one,” Lichtenberg said. “He shouldn’t vote to send them there in the first place.”