While polls show that 90 percent of the U.S. population supports military action against terrorism, students sit in disagreement about the country’s air strikes against Afghanistan.
But whether they agreed with Sunday’s first bombing or condemned it, most students echoed the notion that this war should be against terrorism, not against the Middle Eastern country itself.
Senior business major Phil Adamson said the U.S. response was appropriate, but the government should be cautious about retaliation actions from this point on.
“We can’t just let people attack us and not respond,” he said. “We need to attack, but we also need to be careful and make sure we’re attacking the criminals and not the country.”
In events organized in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, including Sunday’s peace rally and last week’s teach-in, many people have discussed U.S. foreign policy and how it could have triggered some terrorism.
At the teach-in Oct. 3, Geography Professor Shaul Cohen gave a brief explanation about the geopolitics of the Middle East. He stressed that the history does not justify the terrorist actions, but it could help people understand some of the root of anger against the United States.
Senior Bret Jacobson said the terrorist attacks should not push the country into making any policy changes.
“I think it’s important that most students on this campus, the silent majority, know it’s okay to support military action in defense of our nation despite what many hear from their professors,” he said. “It’s fairly clear that the groups responsible for the attacks wanted to change our foreign policy, and we can’t let our moral relativism make us change through relationships we have with our allies.”
But freshman Al Meliky said that attacking the country could provoke even greater anger and violence, leading to a never-ending killing cycle.
“I think they’re moving too fast because they don’t even know who the terrorists are for sure,” he said. “It’s a fight against terrorism. It’s a group of people who did this, not the country.”
Graduate student Alan Choate said that while the United States had to take some kind of action, attacking Afghanistan won’t necessarily prevent or scare off terrorism in the future.
“I understand there has to be some sort of military solution, but I do have some concerns about dropping bombs on an impoverished country,” he said. “We should be focusing on a long-term solution to the violence and unrest in various parts of the world.
“These terrorists didn’t just get up in the morning and say, ‘Hey, I want to go blow up a lot of innocent people.’ They have reasons and circumstances behind what they do,” said Choate. “I don’t think that bombing Afghanistan is going to resolve those circumstances.”