Letter to the editor
Mideast remains plagued by America
May 1, 2008
The war in Iraq is undoubtedly “more than signs” and “chants.” On April 8, 2008, over sixty community members attended a march and over one-hundred attended a rally to protest this illegal occupation by actions, not just words.
These people are brave enough to voice and defend their beliefs in full-view of the community in which they live, thus making them more than “propagandist pawns.”
The idea that our government is “secular” highlights an acceptance of propaganda consider that our current President has repeatedly emphasized his belief that “god” has chosen him for the presidency.
He has opposed things such as stem-cell research and abortion on the basis of his religious beliefs.
The Kurds may have asked for our help, but that doesn’t change the fact that a majority of Iraqi people attribute the problems plaguing Iraq to the American occupation and, coincidently, want us to leave, making our continuing presence there less about justice and more about oil and regional domination.
The U.S. embassy in Iraq has cost us one billion dollars and contains anti-air missiles, independent electrical and water systems, and is about 104 acres of land.
It seems as though our government plans to be there for quite some time if they are investing such funds into this bas (oops, I mean “embassy”).
In actuality, the U.S. presence in Iraq will only perpetuate further unrest, i.e. the Mahdi Army’s attacks on American troops.
Furthermore, the Middle-East will never be a place of stability and peace if Americans continue to permit our government to deny Arabic, Palestinian, Kurdish, Turkish, and Persian peoples to the right of self-determination that it so majestically proclaims as an inviolable right, but then smashes with illegal wars of occupation such as this one and the one in Vietnam.
Let us begin by respecting the wishes of the Iraqi people by leaving their country. Democracy does not and cannot exist when a people are occupied by a foreign military.
Alex Halverson,
Student