CNN’s “Showdown with Iraq” became a showdown with Clinton administration policy. Protesters repeatedly interrupted Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Secretary of Defense William Cohen and White House National Security Adviser Sandy Berger during Wednesday’s internationally-televised town meeting, sponsored by CNN.Seated on a blood-red stage in St. John Arena, Albright, Berger and Cohen addressed the U.S. military situation in Iraq to the crowd of about 5,000 Ohio State students, officials and citizens while a few dozen vocal protesters shouted profanity and anti-American slurs.Despite attempts by officials from Student Affairs and University Police to silence protesters, shouts of “liar” and chants of “One, Two, Three, Four – we don’t want your racist war,” echoed through the arena during the 90-minute forum.Police ejected seven protesters from the forum for shouting out of order, and one man was arrested for criminal trespass and resisting arrest, said University Police Chief Ron Michalec. Outside the arena, dozens more protesters shouted through megaphones and handed out leaflets while spectators shivered in a cold rain, waiting as long as two hours to file through metal detectors into the arena.Pundits viewed the meeting as an effort by the Clinton administration to drum up support for a possible military strike against Iraq. “We plan to discuss with you why the confrontation between Iraq and the world matters to us as Americans, why it developed, and what our strategy is for settling it in a way that leaves us, our friends in the region and the entire world safer,” Albright said.Philip J. Crowley, a press officer for the National Security Council, said the administration wanted to go somewhere in the heartland of the United States. Some political observers, though, are already criticizing OSU as a poor choice.White House officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press some heckling had been expected, but nothing of the intensity of what the trio experienced.”In a White House known for its shrewdness about spin, this was remarkably stupid,” said Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia.Rick Theis, an OSU graduate and writer, stood at a microphone and shouted at the speakers for attention early in the meeting. CNN quickly turned off his microphone and cut to a commercial. During the break, Theis and CNN moderator Bernard Shaw engaged in an off-camera shouting match.”I’m a citizen, too,” Theis said. “Ms. Albright told me I could speak. I have as much of a right to speak as she does.”Two security agents and David Williams, vice president for Student Affairs, forcefully escorted Theis out of the forum. Later, he was allowed to return and ask the National Security team panel a question.Jon Strange, a substitute teacher for Columbus City Schools, asked the panel why it was OK to target Iraq when other countries have biological and chemical weapons. Strange was not satisfied with Albright’s response that the United States makes clear its opposition to the policies of these countries.”You’re not answering my question, Madame Albright,” he said.Albright, Cohen and Berger stressed Saddam Hussein is the enemy of all people, including his own.”I guarantee you, we care more about the Iraqi people than Saddam Hussein does,” Albright said. Her comment was followed by enthusiastic cheering. Since the Gulf War ended seven years ago, Iraq has destroyed some of its biological and chemical weapons under the supervision of United Nations inspectors. Lately, though, Saddam has blocked U.N. inspectors from certain sites, leading the task force to believe he is hiding weapons there.”There remains a critical gap between the number of weapons we know Iraq produced and the amount we can confirm were destroyed,” Albright said.The inspectors are in Iraq enforcing U.N. declarations that Saddam eliminate all weapons of mass destruction. In recent weeks, President Clinton has threatened military action unless inspectors are granted “unfettered access,” in Albright’s words, to all weapon sites.”What we are seeking to do is not to topple Saddam Hussein, not to destroy his country, but to do what the United Nations has said in its declarations,” Cohen said. “We want to insist that not only in words, but deeds.”U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan leaves Thursday for Baghdad in a last-ditch effort to try to negotiate peace.Upon his return, the administration will evaluate what he has to say, Berger said.”Let’s be clear what solving the problem is,” he said. “It’s not just putting it under the rug…these inspectors have to have access to everything in the country.”Despite the fact the White House is not completely satisfied with its decision to hold the forum at OSU, some students recognize the virtue of open political discourse.”At first I was embarrassed,” said Mark Hogan, a senior majoring in political science and communications. “But then, as the event progressed, I wasn’t, because a town meeting is for dissenters as well as people who support the issue.”