Nearly 100 students gathered in Tripp Commons Tuesday night to hear debate over the reasons and ethics behind a possible war with Iraq.
The Wisconsin Union Directorate's contemporary issues committee sponsored the event. Members of the Madison Area Peace Coalition's student/youth caucus, Stop the War!, approached the committee in hopes to debate another student organization on a possible war with Iraq, according to Christopher Dols, a member of Stop the War! and a debate panelist.
After being denied by several student organizations, including College Republicans, Dols said committee members asked a conservative, UW-Madison junior Anthony Carver, to compose a panel that would advocate intervention in Iraq.
Pro-intervention panelists were asked to speak first on why a war with Iraq would be in the best interest of the United States.
A.J. Hughes, a member of the pro-intervention panel, said Iraq poses a threat to the United States because Saddam Hussein controls weapons of mass destruction. He said the United States must \lay down the law.""
""There is a potential threat to destabilize the region and the world and that is why it is in the best interest of the United States,"" he said. ""I do not see another alternative [to war].""
The nonintervention side responded to the comments made by Hughes. Dols said the more the issue of war is analyzed, it appears the majority of American people do not want a war with Iraq. Instead, he said it is the government leaders who want the war.
""It is a difference between the people of the United States and the people who own the United States,"" Dol said.
Both sides also attacked the reasons the United States may enter the war. Panelists of the non-intervention side said the main reasons were economic and military, pointing to the United States' interest in Iraq's oil supply.
Michael Hahn, a UW-Madison sophomore and a panelist for the pro-intervention side, said it was hard for him to believe oil was the only reason the United States wanted to go to war with Iraq. Rather, he said the United States is interested in helping the oppressed civilians of Iraq.
""The United States wants to improve the life and the quality of life for another country,"" he said.
After the debate, some students said they were not impressed with the rhetoric.
""I thought it was full of cookie-cutter answers, it was very stale,"" said UW-Madison senior Jason Libby. ""They could have phoned in the debate.""
UW-Madison freshman Travis Bird said he was impressed with the turnout at the event.
""I think it's cool people are starting to catch on to this,"" he said. ""I think there was indifference on campus toward this issue at the beginning of the year.\
