A Stop the War rally on Library Mall was met with mixed reactions Wednesday, as students and bypassers simultaneously sympathized with the cause but were confused and disappointed with the rally's approach.
In the political spirit of Madison, students openly approached rally members to debate the finer points of their protest.
UW-Madison sophomore Justin Hager argued with Veterans for Peace members and Stop the War petitioners on their stance of immediate withdrawal of troops in Iraq.
\I don't understand how you can be out here supporting our veterans, our soldiers and our GIs if you are not willing to support these people, these 1,800 GIs who died, with proper guns,"" said Hager, a former military member.
""I think the best way to support the troops is to bring them home before anymore are killed or wounded,"" said former Marine Corps member Frank Court of Veterans for Peace's stance and involvement in anti-war movements. ""Individually, we all have our own feelings on war, but our general feeling in the organization is that we want to get the soldiers out before more are killed.""
Arguments remained civil, though still confrontational between students and rally members.
Stop the War members serected a 20-foot model of a black-robed torture victim from the Abu Gharib scandal to loom over Library Mall.
""It's effective in catching people's eyes because it's big, but it looks like a Ku Klux Klan cover-up. I remember the pictures of the war victims, but at first glance that is just what I saw,"" UW Madison sophomore Ashley Jeffrey said.
""It makes me feel disgruntled,"" said UW-Madison graduate student Sung-Po Lin of the statue. ""But it's good. It will make people look twice. It will help people to pay attention to first it, and then to the war.""
Others were not as taken aback by the figure. ""I think it's a funny boogieman,"" bystander Rick Castro said. ""This is a bunch of 60s has-beens trying to scare the children.""
Veterans and Protestors of the Vietnam War era held a prominent presence at the rally.
""I was doing this in the 60s here in Madison,"" said Caroline Greenwald, UW alumnus and current senior lecture guest who helped organize the rally. ""And last week my friend and I were talking about how isn't it a shame we have to do it all over again?""
