The Barometer Online

Issue date: 1/24/03 Section: News

"We love America. We love President Bush," read the sign Jean Nelson carried last Monday night at a pro-Bush rally in downtown Corvallis. She and her husband Charles had rallied their friends to join them in supporting the U.S. government decisions and to challenge a proposed anti-war resolution by the Corvallis City Council.

But the voices in favor of the anti-war resolution overshadowed the Nelsons, and the council passed the motion, causing mixed reactions within the community.

The council's anti-war declaration comes on the heels of a similar declaration that the OSU Faculty Senate passed last week.

The Corvallis City Council is now one of 42 city governments in the United States that has passed a resolution opposing a preemptive, unilateral war against Iraq. Eugene is the only other Oregon city to take this stance. A similar resolution by the Portland City Council failed Wednesday. Of 11 universities nationwide, OSU and Reed College are the only two Oregon schools to take a public anti-war stance.

Charles Nelson, who organized the rally in support of Bush and testified before the council, said that the resolution and anti-war protests are "weakening the nation's ability to negotiate from a position of strength."

Nelson was in the Air Force during the Cold War. Then, he said, the United States avoided conflict because the military and government were strong

The nation can avoid this war only if citizens stand united behind Bush, he added.

"But we can't support an unconstitutional war," Corvallis resident Richard Raymond said. "If the president is doing something wrong, standing behind him is wrong."

Aleita Hass-Holcombe, chair of the Just Peace Committee in Corvallis, agreed.

"I am patriotic," she said. "It's my duty to be vigilant. This is support because he needs my good advice."

After the resolution passed, Hass-Holcombe sighed in relief because she felt that people of power are carrying her message to the President.

"The message will get to him eventually that not everyone is in support of this madness," she said.

Some Army ROTC cadets, while declining to take a position on a possible war with Iraq, said they wanted to send a message to the American people.

"The anti-war resolutions are important for the democracy of our country," said one cadet, who requesting that the Barometer not use his name. "However, our job in the Armed Forces is to defend the values and way of life of our country."

Like the soldiers who returned from the Vietnam War, the cadets said they are worried that Americans will treat them unkindly if they have to fight in Iraq. The anti-war resolutions aren't putting them at ease.

"People are judging the military without making informed decisions," the cadet said. "They're judging the military rather than the politicians who decide who, where and when we fight."

City council member Justin Roach said he signed the city's resolution because he doesn't want the day to come when he asks the cadets to do a job he wouldn't do.

"How dare I ask someone to fight in my place when I'm not willing to fight myself?" asked Roach, a former OSU student body president. "I have to ask myself, 'What would I give my life for?'

"I would give my life for my family. I would give my life for what we [had] at the council meeting -- a dialogue about going to war."

Roach voted for the resolution, he said, because he hopes Bush will listen to the growing number of voices speaking out against a hasty unilateral war.

"Let the inspectors do their job and send in aid," Roach said. "We could do so much to help.

"But we need to focus on the economy, getting people off welfare, and keeping kids in safe schools. We're not doing that right now."

Katie Willson covers the city news for The Daily Barometer. She can be reached at 737-2231 or at baro.city@studentmedia.orst.edu.

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