Posted on indymedia
gained admission to a speech by Karl Rove, hosted by the campus chapter
of the ultra-right Young America’s Foundation at George Washington
University.
In the middle of Rove’s speech — during which he continued
to defend long discredited claims about WMDs in Iraq, in addition to
attacking the president of the NAACP and presidential candidate Obama
— the students inside unfurled a banner that read “War Criminal,” and
read Article 6 of the Nuremberg Trials defining war crimes.
The students were booed and cheered as security removed them from the
auditorium, and Rove supporters yelled “Tase ’em.” Outside the
building, local DC antiwar groups came out to protest Karl Rove,
including Code Pink, World Can’t Wait, some members of CAN at
University of Maryland, and a few SDS members.
Days prior to the event, the Young America’s Foundation attempted to
deny admission to at least one CAN member in violation of university
policy for what was advertised as an open public event. At the doors of
the tightly secured event, two other students who got tickets (one who
is a member of CAN) were told their names had been “flagged” on the
list and the conservative organizers attempted to force them to sit in
specific seats so they could keep an eye on them. Students plan to
issue a formal complaint with the university against the right-wing
group.
As students, we are offended that our university provided a platform
for a war criminal like Karl Rove, who was instrumental in framing the
administration’s “war on terror,” constructing the rhetoric and propaganda that sold the Iraq War to the American people
based on flagrant lies. We believe that everyone who is opposed to this
war and the unjust policies of the Bush administration has an
obligation to challenge war criminals like Rove wherever they may go.
Rove should be confronted and exposed whenever he makes public
appearances designed to defend such indefeasible policies and further
the outright lies that have left over a million Iraqis dead, over four
million displaced, their country devastated under U.S. occupation and
civil war, and 4,000 Americans dead.