Assessing the United States’ involvement in Iraq, members of the Wesleyan community participated in this week’s WesPeace-sponsored Teach-In: The War Abroad, The War At Home.

From Tuesday to Friday, speakers from inside and outside the University shared their different perspectives. Lectures included a session with Buthaina Hawas-Neveln, a former Iraqi National TV news anchor, a lecture by Assistant Professor of Government Melanye Price on racial profiling, the television show “24”, and a lecture by Connecticut’s leading expert on bioterrorism James Hadler.

“WesPeace began two years ago as a faculty and staff group concerned about the buildup towards war in Iraq,” said founder and Professor of Sociology Rob Rosenthal. “[This week] our intention was completely to spur debate, and not convince people of any one thing, just to get people to think.”

The group has expanded to include students, and currently has a mailing list of over 100 people.

“WesPeace is a diverse group,” said Sacha Feinman ’05. “Our reasons as to why we are opposed to the war are not uniform, but we all do acknowledge and agree that the current course of American policy under the Bush administration is very frightening in its unilateral nature and very belligerent in tone.”

Tuesday afternoon, History professor Bruce Masters delivered a lecture entitled “Iraq: Does the Past Bode Well for the Future?” He presented the historical background pertinent to understanding the country’s current situation. He compared the U.S. presence in Iraq to the British military action taken after World War I.

“Iraq is halfway between Britain and India. The British wanted to protect their interests of oil, transportation, and communication,” Masters said. “I was opposed to the war in Iraq in the first place. You can’t have a war about weapons of mass destruction and not have international support. I don’t think getting rid of Saddam Hussein was a bad thing because he was a cruel, despotic leader, but I think it will be up to the Iraqi people to determine if the war was good,” Masters said.

In terms of the recent election, Masters pointed out that 48% of the vote was in favor of theocracy. He also mentioned that Kurdish students took a poll showing that 93% of Kurds who voted want independence from Iraq, which reveals an entirely different conflict. If the Kurda gain independence Turkey has announced it will invade the Kurdish region, pitting the U.S. against one of its oldest allies.

“It’s going to be difficult to get out of Iraq but I think we should,” Masters said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if civil war breaks out, and then the U.S. will have to take one side. It’s inevitable to be drawn in.”

On Tuesday night, David Adams, former Director of the United Nations International Year for the Culture of Peace, spoke on how to create a Culture of Peace. Adams helped create UN Resolution A/53/243 which is based on this concept.

“If an empire falls, there is a culture of war,” Adams said. We spent time on the alternative, what could create a permanent, sustainable, peaceful situation.“

”While Adams’ idea of a culture of peace seemed great, the one thing he left out of his speech was exactly how to go about achieving such a culture,“ said Emily Rabkin ’08. ”His goals were way admirabl—ender equality, fair trade, disarmamen—but how are we supposed to do any of this in this so-called culture of war? He was an engaging guy though, drawing on the board and having us pretend we were his Peace Team.“

”I thought it was really interesting to hear the insider perspective on internal UN politics,“ said Jacob Goldin ’07. ”But, I thought he was oversimplifying the reasons that people are drawn to war, which is pretty problematic when you’re trying to come up with a culture of peace.“

According to Rosenthal, WesPeace’s future plans include holding a Die-In in the spring.

”All spring, we will be getting 1000 people to sign up,“ Rosenthal said. Each one will represent one American who died in Iraq and will wear a necklace with 100 beads on it. That will be 100,000 beads total representing Iraqis who died. We will have an event and put all of the beads into a container, and everyone will fall down. It will be very dramatic, I think. It will take all spring. I’m hoping that with wearing beads, it will spur the asking of what is going on.”

WesPeace meetings are held every Wednesday at 5 p.m. in PAC 107 and all students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend.