Peace is possible, Utah activists say

Seeing how the war on Iraq is affecting daily life in Utah was as easy as falling out of a van — the Peace Van. It pulled up Friday to the Salt Lake Police Department, the Internal Revenue Service and six other stops before coming to the coup de grace, Main Street Plaza.

Standing on the plaza, former Brigham Young University student Caleb Proulx spoke out against the war, emphasizing something he said gives him faith.

"Peace is possible, and it's important to focus on that," Proulx said. "We are enjoined by the word of God to renounce war . . . peace is what the Savior is all about."

Proulx, a member of Mormons for Equality and Social Justice, withdrew from BYU this week, saying he didn't feel right about pledging allegiance to its honor code. The code forbids BYU students to get arrested, which Proulx did March 24 for blocking the entrance of the Salt Lake federal building during an anti-war protest.

On Friday, Proulx's speech was the finale of the "Utah Citizens for Peace Reality Tour," a four-hour trip questioning the Bush administration's messages about the need for war. "It behooves us to talk to our fellow members and others in the community" about the U.S. attacks on Iraq, he said. "Is this really in self-defense? We believe it isn't."

Utahns are not being told the complete story about the war's effects, added Shea Pickelner, a Salt Lake teacher. She unfurled a chart showing U.S. spending on the military that has soared to $400 billion, high above schools, child care and health-promotion programs. She quoted Martin Luther King Jr.: "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

Standing in front of the IRS building as people walked by with tax forms, Pickelner said that the cost of one day of war in Iraq, $1.1 billion, could be spent to prevent fiscal 2003's cuts to education programs around the country. The $2.1 billion in taxes spent to buy one stealth bomber could pay a year's salary and benefits for 38,000 teachers, she said, citing research from the non-governmental Center for Defense Information.

The "Reality Tour" was on the road on the 35th anniversary of King's assassination, said Marv Hamilton, a Vietnam veteran and peace activist. He added that the civil rights leader's death and now the war in Iraq have discouraged him. "I had to regroup," he said. Hamilton said he joined the event to let people know that not all veterans support the war.