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Oct. 31, 2002
Blazers protest war in Iraq
At least fifty students from Blair joined the tens of thousands of protesters on Saturday October 26, to march around the White House in protest of a U.S invasion in Iraq.
Students For Global Responsibility (SGR) organized for students to meet at the Takoma metro station on Saturday morning. According to George Vlasits, the clubs sponsor, "there were about 25 students who marched with us." With the parents of the students, Vlasits said the SGR group consisted of about fifty people. He said he "kept running into students" who were not with SGR, at the protest. He estimates that there were at least one hundred Blair students protesting.
Vlasits says he believes the protest was successful both in the Blair community and nationally. Junior Ben Austin, an active SGR member, agrees. "I've been part of SGR for three years and this is the largest turnout for any protest. And we've been to a lot of protests," says Austin.
On a larger scale Vlasits believes that this protest will cause George Bush to rethink his actions. "I would hope the international opposition and the national opposition would cause George Bush to pause. At least any sane intelligent person would," Vlasits said. Although Austin believes that this protest will not be enough to deter Bush, he does believe that this protest had a large impact. "It's good to have a strong foundation before a war even starts," says Austin.
Still, Austin and another SGR member, senior Sam Goldman, were quick to find fault with the protest, mainly in the chants. Goldman disliked when protesters chanted "A nation united will never be divided." "Obviously. That is the definition of united," said Goldman. Austin found it ironic that at a protest promoting peace many of the chants reflected violence. One example Austin gave was: "George Bush you can't lie. We charge you with genocide."
The majority of Blazers went in opposition to the war, but there were a few who attended for other reasons. Junior Annie Cohen went to be more informed about the subject. She listened to both the pro-war rally and the anti-war protest. "I thought by seeing both views I could understand them better." The protest did influence her views. "After seeing all the posters and hearing why we were going to war I was convinced that we were making a mistake," she said.
Almost all the students who went called the protest successful. "I am very proud of the students," said Vlasits.
Students For Global Responsibility (SGR) organized for students to meet at the Takoma metro station on Saturday morning. According to George Vlasits, the clubs sponsor, "there were about 25 students who marched with us." With the parents of the students, Vlasits said the SGR group consisted of about fifty people. He said he "kept running into students" who were not with SGR, at the protest. He estimates that there were at least one hundred Blair students protesting.
Vlasits says he believes the protest was successful both in the Blair community and nationally. Junior Ben Austin, an active SGR member, agrees. "I've been part of SGR for three years and this is the largest turnout for any protest. And we've been to a lot of protests," says Austin.
On a larger scale Vlasits believes that this protest will cause George Bush to rethink his actions. "I would hope the international opposition and the national opposition would cause George Bush to pause. At least any sane intelligent person would," Vlasits said. Although Austin believes that this protest will not be enough to deter Bush, he does believe that this protest had a large impact. "It's good to have a strong foundation before a war even starts," says Austin.
Still, Austin and another SGR member, senior Sam Goldman, were quick to find fault with the protest, mainly in the chants. Goldman disliked when protesters chanted "A nation united will never be divided." "Obviously. That is the definition of united," said Goldman. Austin found it ironic that at a protest promoting peace many of the chants reflected violence. One example Austin gave was: "George Bush you can't lie. We charge you with genocide."
The majority of Blazers went in opposition to the war, but there were a few who attended for other reasons. Junior Annie Cohen went to be more informed about the subject. She listened to both the pro-war rally and the anti-war protest. "I thought by seeing both views I could understand them better." The protest did influence her views. "After seeing all the posters and hearing why we were going to war I was convinced that we were making a mistake," she said.
Almost all the students who went called the protest successful. "I am very proud of the students," said Vlasits.
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unfortunately, i had to leave early, but when my sister came home she told us that the president was not even at the white house when the protesters were marching around it!
I will outline several main points for everyone reading this to think about:
>If we attack lives will be saved. He gasses his own people!!!
>He has previously attacked two other countries. Who says he won't do it again.
>Saddam has big bad weapons that could be used on friendly countries.
>He is building a nuclear bomb.
>He hates the U.S and everthing we stand for.
>We could take his oil which will cause fule prices to plummet (Consider the oil restitution.)
Also on the homefront issue:
>The U.S budget is hundreds of billions of dollars. We could conduct 50 wars!! (not that I would want to)
>The U.S army is relatively large that includes men and Equipment.
Think about these things and maybe you'll want to take him And his supporters out too.
>If we attack lives will be lost, in war and in resulting terrorist attacks.
>The U.S. has previously attacked too many countries to count. Who says we won't do it again?
>The U.S. has an incredible amount of nuclear/biological research/weaponry that could be used on friendly countries.
>We are building and have built many nuclear bombs.
>The U.S. hates Iraq and everything it stands for.
>Iraq could take the large amounts of farming lands in the U.S., and possibly solve hunger problems in Iraq and other countries.
Also on the homefront issue:
>The U.S. budget is hundreds of billions of dollars. We could improve education and public services 50 times over!! (Not that we would want to...)
>The relatively large, so we shouldn't have to worry about sending just a couple thousand men overseas to fight in an unjust war for unclear ideals.
Think about these things and maybe you'll want to think twice about wasting lives, money, safety, time and reputation.
tags everywhere. The SCO code already does this, making your posts over-spaced.
>More lives will be lost if we dont attack
>We are not an agressive nation. We attack countries because they are they are the agressors.
>We have these weapons for defense(that includes attacking before atacked) not outright agressive action.
>Once again the defense issue
>By saying this you bassically say that Th U.S is wrong and Iraq is right.
>We have plenty of money in these areas and more than money is needed for improvement.
>You obviously have no clear ideals or you would have wrote what you did.
You equate U.S with Iraq. Are you not proud of our country?
One last thing, an amendment to my previous comment:
Saddam has killed tens of thousands of his people, attacked Iran and Kuwait, and is willing to do the same things again!!!