Peace rally rips war, military recruiting
By Molly Borgstrom
Baraboo News Republic
February 2, 2005
BARABOO. WI - Preventing young people from joining the military is just as important as getting U.S. troops out of Iraq, area peace activists said at a Baraboo rally Monday.
A day after the first post-Saddam Hussein elections in Iraq, activists said they wanted to pressure the administration to follow through on a timetable for withdrawal. They also wanted to call attention to their efforts locally and draw more people, especially youths, into their cause.
During the rally, up to 45 people marched around the Sauk County Courthouse Square in downtown Baraboo carrying signs such as "No blood for oil" and "Bring the troops home." Few pedestrians were out in the overcast weather to notice their efforts, but some drivers honked and one woman flashed a peace sign out her car window.
Two friends from Baraboo, Cortney Boyce and Ashlee Goetz, had never been to a rally before. Clad in green wool, military-style coats and with black paint smeared under their eyes, they led the march.
The two young women became interested in anti-war activism through their experience with friends and family members in the military. Goetz, 19, a Madison Area Technical College student, has a 26-year-old sister in the Navy and Boyce, 21, has a cousin and a friend serving in Iraq with the National Guard.
Boyce said her friends in Iraq became disillusioned when they found out there were no weapons of mass destruction. Now, she and Goetz want to get more involved to keep other people from making the same mistake, she said. "(We want to) prove that not all youth are sitting around doing nothing," Goetz said.
After the rally, the group moved on to First United Methodist Church to listen to speaker David Giffey, a Vietnam veteran and active member of Veterans for Peace.
"Military recruiters invade our high schools with their lies," Giffey said. "They don't talk about the reality of military duties."
The U.S. government's military recruitment budget was $2.7 billion in 2004, or $14,000 per recruit, Giffey said. Veterans for Peace makes counter-recruiting a priority. They go into area schools and give students information about conscientious objection and other career opportunities, he said.
"If you teach family (members) that war is wrong and military service is a dead end, then they're much less likely to join up after high school," Giffey said.
Organizer Debbie Kinder said the speakers gave the crowd of about 60 listeners a lot of good ideas. One participant, 18-year-old Reedsburg High School graduate Jonathan Dedering, was inspired to set up an information table at his high school, teaching students how to opt-out from giving military recruiters personal information. Dedering started his own Web site, www.savewisconsin.org.
For some, the best part of the event was connecting with other people who feel the same as they do. Chris and Donna Miller of Reedsburg said they came to meet more people who care. Sunday's elections are only the beginning to U.S. withdrawal, they said.
"I don't think they should have been sent there in the first place. It was a flawed plan," Chris Miller said.
"With deceptive reasons for going there," his wife added.
Starting Feb. 12, the new group "Bring Them Home Now Coalition of Central Wisconsin" will start weekly Saturday night peace marches in Wisconsin Dells, Kinder said.
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