Demonstrators Rally for Desert Storm

A crowd of 150 local residents and students rallied in front of Memorial Church on Saturday to support the Persian Gulf War.

Speakers at the demonstration, which was sponsored by the newly-formed Students United for Desert Storm (SUDS), condemned the vocal protests of anti-war activists and called on the nation to come together in support of troops in the Persian Gulf.

Many of the demonstrators carried American flags and wore yellow ribbons as gestures of support for the soldiers. Some protesters held placards which read "Appeasement=Genocide" and "I am the masculine American man-I kill therefore I am."

Although some Harvard students attended the rally, most of the demonstrators were Cambridge or Boston residents. Several said they were veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Adam D. Taxin '93, co-president of SUDS, said the group had collected the signatures of more than 700 students in support of U.S. military activities in the Gulf. Taxin said the country needs to back American soldiers and criticized what he called the biased media coverage of domestic reaction to the Persian Gulf.

By publicly backing American efforts, Taxin said, "Not only are we supporting our troops, but we are also supporting the strategic interests of the United States and the international community."

Taxin called anti-war activists "professional protesters" who have managed to gain the attention of a media which "fawns" over their every rally.

Taxin contrasted today's campus mood with the widespread anti-war activism of the 1960's. College students today fully support the American military actions, he said.

Don Fetter, a columnist from the Boston Globe, compared Saddam Hussein to the German Kaiser and to Hitler, saying that just as the United States had intervened in the two world wars even though its territory had not been directly threatened, it should also stand in defense of Kuwait today.

Several speakers said the movement supporting the Gulf war is bipartisan, citing polls that show that up to 91 percent of the American public support the war effort. Representatives of the Boston Conservative Society, the Harvard Republicans and Harvard-Radcliffe Democrats said they support the U.S. actions.

Many of the speakers also called further negotiations futile. "Debate will not do what two weeks of bombing has not been able to do," said Karl W. Lampley '93. "The only way to make Saddam Hussein blink is to put out his eyes."

Near the end of the rally a lone anti-war heckler interrupted the demonstration by shouting obscenities at the protesters. Two Harvard police officers quickly escorted the man away as several in the crowd jeered and shouted "traitor!" and "treason!