|
Home News Tribune Online 10/14/07 http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071014/OPINION02/710140304/1080
As an alumna of Columbia University, I was appalled at the insults its president, Lee Bollinger, directed at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he spoke at the university last month. I agree with Home News Tribune staff writer David Stegon's Oct. 6 column "Communicating requires opening your ears before opening your mouth." 
It is crucial to have forums for the exchange of ideas, not insults. This is especially important in these times when our government is moving ever closer to attacking Iran while continuing to occupy Iraq.
A conference sponsored by Rutgers Against the War and Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War last weekend was such an opportunity and I wish more could have heard the excellent speakers. The conference was titled "Marching Home: A Conference on the Iraq War and its Consequences for Veterans." One speaker, a former Marine recruiter, who was one of the first to report human-rights abuses in Iraq, spoke of the suffering he still experiences because of what he saw there, including needless killing of civilians. He also has degenerative spine disease, a result of exposure to depleted uranium, which is a component of some ammunition used by the United States in Iraq. I heard a former Army Reserve colonel and former diplomat who resigned in protest of the invasion of Iraq. She has since spent her time and energy protesting the politicians who promote war and thus endanger all of us. I heard an Iraqi-American doctor who talked of the humanitarian costs of the war in Iraq. She showed slides of her family, including small children whose lives are scarred from the devastation occurring all around them. Also speaking was the mother of Army 1st Lt. Seth Dvorin, who was killed in Iraq in 2004. She spoke of the inducements of military recruiters targeting young people and stated she would never allow her young grandson to see military service. Many veterans of both the Iraq and Vietnam wars spoke eloquently about the realization they had participated in illegal wars and the mental pain caused by what they have seen done to civilians. We all need to call on our elected representatives and urge them to enact legislation to end this war. And we need to tell them and tell President Bush not to invade or attack Iran, or engage in any activity that could lead to a widening of military action. Please, get involved and take action to stop and prevent needless war, and make our world a safer place to live. Dorothy Schwartz PISCATAWAY |
