Rochester Activists Call Hillary on her Pro-War stance

Transfered from old site

About 50 local Anti-war Activists demonstrated outside of Palestra Hall at the University of Rochester before and during Hillary Clinton's speech Friday Afternoon. Earlier today, Clinton voted along with 76 other Senators to give Bush power to preemptively attack Iraq. The Demonstrators expressed indignation at Clinton's participation in Bush's drive towards War. As a long line of people stood waiting to enter the hall to hear the speech, the demonstrators chanted and beat drums right along side the line. Many audience members expressed support for the demonstration. Signs read; "It takes a Senator to raze a Village", "The road to the White house is now paved with the blood of dead Iraqi Children", "Regime Change in Washington", "Your vote: Capitulation, Shame on you", "No to Police State". Once again the “Raging Grannies" and "Billionaires for Oil" added a theatrical flare to the event. Metro Justice Organizers took a lead in calling the event with just a couple days notice. Members of the Green Party, International Socialist Organization, Rochester IMC, Pax Christi, the Catholic Worker, Student groups, Rochester Food not bombs, as well as a host of other groups attended the event. After the demonstration, many participants watched Clinton’s speech on a large screen near the Hall, though a few demonstrators were able to get into the hall itself. Activists gathered during and after the address to discuss some of the content. The following are some of the observations participants made.
 
-The thrust of Clinton's speech was to justify her vote giving Bush power to invade Iraq.
 
-She attempted to both criticize Bush's rush to war, but at the same time to illogically embrace it.
 
-Clinton backed up her claims with unsubstantiated information. For instance saying that Baghdad was harboring terrorists and that within six months Iraq could have Nuclear Weapons. Neither of these claims have any basis in UN statistics or even US Intelligence reports.
 
-Many suspect that Clinton cast her vote with Bush to ensure a place in 2004 presidential race.
 
-The fact that the Bill authorizing an Iraq invasion passed so swiftly through the House and the Senate, confirms once again the complete lack of representation of the peoples' will existent in our system of governance
 
-Readers are invited to reply to this post and share other reflections from the event.