On the frigid Wednesday evening of the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, nearly 40 people of all ages stood in a circle in front of Muncie City Hall, some with candles and anti-war signs. One man hoisted an American flag.
"We're here to raise the consciousness of what's going on [in Iraq]," Tolu Olorunda, one of the candlelight vigil organizers, said.
Olorunda said it was time for a candid assessment of the war in Iraq to be brought to mainstream media.
Joe Clemens, another organizer, said it was important for people to understand what the Iraq war was costing America. He said trillions of dollars were being spent on the war effort that could otherwise help eliminate unemployment.
America is going further in debt as a result of the war, he said.
Debbra Lysec, one of those in attendance, read an opening statement on the war in Iraq.
"It's time to bring our troops home," she said. "It's time to end it."
Stacy Stern, a Vietnam veteran and Ball State University graduate, said he was part of the original student group at Ball State opposed to the Iraq war.
"That was before any lives had been lost," he said.
Stern said prior to the war in Iraq, their group knew Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. Iraq had been too heavily damaged in the Gulf War to be a threat to America, Stern said.
"We should support our troops by pulling them out of a war that is being fought for all the wrong reasons," Stern said.
Jennifer Rice-Snow, who also helped organize the event, said it was easy to be unaware of what was going on in Iraq.
"It's important for the war to interrupt us," she said.
During the vigil, participants split into small groups where each person took turns reading accounts of Iraq veterans and military families.
To conclude the event, the participants reformed the circle and joined in singing the song "Freedom" written by Amos Lee.
Olurunda said Americans could come together, whatever their view on the war in Iraq.
"The one thing that binds us together is sympathy and empathy for the soldiers," he said.
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