I was very impressed by Bob Mate’s world news exclusive — The Marquette Tribune is honored to be the first to print this discovery: “The College Republicans spent the night (9/11/01) ranting about an issue of their own making.” Really? Does the CIA know? Was the much-glorified whistleblower of the FBI, Coleen Rowley, privy to this information? And who knew that Saudi Arabia was so littered with College Republicans? Some New England colleges can’t even boast of 15 College Republicans! Mate’s wording was confusing; I know his intention was not to place blame on College Republicans.

Mate makes some sweeping generalizations and accusations regarding the ongoing conflict in Iraq. First, I’ll admit that I’m a bit puzzled on the question of weapons of mass destruction. It seems to me that the president and our allies might like to offer further evidence justifying the invasion. However, notice the absence of criticism from the Axis of Weasels. French President Jacques Chirac hasn’t demanded an answer concerning the weapons. And Iraq’s neighbor Iran (not exactly supportive of America) said months ago that their intelligence pointed toward the existence of weapons.

Regarding Sarah Rhomberg’s Viewpoint, we are told that the “Never Forget” posters put up by the College Republicans told “one side” of the story of violence. I’m unaware of the origin of the figure “four million people killed” during Vietnam. Perhaps we should explore freedom’s alternative. R.J. Rummel’s “Death by Government” details the murders by Communists (non-war related), and arrives at statistics of 62 million via Soviet totalitarianism and 35 million thanks to Chinese dictatorship. With these statistics in mind, I want to gather and sing, “Give peace a chance.” Peace for whom? We can only hope that the Vietnamese slaughtered under the “People’s Government” have a peace that they could not find on earth.

Collar is a freshman political science and economics major.