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Indybay Feature

We The People

by Kyle Honaker
Examines United States reasons for deciding to declare war.
We The People


In the year of 2002 the United States government started to raise the idea that it was going to be imminent to invade Iraq. Following this speculation, former President George W. Bush stated in a speech that there were weapons of mass destruction located in the country. We then saw in the range of 150 major United states cities, protests broke out and millions of Americans were completely against the idea of going to war with such a minor threat such as Iraq.The main focus is not the actual idea of going to war, I believe that we are the strongest nation and definitely should be showing our “big stick” approach to international threats. However, there is a fine line between applicable causes to decide to go to war. Now after 10 years of our military forces having a presence in the middle east, not one weapon of mass destruction has been found. This piece is going to focus on how our United States citizens act in order to demand clear reasons of why our fellow country men and women are fighting for their lives in the Middle East.One of the largest gathering of protesters to the war gathered near the United Nations Building in New York City. Among the large group there were a few different sub groups present such as the 9/11 Families For Peaceful Tomorrows who are a group of families who had loves one pass away during the terrorist attacks. Majority of the protesting was rather non violent except for a few protesters getting out of hand an throwing rocks at police officers. The protesters mainly consisted of various other groups of people, ranging from young children to military veterans.Another city where there was a significant rate of protesting was in Los Angeles where there was around 50,000 protesters marching down Hollywood Boulevard. To highlight importance, famous actors such as Rob Reiner and Martin Sheen were also present giving their support for the movement. In St. Paul, Minnesota during in the year of 2008, both the Democratic and Republican Conventions saw a wide range of protesters claiming and stating their dismay for our current involvement in the Middle East. Many protesters would look to send messages and opinions through picketing. One of these generally common statements were questioning the government's main objectives throughout the vast majority of the war. Another consistent notion is the opportunity costs of being in the Middle East for so long, giving the fact that our own economy as been in debt for such a long amount of time. One has to question whether the money used for the war could have been better used to prevent our country falling so far into debt.After briefly analyzing the Anti-War Movement in the United States it is clear that there is definitely a strong opposition for our presence in the Middle East. I also feel as if the movement is rather broad, showing the range of opposition not only in the United States, but all across the world and on different continents. A democracy is supposed to represent the people, however our governments officials have strayed away from that and now it is our right as citizens to reclaim our rights back.

Kyle Honaker is a senior at Sonoma State University and plans a career in Public Relations.
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