About 30 students and community members gathered last night in the Willard Building to discuss the United States' intervention in Iraq.

The event, "A People's Tribunal on U.S. War Crimes in Iraq: Overcoming the Silence," held by members from by the Human Rights Film Series, Streets Project, Penn State Amnesty International and the State College Peace Center, was part of War Crimes Week at Penn State.

Doug Morris, member of the Human Rights Film Series and Streets Project, said the event was held to recognize the United States' violation of the United Nations Charter, which the United States signed and ratified on Oct. 24, 1945.

"Having a small tribunal at Penn State isn't going to have a giant effect on policy, but we have to do something," Morris said.

Morris said the United States is guilty of violating the U.N. Charter and violating the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of Iraq. He added the U.N. Charter outlines only two legitimate reasons for attack: as self defense against armed forces and if the security council authorizes that peaceful means have been exhausted.

Morris said Iraq was a defenseless country with no weapons of mass destruction that posed no immediate threat to the United States.

Morris began the tribunal by asking the group if they felt it was unusual to hear the terms "U.S." and "war crimes" linked together.

Jude Simpson, a State College resident and State College Peace Center board member, said many U.S. citizens keep quiet about the harsh realities of U.S. intervention in war because they do not want to seem unpatriotic. However, she said U.S. citizens need to speak out about democracy to be patriotic.

"A lot of people need to hear about the atrocities of war and realize a lot of laws are being broken," she said. "We shouldn't stand for this occupation of another country."

Morris said there are harsh constraints about what is discussed about U.S. interventions in the classroom, creating the mentality that America is the greatest country.

"We grow up on the assumption that we have the right to attack other countries," Morris said.

Paul Simpson, a State College resident, local physician and State College Peace Center member, discussed his research of depleted uranium, which is used in war tanks, missiles, bombs and machine guns during combat. He began researching the effects of the use of depleted uranium after seeing several of his patients deployed from Iraq who were exposed to depleted uranium.

He said when depleted uranium is used in combat, it pierces through armor, explodes and then incinerates everything inside. He said depleted uranium has not only caused birth deflects, cancer and respiratory problems among Iraqi civilians and U.S. military and their offspring, but once uranium is released, it is radioactive forever.

"People are constantly exposed to this stuff," he said. "The entire Middle East has been contaminated with uranium through dust storms."

The tribunal showed slide shows with graphic pictures of injured Iraqi civilians, bombed buildings and open caskets of Iraqi victims, as well as closed U.S. caskets.

"A People's Tribunal on U.S. War Crimes in Iraq" will be held again at 7 p.m. Sunday in 362 Willard.