Braving cold winds and 15-degree temperatures, a small group of students gathered in front of Friley Hall Sunday afternoon to show their support for a war with Iraq.

Characterizing the protest as “Pro-American,” the group of five held signs calling for the use of force against Iraq. Several more protesters later joined, setting up lawn chairs along Lincoln Way. Protesters said they were there both to make their views known and to have a good time, pointing to one of their signs that simply read, “Beer.”

Nathan Vermeer, junior in agricultural business, said the protest was not pro-war, but the group was advocating disarming Saddam Hussein quickly, using force if necessary.

Mike Easton, sophomore in English, said he agreed action needs to be taken immediately, but said war should be the last option.

“I would rather not go to war,” Easton said. “I don’t want to see people die.”

The group was met with five members of Time for Peace, a group that promotes a nonviolent solution to the Iraq situation, which distributed letters thanking the protesters for sharing their views and inviting them to engage in a dialogue with members.

“We’re here … to see differences and create understanding by talking through our differences,” said Ramsey Tesdell, Time for Peace member and freshman in technical communication. He said his group was also there to thank the protesters for participating in democracy by sharing their views.

Tony Breitbach, freshman in materials engineering, held a sign that read, “Except for ending slavery, fascism, nazism, and communism, war has never solved anything.”

He said the protest was formed in response to the weekly anti-war protests held by Time for Peace in the same location.

“We haven’t seen any support for Bush. We just wanted to show the other side,” he said.

Joe Krisch, sophomore in computer science, said he attended the protest to share his anti-war stance. “Being we supplied [Iraq] with weapons, both our military and our businesses, and we filtered out 8,000 pages of Iraqi weapons reports, I don’t think we’re giving inspectors a chance to use information and go find these weapons,” he said. He challenged protesters to outline the positives of engaging in a war.

Vermeer said although the United States does not have complete backing from the United Nations, it does have backing from several major European countries. “I think we can easily [attack Iraq] without the backing of the [United Nations],” he said.

Matt Moeller, sophomore in pre-journalism and mass communication, said the group had received many positive honks from the cars driving by. He said the group would return to protest again if no action was taken against Iraq.