Cold can't stop quest for peace (protests in Ne)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1636&u_sid=2321143

Cold can't stop quest for peace

Published Sunday
January 28, 2007

Cold can't stop quest for peace

BY RICK RUGGLES

WORLD-HERALD BUREAU


LINCOLN - Several hundred Nebraskans withstood wind and biting cold here Saturday to convey their contempt for the war in Iraq.

They gripped signs in freezing gusts, yelled anti-war chants and marched from the State Capitol to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. Three Lincoln women pounded tom-toms in a drumbeat of peace.

A reporter-estimated 500 attended the rally and march here.

About 65 held signs in Omaha later in the day on the Dodge Street pedestrian overpass near the University of Nebraska at Omaha campus.

"We have squandered our good will and our forces in this terrible nightmare in Iraq," said Kathleen Jamrozy of Omaha as she looked down at Dodge Street. "And I love America, but I am ashamed of our country and what we allowed ourselves to get involved in."

The rallies in Lincoln and Omaha were among many held Saturday across the nation. Continuing bloodshed in Iraq coupled with President Bush's plan to send 21,500 more soldiers to Iraq fueled the weekend's anti-war gatherings from San Francisco to Salt Lake City to Washington, D.C.

The Lincoln rally was organized primarily by the Coalition for Peace, the Omaha rally by Nebraskans for Peace.

Army Reservist Michael Morris of Blair, Neb., one of several speakers at the State Capitol, said he has informed his superiors that he will not participate in the war.

http://www.omaha.com/toolbox/photo.php?u_sid=2321143&u_id=103839
Anti-war rally participants march Saturday in Lincoln along the Centennial Mall. Rallies in Lincoln and Omaha were among many held Saturday across the nation to protest the war in Iraq and President Bush's plan to send more troops.