Sarah Rhomberg’s Viewpoint, while obviously passionate, was in many ways naive. First, in calling the “Never Forget” posters “propaganda,” she necessarily implies that the College Republicans had something to gain from the posters being up, or that the College Republicans put them up intending to harm a person or group. Propaganda, as defined by Webster’s Dictionary, is “the spreading of ideas, information or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause or person.” Hence, the questions are raised: What did they have to gain? Whom did they intend to hurt? The answers are nothing and no one.

Next, she argues that “the 70,000 Salvadorans and four American nuns killed by the military rulers of El Salvador” was also the United States’ fault. This El Salvadoran regime was supported by Jimmy Carter, not the Marquette College Republicans.

Finally, Rhomberg cites “the 500,000 Iraqi children whom the United Nations estimates died from bombing and sanctions each year.” The claim that U.S. sanctions killed even one Iraqi child is outlandish. At no time in history has the United States placed economic sanctions on Iraq. The sanctions Rhomberg refers to were imposed by the United Nations in 1991 after Iraq’s illegal attempt to annex Kuwait. Furthermore, the sanctions imposed on Iraq by the United Nations promoted prosperity and denied Iraq nothing other than means to produce weapons. The myth that sanctions hurt Iraq has been built up over the last decade by people who are unwilling to examine evidence.

The sanctions, combined with the “oil for food” program, were designed to help Iraq’s children. These plans failed only because Saddam Hussein used the revenues from Iraq’s oil to build his 48 presidential palaces. In short, even if it had been the United States that imposed sanctions, they never killed one Iraqi child. The State Department also reports that baby formula and baby clothes sent to Iraq were exported by Hussein to pay for his luxurious lifestyle rather than used on Iraqi children. It is unquestionably a terrible shame, but it is not our fault.

In conclusion, the College Republicans, saddened as we all are and struggling to deal with terror, offered the campus a sincere attempt at a dignified remembrance. What happened? The signs were scribbled on, torn down, covered up, defiled by the students and attacked by Rhomburg. Truly, the College Republicans would agree with Martin Luther King Jr., who also said, “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

Uhrich is a freshman economics major.