To the Editor:
In response to the "Minus Green" (Letter to the Editor, Oct. 11), the protest of which I was a part on Monday was just that, and not a "counter-protest." Our goal was apart from simply countering the protestors who have been clustering on the corner beside the student center in recent weeks. Nor did we aim to engage in a "thoughtful and respective discourse" on the war effort; indeed, the medium of protest precludes such niceties.
Instead, we sought to provide a venue where the patriotic majority on campus could see their beliefs reaffirmed, rather than belittled or further laced with guilt and regret.
We mourn those killed accidentally as we mourn our own lost on Sept. 11, and we hope that their numbers will continue to be small. But this is what separates us from the terrorists: as we take precautions and lament our own failures, they celebrate the deaths of every man and woman whom they have murdered.
After the first bombing of the World Trade Center, we waged peace, tracking down those directly responsible without going after their sponsors. Following the bombings of our embassies and the USS Cole we did the same, and the terrorists became emboldened. We waged peace and failed, and now, regretfully, we wage war. "The sanctity of human life" is the very basis of our strikes in Afghanistan and, likely soon, elsewhere: our terrorist enemies are inhuman, and their defeat is the victory of all who respect life and love peace. Those who argue for total restraint of our efforts promote a policy that has seen thousands of innocents killed and has brought the world unbearable, unnecessary suffering.
It is not wrong to fight for the lives of men and women the world over who are, now, terrorism's innocent targets, and we at Dartmouth are proud to support the war visibly and vocally every chance we get.
