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St. Cloud State University
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Professor tells of recent anti-war trip to Iraq
By Kateri Wozny
Published:
Tuesday, January 28, 2003
Media Credit: Stefanie Beniek
Dr. Elizabeth Leppman, who teaches in the geography department at SCSU, just returned from Baghdad where she attended a symposium on peace.
As President Bush tries to push his agenda forward for a possible war with Iraq, millions of Americans are opposing the war. More U.S. troops are being ordered to the Persian Gulf, and many of these Americans feel that Bush is no longer for the U.S., but for his administration.
Elizabeth Leppman, associate professor in Geography at SCSU, is one of these Americans against the war.
"It (the war) is already bigger than the Vietnam War was, and the war hasn't even started yet," Leppman said.
Leppman, along with 35 other professors from across the nation, had the opportunity to visit Iraq Jan. 11-17 to show their opposition to a U.S.-Iraq war. She was part of "Academic Airlift," a nickname for the trip representing 30,000 university professors from 28 U.S. universities who signed a "No Attack Iraq" petition in a show of opposition to the Bush administration war plans.
The petition started at the Massachusetts Institution of Technology (MIT) in Harvard, Conn. MIT then used the addresses of the people who signed the petition as a mailing list for people who wanted more information on the possible war.
Leppman comes from a long tradition of opposing wars from The Religious Society of Friends (The Quakers). Although Leppman is no longer a member of the society, she still believes that war does not say anything.
"The Quakers have been opposing wars since the 17th century," Leppman said. "George Fox once said that 'we utterly deny all forms of war.' War only makes matters worse. The Iraqi's already feel powerless, like there is nothing they can do about (the current situation)."
SCSU students also echo Leppman's belief as well.
"I think it is a wonderful idea, there is nothing like physically getting in the way of something you oppose," said Zachary Dorholt, fourth year student, community development major.
While Leppman was in Iraq, she went on some observational trips.
On one trip, she met with a woman named Dr. Hashimid of the Regional Command Council, which is the highest consultative body of the Iraqi government.
"Dr. Hashimid basically spoke about the kinds of damage done by war to Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War," Leppman said. "She also talked about the disruption of people's lives and the U.N. embargoes."
Iraq sells oil to the U.N. and uses the money made to purchase food and other personal needs.
Leppman also had the chance to listen to a National Assembly speaker, Dr. Sa'doon Hammadi. Dr. Hammadi responded to questions and answers by Bianca Jagger, Mick Jagger's former wife and a member of the Board of Amnesty International, about the war situation.
"Dr. Hammadi felt that if Iraq moved to a democratic system, that might bring more sympathy from the U.S. government," Leppman said.
Hammadi also said that he sent a letter to Congress inviting members and scientists to come and visit Iraq. He was disappointed when he didn't get a response.
Leppman also had the opportunity to attend The Delegation of Independent United States Academics to the Iraqi-American Academic Symposium at the University of Baghdad.
There Leppman listened to lectures from the university president and other members about how they felt that the U.S. doesn't think about economic costs of war.
"They (Baghdad University) had an agenda to advocate the U.S. people against the war, even though we are already against it." Leppman said.
Other trips Leppman made during her visit was to a memorial air raid shelter that was destroyed during the Gulf War (killing 400 women and children), the Iraqi Museum, various churches, a trip to Babylon and the Iraqi Pediatric Hospital.
"The rate of cancer, malnutrition and birth defects have gone up significantly since the Gulf War," Leppman said.
Leppman will be giving a talk about her experiences in Iraq in early February as part of the Brown-Bag series by the Geography department.
"The more people that oppose it (the war), the more likely we will get a response from Washington," Leppman said.
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