How are the anti-war protesters any different than the Taliban? Father Frank Cordaro said in Thursday’s Daily, “We’re dead set against revenge.” Agreed, and so is the rest of the country. To this American, this campaign is not one of revenge; rather it is one of ensuring, to the highest possible degree, that another terrorist attack stemming from the Taliban or al-Qaida will never again occur on American soil.

I credit Father Cordaro for his anti-violence stance, and I commend his domestic ideals of “breaking the chain of violence,” but this is not a family dispute with child learning from parent. This is a global terrorist organization that is repulsed by American culture and which seeks to terminate its existence. By taking military action on those parties involved, we say, “we won’t stand for this any more,” and that those who died on Sept. 11 did not die in vain. It is in the honor of those that perished that day that we seek to eliminate those organizations which intend to do us harm.

By saying “stop the campaign,” by association the protesters are inviting or encouraging another attack. One does not break the chain of violence by being passive. I would be ashamed to be Laura Hatfield, immortalized on the front page of a newspaper, and I offer sympathy to her family, who unlike her, may embrace some sort of patriotic ideals. This is not Vietnam, where there actually were two factions – the government wanting to stop the spread of communism, and the citizens not buying the trade-off of American lives for foreign democracy.

I too believe in the power of non-violence, but this is neither the time nor the place to bring a peaceful ideology to the table. In my short lifetime, I have never seen America so united, with bipartisan support of the campaign and President Bush. Ms. Hatfield, like so many that have gone before you, stand up and fight for your country and the ethics it embraces. You and Father Cordaro may have seen things differently if someone you loved had innocently lost their life that tragic day. Your sign should have read “support the Taliban and al-Qaida.” Are they innocent?

Tyler L. Theder

Senior

Landscape Architecture