Sights and sounds of interested students listening, clapping, thinking and watching filled the Bo Campbell Auditorium in the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student Athletes on Wednesday night as a group of six panelists discussed current issues surrounding the United States’ occupation of Iraq.
The crowd of roughly 600 students and members of the Baton Rouge community had vocal supporters of both pro- and anti-war rhetoric and proposed questions of general concern to both sides.
The forum, titled “U.S. Foreign Policy in Iraq and its Implications,” was one of more than 1,000 “People Speak” gatherings co-sponsored by the United Nations Foundation, based in Washington, D.C.
Jennifer Bryan, regional coordinator for “People Speak” said Wednesday’s crowd was one of the biggest she has seen.
Some of the issues discussed by the audience and panelists dealt with the presence of fear and how it may have been used to manipulate a message for the American people and to justify the war on Iraq.
Scott Wilfong, a pro-war panelist, said that Sept. 11 justified being afraid, and called the U.S.’s presence in Iraq a “black and white” issue.
“People in those countries want us dead. That’s the black. We can pursue or stop them, that’s the white,” Wilfong said. “Unless we are going to do something, then we’re giving into fear.”
An issue addressed by Kathy Kelly, an anti-war panelist and three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, dealt with the economic sanctions the United States placed on Iraq, resulting in the deaths of more than 500,000 children.
While the pro-war or blue table focused more on freeing the Iraqi people from a dictator and finding and destroying weapons of mass destruction, the anti-war or white table focused on why the terrorists decided to attack the United States, and how the United States can reform its policy so that more terrorists will not attack the country.
Wilson Powell, an anti-war panelist, said, “I don’t feel any safer if I don’t know why someone wants to kill me.”
Wilfong responded by proposing the question, “If someone pointed a gun at you, would you want me to stop that person and ask why they were pointing a gun at you or take it away?”
A student in the audience brought up the issue of Iraq’s status as the second largest producer of oil worldwide, and asked why the U.S is so focused on freeing Iraq from an “evil” dictator when there are other countries with dictators who are just as oppressing.
Kelly responded by saying the United States attacked Iraq because it could.
In reference to the United States’ success in setting up a basic infrastructure in Iraq that includes electricity, water and a working sewage system, Howell said the administration has done “a bunch of it” and is working on the rest.
Kelly said, “As of yesterday, electricity was flowing 8 hours per day in Baghdad, the infant mortality rate has doubled, traffic jams make it impossible to get around and there is still a lack of portable water. All the U.S. government has done is successfully construct permanent military bases for a long term presence in Iraq.”
Bill Quigley, an anti-war panelist, closed by commenting on how the issues that were discussed are not just those of Democrats or Republicans, but of “those who have a vision of what we expect for us and our children.”
He said he knows families of the victims of Sept. 11 who say they do not want more people to die because of the deaths of their family members.
Quigley said, “We’re better than that, not unrealistic. That’s our principles.”