At anti-war rally, protesters say oil is U.S.'s true motive

"No blood for oil!" the signs said. "One, two, three, four, we don't want your oil war!" they shouted.

About two dozen University and community members gathered by Palmer Square yesterday to challenge a potential war in Iraq as a war about oil.

Cars honked and some people walking by joined in the protest, while others quietly accepted fliers and moved on.

Sponsored by the Princeton Peace Network, the rally was one of more than 100 held to mark the Day of Action suggested by a website, Target Oil.

The website said demonstrations took place at over 100 gas stations around the United States and United Kingdom. In addition to opposing military action, the website advocates reducing the nations' dependence on oil.

In President Bush's State of the Union, Bush called Iraq a "vital region," perhaps referring to its valuable oil, the website said.

Cathy Kunkel '06 organized the rally after hearing about the Day of Action through the Sierra Student Coalition.

The rally centered on the notion that the United States is pushing for action in Iraq to secure its oil interests, Kunkel said.

PPN has held weekly demonstrations against action in Iraq since September.

Curtis Deutsch GS, an active member of PPN, said the protests started with a group of 20 in September and have steadily gained support, with about 95 people turning out last Saturday.

"It could be a coincidence," he said, "but I noticed that it was the week after the State of the Union address that people started getting more engaged and active."

Deutsch and six buses of activists from the Princeton area were among 500,000 protesters who went to Washington on Jan. 18 for demonstrations.

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PPN is also preparing for an upcoming demonstration in New York City on Feb. 15.

A war for oil

"[The situation in Iraq] is just another in a long line of what I regard as unethical foreign policies," Deutsch said.

Deutsch said the U.S. government, which is "primarily motivated by our need to control oil," is going to war for the wrong reasons.

But others are not as cynical.

Carlos Ramos-Mrosovsky '04, founder of the Princeton Committee against Terrorism, argued that concern about weapons of mass destruction, not oil, are the primary reason the United States may go to war.

"The PPN folks show a real moral blindness," Ramos-Mrosovsky said.

Citing Saddam Hussein's history of human rights violations, he added, "If they're so concerned about having a moral foreign policy, then they should not want to allow Saddam Hussein to stay in power for a minute."

Sue Albert, a bibliographic specialist at Firestone Library, said she comes regularly to the protests because she feels the public doesn't have access to unbiased information.

"If more people knew more facts and history about our foreign policy, they would be here by the bus-load," she said. "There's a real effort to keep us from the truth, and I was shocked at how much I didn't know."

Albert is involved in the Peace Education Committee and took part in protests during the Vietnam war.

Taking a stand

According to Peter Wolanin, a postdoctoral fellow at the University, PPN was founded after Sept. 11, 2001, to work against the government responding "militarily rather than with any sense of justice or compassion." Its first focus was Afghanistan.

PPN members have also come forward against the tension between India and Pakistan. One year ago in Palmer Square, PPN members held a vigil for peace in South Asia. The group has grown since then, when only 30 people attended.

But now their attention is on Iraq.

"Bombing Iraq, which will kill civilians and not its leadership, is a mistake," Wolanin said. "We should be working through international instruments such as the U.N. to deal with this regime."