More than 100 people gathered in front of the State Capitol Wednesday evening, bearing signs stating ""Mission Accomplished: Bring the Troops Home Now"" and ""Impeach Bush,"" protesting President Bush's veto of a bill proposing an additional $124.2 billion for Iraq that required troops home later in 2007.
Organized by MoveOn.org, a federal political action committee, protest saw a crowd ranging from the random passersby to City of Madison residents to Campus Anti-war Network members to former Green Berets—U.S. Army Special Forces members.
MoveOn.org Madison Coordinator Dennis Coyier rallied the crowd, saying, ""The troops need to come home now!""
""There is no official agenda for tonight other than getting people out here,"" Coyier said. ""The November election was a mandate to end the war and bring the troops home safely—troops out now!""
City of Madison resident Sue Hoffenberg described her frustration with the war in Iraq and what she said she perceives as a lack of media attention to protesters.
""What I hope to accomplish is to make a public statement that people in Madison would like to see the troops brought home—it doesn't show up much in the media,"" Hoffenberg said.
""President Bush vetoed the bill to put an end date on the troops in Iraq. His policies are counter to democracy and we just want to remind people and the media that this is how we feel, and I want to go on record as a person—as a citizen,"" she said.
Hoffenberg said she affiliates religiously as a Quaker and that some founders of MoveOn.org are also Quakers.
""Quakers are of the idea that there is a little bit of God in everyone, and that's why we are opposed to wars and the killing of innocent people,"" she said.
The U.S. House of Representatives' Wednesday vote failed to garner the two-thirds of representatives necessary to override the president's veto, with a 222-203-1 vote.
