On Thursday, about 15 protestors held a demonstration outside the office of Grand Rapids area congressperson Vern Ehlers' office to protest his recent vote against the Responsible Redeployment Act and his refusal to come to a town hall meeting with constituents on the Iraq War.

At the protest, a constituent of Vern Ehlers made the following remarks about his continued support of the war:

I wanted to say that last Tuesday I was with a delegation to Vern Ehlers' office to give him a very clear--so large that even King George himself could see it without his eye glasses--invitation to come to a town hall meeting about the war at the end of August. He mulled it over and he declined the invitation and just last week he voted against the Redeployment Act that would help the troops start the pull-out, our troops from Iraq.

So, it wasn't an immediate pull-out, which we would alike to see, but he still wouldn't vote it. Now we all know Vern is against abortion, because he believes in the sanctity of life, fine. He's against stem cell because he believes in the sanctity of life, which is fine I guess. He is for cleaning up the Great Lakes because he is for the sanctity of all green space and all life in the lakes, which is great. So how then can he take our resources and our adult human beings and send them to Iraq to kill each others men, women, and children by supporting this war? We don't know.

We are his constituents, we don't want the war. USA Today says 7 out of 10 people in this country do not want the war. We've been here for four years and we've seen how the traffic has changed from people calling us names versus giving us the high five, the thumbs up (sound of honking)--just like that car! Honking, Honking for peace. We can see the changes--it's only Vern Ehlers that can't see the change.

And please come take a stand, come out, support Iraq Summer and come to the event at the end of August, August 28. We do not want endless war. I wouldn't even call it a war, I think it's an extension of empire. There is no war, it's a massacre and a giveaway to Bush cronies. And we don't want our congressman to be a part of it. He should stand with Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin and oppose the ways of our administration.

For more on the campaign, visit iraqcampaign.org.