Between 100 and 150 people turned out for a peace rally held Sunday at the state Capitol. The event, sponsored by the Madison Area Peace Coalition, followed the announcement by President Bush that the United States and Great Britain had begun bombing targets in Afghanistan.
Kim Lasdon, a resident of Madison, voiced her opinion on the attacks.
'[I'm here because of] ... my sorrow and anger at the fact that a president that I didn't really elect has taken us to war,' she said.
UW-Madison senior Sarah Kaiskow spoke at the rally for MAPC.
'We don't think this is the way to stop terrorism in this country and there's no way the United States government and military is going to kill every single potential terrorist in this world. There's just no way that's going to happen,' she said. 'And until they change their policies, they're creating an environment where more and more terrorists can spring up and do exactly what happened on Sept. 11.'
Rae Voegeler, another representative of MAPC, said she was happy with the way the Madison community came together for the rally.
'We were thrilled [with the turnout],' she said. 'The fact that we found out about this around noon, and we had all these people out here is really a testimony to the fact that people in this city are opposed to going to war against another country.'
When asked later, Kaiskow said she hoped the rally accomplished three things.
'We're hoping to show people ... who can't be here [at the rally] and also oppose the war that they're not alone, that they have support,' she said. 'We're hoping to show the media and our local state Legislature that we don't support their vote to fund military action and we're hoping to raise awareness about an alternative to what's happening.'
Norman Stockwell, Operations Director at WORT-FM who spoke at the gathering, said that the rally was not an isolated case.
'The sentiment for peace runs across the country, and the rally here in Madison represents that,' he said.
Voegeler added that the protesters were trying to send 'a loud and clear message to our government that we oppose the bombing of Afghanistan and that we feel that the innocent civilians of that country should not be held responsible for the violent [terrorist] actions of Sept. 11.'
Voegeler expressed her concerns over government censorship of minority attitudes toward the U.S. military involvement.
'My main worry right now is retaliation against people who are trying to organize,' she said. 'We're very concerned about the civil liberties issue right now, and the increased surveillance that's going on.'
