"CONDDOLEEZZA GO HOME"

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 people came out to protest the Bush war in Iraq at an appearance by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at Princeton on Friday last. The campus protest was hosted by a coalition of Princeton groups, including the College Democrats, the Black Graduate Caucus, Student Global AIDS Campaign and the Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action.

A rally earlier sponsored by the Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA) was held in Palmer Square. It was followed by a march to the university's Jadwin Gymnasium, where Rice was giving the keynote address in a celebration marking the 75th anniversary of the university's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

"Condoleezza Rice represents a failed policy. She is not worthy of the position she represents — a notable and honorable position. She has told untruths and been rewarded for it," CPA chair Irene Goldman said, adding that the protest was intended to demonstrate "that we're awake, angry and showing our opinion to the administration."

The Daily Princetonian reports that two students stood on the corner of Washington Road and Prospect Avenue, one in a black hood meant to recall the Abu Ghraib prison tortures, holding signs that read "Honk if you're against torture." Others distributed pamphlets and ribbons to those entering the gymnasium or burned their tickets in protest.

It's intolerable to have a situation where a high public official speaks and there is no show of concern. The silence is worse than any inefficiency of a protest," said Elliot Ratzman GS, a co-organizer of a group of students that distributed red ribbons and pamphlets to audience members as they entered Jadwin. Ratzman said that his coalition is primarily concerned with the Bush administration's "broken promises to Africa" on three fronts: humanitarian aid, the Darfur.

Another contingent of about 80 protesters, who assembled on the other side of a barricade in front of Jadwin, chanted, "This is what democracy looks like!" and "No more lies!" For them, the primary motivation was not the war in Iraq or the situation in Africa but the Wilson School's decision to invite Rice to speak. One graduate student, Bright Limm, said that he was "embarrassed by Princeton University's inviting her and touting her."

At the earlier rally at a nearby location Sue Niederer, who lost her son in Iraq last February said, "I cannot bring back my son. But what I can do is save other parents from opening the door some day and seeing two military idiots, untrained in how to talk to parents, saying, 'Uh, sorry.' Well, sorry doesn't cut it."

Following that rally, protesters - bearing signs that read, "Make levees, not war," and "Secretary Rice lied about Iraq" - walked to the university campus to protest the Rice visit close up.

Before Rice arrived, Asheesh Siddique, coeditor of the liberal publication Princeton Progressive Nation commented, "I'd like her to get up there and say, 'I was wrong, I lied to the American people, and I'm resigning,' but I know that's not going to happen. Instead, she's going to make excuses for her and her colleagues' incompetence and dishonesty."

Of course, he war right. Sources: Times (Trenton, NJ), Daily Princetonian, AfterDowningStreet.org