There are few people in the world that are pro-war. War is awful, a path to be chosen carefully and thoughtfully. To oppose war at all costs, however, is naŒve.

Some support a war on Iraq because it means liberating the Iraqi people from a murderous, fascist dictator. Others support it for purposes of eliminating more weapons of mass destruction from the world. Still, others support such a war so that the United States can gain trade control of the vast Iraqi oil reserves, thereby improving the economy of America and the entire world. It is absolutely irrelevant which reason you choose when all of these and more will result after a war with Iraq.

War absolutely has consequences. The deaths of brave soldiers, the errant deaths of civilians, and the expenditure of wealth and resources are the results of nearly any military action.

The consequences of peace (or inaction), however, can be far more horrifying. A quick look into history reveals painful examples, such as the Holocaust, Albanian genocide under the Serbs, large-scale terrorist attacks, oppression and slavery in many eras.

In all these cases, inaction led to disasters undoubtedly more horrible than limited warfare.

To all who oppose a war unconditionally, I pose several questions …

How many Kurds and Shiites must be gassed, tortured and mutilated before you can support a war whose outcome is their freedom?

How many weapons of terrorism and mass destruction, located in the hands of an absolute dictator who hates your very existence, are you comfortable with?

How much disregard for the world community are you willing to accept?

Many argue that Saddam Hussein is fully “contained” and can never become a direct threat. In 1939, however, the world knew that Hitler and the German military were “contained.” The world knew that the German military was substandard and their technology obsolete. After all, Germany had been thoroughly defeated less than twenty years before.

These beliefs, as everyone fully knows now in retrospect, couldn’t have been more wrong. In the time since World War I, Germany had actually rebuilt its military and developed countless secret and hidden weapons.

Can it truly be argued that the world would be worse off if a pre-emptive strike were made on Germany in the years leading up to World War II? The tens of millions of people who died from genocide and total war might argue differently.

I urge everyone to have the intelligence to study history and understand it. Find examples relevant to the current situation. Compare what happened when action was taken, as opposed to complacency.

One of the most unpatriotic acts you can do is to form your opinions from television, the newspapers or political protests. Do the research yourself, make it so you understand the situation fully, and form your own opinion. We are fortunate to have a leadership that has the intelligence to study and understand world history, and the courage to act on those convictions.

Jason B. Clark

Senior

Physics and Aerospace Engineering