Central Illinois Protests Against the Iraq War and Demands Accountability
Normal, Illinois - On April 23, 2007, Illinois State University students and members of the Bloomington/Normal community gathered on the Illinois State University campus to protest the war in Iraq. The message they were chanting was very clear. The War in Iraq is Immoral and Illegal, Impeach the Warmongers, and We Want Peace and We Want It NOW.
The protestors chanted and marched around the Illinois State University quadrangle carrying signs demanding our involvement in Iraq stop NOW and to bring our troops home.
Even though emotions were running pretty high during this protest, some students were able to carry on a rather lengthy debate on the pros and cons of the American involvement in Iraq before the chanting escalated to a volume that the debaters would have to scream to be heard over. The Pro-War sides main argument was that Iraq is supposedly better off because of all the money that we are spending to build schools and the fact that the number of children in schools has increased dramatically since US occupation. They were not given the opportunity to give a valid explanation for how we got into Iraq to begin with or why our government lied to us in the first place along with about 1000 other questionable acts committed by our government.
ISU Students Protest the Iraq War!
The protest was publicized in "The Indy" and I expected there to be a small turnout. I had pretty much given up hope that anyone even cared until today. I was extremely surprised at the number of people who showed up. Monika Thelen, who was entirely responsible for the event, said that the rally made her aware of the need for a student organization that would handle things like this in the future. She also stated her desire that this should not be a one time deal, so hopefully there will be more to come! Monika and everyone in attendance, are all "uberkewl" as far as this site is concerned. PEACE!