Holding cardboard peace signs and colorful pinwheels, protestors marched from Library Mall to the state Capitol Friday in an event highlighting the economic costs of the Iraq War.
Around 50 protestors gathered on campus, where several bands played before the march. State Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, gave a speech on funding for the war taking money away from other programs.
“When I look at this war, this mindless, unnecessary, ill-conceived, poorly executed, reputation-damaging, outrageously costly war,” Pocan said, “I look at what we could have done with those resources instead had we had those right in Wisconsin.”
He said he was not capable of measuring the impact on the state of those killed or injured in the war on the state, so he focused on financial costs.
Taxpayers in Wisconsin, according to Pocan, spent over $8.3 billion on the war so far. He said this equals 1,238,940 scholarships for UW System students in a year.
Pocan said Madison could pay for more police and better public services with the $309.6 million in city taxpayer funds spent on the war.
He said polls showing U.S. John McCain, R-Ariz., with strong support in Wisconsin are not significant as the Democratic primary contest is diverting attention away from McCain’s advocacy for the war.
Protestors chanted anti-war slogans as they marched down State and Langdon Streets, booing several actors who wore masks of President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and McCain when the rally goers reached the Capitol.
Natalia Hokin, 18, said the war appears less important to residents because the media is not reporting on it enough. She said young residents are still concerned about the war, but many people are discouraged over a lack of governmental actions to end it.
Harry Waisbren, one of the organizers of the event and member of the group Campus Progress that sponsored it, also said the media stopped coverage of the war.
He said students are most affected by the war because it strains the economy, which then affects tuition and scholarships. Other issues, like rising costs in health care and job losses, according to Waisbren, are difficult to solve while the war continues.
“The Iraq War is the biggest issue in the country. We can’t achieve progressive reforms until we are out of Iraq,” Waisbren said.
Organizers of the event said it coincided with the fifth-year anniversary Thursday of Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech.
