“Killing people for oil is wrong,” said Anna Schaber, a member of the Northern Coalition for Peace and Justice.

She will participate in an anti-war protest from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today at the King Memorial Commons free speech area, which is the concrete slab next to the southwest wall of the Holmes Student Center.

The NCFPJ organized the rally, which was inspired by recent demands from the Bush administration to Congress and the United Nations to support military action against Iraq.

“Bush’s policy of ‘preemptive defense’ is another name for blatant aggression and a gross violation of international law,” said Jim Schmidt, an NCFPJ member and NIU historyprofessor.

Another group member further described concerns.

“Bush is fabricating excuse after excuse to justify installing a puppet government in Iraq,” NCFPJ member Joe Golowka said. “The real reason for this war is obviously to gain control of Iraq’s oil.”

In a press release, the NCFPJ said, “while primarily opposing the war with Iraq, the rally is also against militarism in general and the exploitative economics enforced by U.S. Imperialism.”

The NCFPJ chose today’s rally to coincide with the protests taking place in Washington D.C. against the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

“The neo-liberal economic system and U.S. militarism are both part of the same oppressive system,” NCFPJ member Neil Gorman said. “U.S. militarism backs up exploitive economic policies like those the IMF implements by ruthlessly attacking any country that deviates too far from Washington’s preferred economic model.”