A panel of six NIU faculty members urged students Monday night to resist the government’s support for military action in Iraq during a roundtable discussion hosted by NIU Forensics.

The event was designed to spark debate on the issues surrounding the proposed war on Iraq; however, war supporters were not present at the discussion.

Each of the speakers expanded on different aspects of the anti-war perspective.

Ngoyi Bukonda, an assistant professor of allied health, encouraged people to take an international perspective when debating the justification for war.

Craig Greenman, a philosophy department staff member, accused the U.S. of not practicing what it preaches.

“The United States right now, given our own definition of what terrorism is, could be considered the leading terrorist state in the world,” Greenman said.

Greenman said the economic sanctions on Iraq are a part of that contradiction.

“The sanctions violate the Geneva Conventions, which say you can’t starve the people as a means of war,” Greenman said.

“There is no justifiable reason to resort to war at this point,” said philosophy professor Tomis Kapitan. “I don’t think we stand to gain anything. If anything, I think it will ratchet up hatred against the United States.”

Kapitan said that any action against Iraq would not meet the requirements for a “just war.” He said that in order for a war to be justified, there must be a real and certain danger, all peaceful alternatives must be exhausted and the negative effects cannot outweigh the positive effects of an attack.

Jim Schmidt, an associate professor of history, examined the evidence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. He said that neither the U.N. nor the Bush administration has provided evidence — only a series of speculations.

“I think the policy formulation of the Bush administration … plays on our grief and our fears after 9/11,” said Rosemary Feurer, an assistant professor of history.

She examined the historical roots of Iraq’s government and U.S. policy in the Middle East.

Lastly, NIU Forensics President James Yeager encouraged students to be more active and assert their opinions.

The forensics team thought it was important to host an event that would encourage debate on campus.

“There just needs to be some discussion on this subject,” said John Butler, faculty adviser for NIU Forensics. “And there’s just no discussion. On a college campus we should be talking about it constantly.”

Yeager said there will be more events like this one in the future, but dates and topics have not been decided.