America should act against Iraq

To the editors:

I have a question for Colin Girgenti: Did the thought ever occur to you that there is a reason why many (not just one) circles of our government are considering action against Iraq? That all this dust is being kicked up for a reason? Where there is smoke, there is fire. As an American (and a taxpayer), I would rather this nation’s leadership make an issue of this, investigate it and act in the name of national security than opt to ignore it. Such negligence could prove to be disastrous.

Mr. Girgenti, what you fail to understand is that national security is you! It is you, me, our friends and family alike. Since Sept. 11, the objective of national security has been the preservation of American life. Mr. “Baby Bush” is considering attacking Iraq and removing its leader because he poses a threat not to the “American way of life” but a threat to “American life” itself: us! You believe that because the Iraqi government has been under the watchful eye of the U.N. for a decade that they are incapable of producing destructive power.

It is this very same simple-minded and ignorant mentality that created the complacency that overtook the U.S. population after the Cold War and quickly vanished at 9:05 a.m. on Sept. 11.

Mr. Girgenti, it is time for you to wake up and realize that this is a dangerous world where people in far off lands do not like us. The hatred these individuals harbor is so deep-rooted that they are willing to pilot fully-loaded jets into skyscrapers, detonate American embassies and, most especially, target American civilians. This means you and I are no longer safe and the old rules and stereotypes no longer apply. It used to be understood that only soldiers went to far-off battlefields to die and make war. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. As of Sept. 12, you and I became soldiers alike and the entire world became a battlefield where our mutual enemy can reveal himself at any time and any place.

That should answer your headline question from Sept. 6: “Why attack Iraq” – because vigilance saves more lives then negligence does.

Andy FelipeClass of 2002