More than 50 Ball State University students and Muncie area residents joined together for a candlelight vigil to commemorate the four-year anniversary of the War in Iraq on Monday night.
Members of the political action group MoveOn organized the vigil at 8 p.m. in front of City Hall. Participants gathered in a circle and held candles and read stories about soldiers who died in Iraq, pausing for a moment of silence after each reading. At the end of the night, a participant read names of the 60 soldiers from Indiana who died.
The purpose of the vigil was to honor the soldiers who have died and to support those who are still in Iraq and their families, event coordinator Jennifer Rice-Snow said.
Former Ball State student Jonathan Wright said the U.S. is fighting for the wrong reasons, like oil.
"I think a lot of Iraqis' opinion is they just want us out," Wright said. "We've done as much as we can."
Veteran Cliff Wiseman said he is against the war because he thinks the goal isn't achievable. He became familiar with Iraq when he fought there against the Soviet Union in the Cold War, he said.
"I worked among them and got to know them," Wiseman said. "They're fine people, but they are set in their way and won't do the Western way. I was against the Iraq War originally. It's just not going to work."
Veteran Debbra Lysek said the way troops are trained is also a concern for some protesters.
"We don't train troops like they should be trained," Lysek said. "They don't know what they're doing there."
Rice-Snow said MoveOn held a similar vigil in 2005 to mourn the 2,000th soldier who died in Iraq.
The organization also gathered outside House Representative Mike Pence's office to protest the soldier escalation, she said.
Wiseman said the protesting wouldn't affect Pence's views.
"Pence is a lost cause," he said. "I read his take of the war. He was ready to go to war before anybody. He's done a lot of songs and dances."
Scott Rice-Snow, Jennifer's husband, said MoveOn delivered petitions to Pence to try to make him aware that many of his constituents were against the war.
"We're trying to keep reminding congressional representatives that there is a mandate to get out of Iraq," he said.
The organization meets in Anderson once a month to protest, Scott Rice-Snow said.
It's goal is to decrease the war and supporting health care, clean energy and democracy, he said.
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