Iraq rally attracts little support

Marking the two-year anniversary of the war on Iraq, the Penn Anti-War Group organized an antiwar gathering yesterday afternoon -- consisting of a booth manned by a few individuals on Locust Walk.

Few students, however, took notice of the efforts, planned by members of Penn Staff and Students Against War, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the Peacebuilding and Demilitarization group.

The groups were trying to raise awareness about the war in Iraq, provide information about anti-war groups and promote a protest planned for Saturday at Fourth and Arch streets.

School of Medicine staff member and PSSAW member Sharon Hurley said that the groups convened "to make people more aware of lots of things students can do" to protest war.

Peacebuilding and Demilitarization group member and Philadelphia resident Covella Calica encourages Penn students to listen to perspectives that they have not heard before.

She said that she wants to inform Penn students and staff about the thousands who have died in Iraq thus far.

"People can only stand up for what they believe in if they know the facts," Calica said.

She added that she noticed the lack of interest in the PAW table among students. She said that most of them walked past her without noticing the message.

"Penn's a tough school" to get through to, she said.

Nevertheless, IVAW member and Rutgers graduate Jim Talip tried to inform students about the war from a veteran's perspective.

In his opinion, the war has nothing to do with helping the Iraqi people; he feels that the war is driven by the U.S. oil industry.

"The [Bush] administration ... wants to make money," Talip said. He added that many Bush administration officials have ties to the oil industry.

Talip cited his military experiences in Iraq as examples; his duties included securing oil fields, guarding oil pipelines and keeping the oil infrastructure intact.

He said that only the people who set up the occupation are benefiting from the war.

"I'm not benefiting, and the people fighting aren't benefiting," Talip said.

Hurley also does not feel that the war helps American citizens.

"A lot of our tax money goes to the war. I spent thousands of dollars [in tax money] ... to kill thousands of women and children, and that's upsetting," Hurley said.

Arts and Sciences graduate student Cynthia Murtagh said that she feels ambivalent toward the current U.S. occupation in Iraq.

"We shouldn't have been there in the first place ... but now we can't walk away," she said. The military "needs to make sure that we don't leave [Iraq] in a worse state than when we came."

However, she supports PAW's effort to increase awareness.

"Most of the time I think our country is run by older people with conservative ideas. We should get younger people involved ... to get a fresh perspective about what the issues are," she said.

Penn College Republicans officer and College sophomore Michelle Dubert, a former Daily Pennsylvanian columnist, was not aware of the protest.

"If they made an impact, good for them; if not, then I hope they enjoyed themselves and got their point across as they saw fit."

Dubert, however, is supportive of the war in Iraq.

"I think strategically it will work out in our benefit in the end."

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