Yes, There is Still a War

By Jennifer O'Loughlin
Science Editor

Onlookers stop to survey the wreckage of the former World Trade Center site in 2005. The Bush administration's war on terror has become a disaster of similar magnitude in itself, with the number of American deaths in Iraq approaching the number lost on 9/11.

This weekend, thousands of protesters are expected to converge on our nation’s capital to protest the unjust death of scores of youths in our little mistake in Iraq. I am proud to say that students from Stony Brook University will be represented in concert with the Social Justice Alliance. However, the large outcry we’ve come to expect from the youth of America is still very much missing.

Large-scale protests at universities across the nation were a fundamental part of the American cultural fabric during the Vietnam War. The youth at the time--our parents today--stood up and questioned the very nature of the war as well as the politics spurring the death of thousands of innocent men. 

On November 15, 1969, the largest anti-War protest of the Vietnam campaign took place, and over 250,000 people poured into Washington D.C. September 24th could be a modern-day equivalent for the war in Iraq, but only if our country's youth emerge from their sleepy daze and the apathy that clouds their lives and realize that our peers are being sent to die without proper body armor, weapons, or even a reason.

Cindy Sheehan stands as the spokesperson for the parents of our nation’s troops. Sheehan is symbolic of the critical thinkers of our nation, the endlessly-rational numbers who question the motives for the brutal action in Iraq. The very fact that Sheehan is willing to become such an outspoken leader in the opposition to the war and is so willing to highlight President Bush’s ineptitude gives great strength to the antiwar movement, and forces us all to question once again why we are there. His ambivalence towards the families of the soldiers lost in the action in Iraq is indicative of a general lack of direction in the White House. 

And where are Casey Sheehan’s peers? Yes, there are students tremendously involved in the anti-war protest movement; I will not deny them the credit they deserve. I have been involved since high school; my parents took me to the anti-war protests in New York City in 2003. However, an overwhelming majority of college students are simply apathetic. They feel disenchanted with society and that there is no point or need. Generation Y is not known as a generation of the ignorant, yet we are silent in our protests, if not disinterested as a whole. 

We must wake up and realize that the very fate of our nation is in our hands. As college students, we are being groomed to become the next leaders of this nation in every field. To sit back and ignore the deaths of nearly 2,000 Americans, let alone over 25,000 Iraqi civilians, is a crime. This is negligence and laziness on our part. Students’ involvement in political movements has been critically important in the past, and it is no less relevant now. The battles of the Civil Rights and Women’s movements were fought on college campuses. 

It disturbs me to look around this campus and see more students riled by the way there is no Bridge to Nowhere than there are being upset by the latest grim news from our nation’s warzones. 

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