Two students, one a McCain supporter and Iraq veteran, the other a Obama supporter, had a heated argument about the Iraq war yesterday drawing a large crowd.

The argument continued for 20 minutes.

Joel Wood, who served two tours of duty in Iraq, struck up a conversation with John Rappaport, an Obama supporter who was demonstrating loudly in front of Graham Chapel.

“I can’t help my tone,” Rappaport said, “because I’m f—ing angry at people like George Bush and the way they run this country. I’m pissed off. This is not an election where I just want to sit around and talk about the issues. Yes, we need to talk about the issues, but I’m also angry because there’s a lot of lies and a lot of bulls—.”

Wood, in turn, cited his experience as a marine.

“You’re actually looking at someone who has been a small-unit executor of a lot of these foreign policy decisions,” Wood said. “And I’m not exactly happy with the way things have gone. But it’s not enough for me to get up and start ripping people apart.”

Rappaport argued that, while many accept the surge as a success, he feels that “right now we are paying Sunnis to fight for us.”

Wood laughed at Rappaport’s assertion.

“I was there twice,” he said. “I was there when the war started, I was there, in Anbar, for my second deployment, right when Fallujah was going down. That’s when the conflict was at its darkest point. That’s when Iraq was the dark side of the moon. And we didn’t pay anybody to fight for us.”

While the argument mainly focused on Iraq, it also touched on some of the topics that have reigned in the public consciousness over the past few months, such as McCain’s age, and Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin and Obama’s respective experience.

When Rappaport suggested the possibility of Palin rising to the presidency were McCain to die in office, Wood dismissed the idea.

“This is the first time in a long time where age and experience is a liability,” Wood said.
Rappaport argued that the issue was “particularly pertinent given who [McCain’s] vice presidential candidate is.”

“Palin has as much, if not more, experience as Barack Obama,” Wood said. “The difference is, we have her on the bottom of our ticket as opposed to the top.”

The argument soon petered out, but left an impression on the surrounding crowd.

Sophomore Alex Bensick said that the spontaneous debate demonstrated positive aspects of the intellectual environment at Washington University.

“I think it’s a good example of how students here can discuss their opinions freely,” Bensick said. “It says a lot about a community where you have this kind of thing going on where you have people discussing their various beliefs and you have a nice forum for that without things getting too ridiculous.”

Wood also felt that the debate was positive.

“It started off pretty inflammatory,” he said, “but through a process of healthy dialogue, we were able to see eye to eye.”

He was also happy that the argument drew spectators, provided that it educated them.

“[It was a good thing] only if people walked away more informed. I don’t want to polarize this process any more than it already is.”

Wood admitted that the argument became heated, and, at times, a little too personal on both sides, but that he had expected the tension.

“I’m not saying it’s right. At the end of the day, I’m human, and this is something that I’m passionate about as well,” he said. “It’s hard not to react humanly to stuff like that.”