DeKALB | More than 21 thousand more American troops have been committed to Iraq, President Bush announced in an address to the nation Wednesday.

These troops — most of which will be deployed to Baghdad — will help develop and maintain security in Iraq, clear and secure neighborhoods, protect residents and help ensure Iraqi forces are able to provide the security needed in Baghdad, Bush said in his address.

Residents from DeKalb and surrounding towns who are vocal about their concerns regarding the war and the additional troop deployment have used the downtown DeKalb area as a place to protest. They have gathered at the corners of Lincoln Highway and First Street waving American flags and holding protest signs every Friday evening throughout this war in Iraq.

“I don’t think [President Bush] heard the election at all,” said Sycamore resident Warren Lowe. “The mood of the country is not escalation.”

While it may appear the people on either side of the street are heavily polarized on the issue, they are more alike than it seems.

“I’m not on the corner for the war. I’m on the corner for our troops and country,” said DeKalb resident Frank Beierlotzer.

Jim Willrett, a Malta resident, has mixed feelings about the president’s decision to send more troops to Iraq.

Willrett said he does not want to fight terrorists in the U.S. and said he thinks having troops in Iraq has kept more terrorist actions from happening in the U.S. He wants to see the troops home as soon as possible.

Maylan Dunn-Kenney, co-coordinator of the DeKalb Interfaith Network for Peace and Justice, also wants to see the troops home soon.

“It’s time for us to begin to withdraw and bring peace to the nation,” Dunn-Kenney said. “I think our military is already stressed to the breaking point. To me it’s just a breaking escalation of conflict.”

Beierlotzer thinks some good could come from U.S. assistance in bringing security to Iraq.

“I don’t know what is right and wrong, but my gut feeling is that if we don’t try … we’re going to have a lot more problems in the U.S.,” Beierlotzer said. “No one knows the outcome, but I think if we don’t try, we are making a mistake.”