This letter is in regards to Patrick O’Bryan’s “Khakis” article in the May 21 edition of the Daily. First off, let me say that I am impressed with your love for our country. I believe they call it “bandwagon patriotism.”

For decades, we screwed Arab nations out of billions of barrels oil. Then in the early `70s, they raised the price on oil after discovering that it was a very hot commodity.

Americans got pissed because they couldn’t afford to fuel their horribly inefficient 4 miles-per-gallon muscle cars. Then in the early `90s, America started a war with Iraq so that we could get a good price on oil. And since then, the military has bombed Iraq almost non-stop.

On Sept. 11, someone decided to bully the bully, and a group of Arab extremists attacked New York and the Pentagon. America bombs an Arab nation for over a decade, killing countless civilian lives, and we call it “war” and “peace-keeping”. Someone bombs America, and we call it “terrorism”.

I ask you to pick up a British newspaper sometime and for once read an unbiased article on how America’s “war on terrorism” is going in the Middle East. You’ll find that America’s “smart” bombs hit civilian buildings almost as often as they do military installations. Let’s not forget that America is responsible for putting the Taliban in power in the first place. We even supplied them with weapons to fight the USSR.

I am thankful to have been born in the United States and a democratic society but do not believe that everyone else in the world must live as I do. It’s time that we refuse to fight in any more of our government’s wars.

Matt Haller

Senior

Computer Engineering