Today concludes the Fares Center's conference, "'War on Terrorism': Where Do We Stand?" The international discourse continues next week with the Institute for Global Leadership's three-day symposium, "Iraq: Moving Forward."
The Tufts community enjoys a unique opportunity. More than just links posted on the Tuftslife.com Web page, events such as these occur regularly, bringing leading minds to campus to speak on pressing topics. Tufts lives up to its commitment to global leadership; we as students must live up to ours.
"Iraq: Moving Forward" will bring several political luminaries to campus, from Brett McGurk, Director for Iraq on the U.S. National Security Council, to Ali A. Allawi, a senior adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
All students, be they international relations or biology majors, should feel a responsibility to be informed about the current situation in the Middle East. We are fighting a war on the ground, and it is our duty to reflect on the consequences of our country's actions.
There is too great a divide between the Americans fighting in Iraq and those back at home. As Rebekah Sanderlin, a military wife stationed in Fort Bragg, expressed in a December commentary on National Public Radio, the army went to war, and the rest of America went to the mall.
Tufts students do not have to conform to this apathetic stereotype. The IGL's conference presents our community with an opportunity to be intellectually involved and invested in the war. The casualties of the war in Iraq mount by the day; it is the least we can do as global citizens to be informed.
Unfortunately, misinformation about the conflict has been prevalent. From evocations of weapons of mass destruction which never materialized to declarations of a mission accomplished far before the fact, it has been a rare occasion when the administration has accurately conveyed the situation in the Middle East to the public.
President Bush might do well to listen to the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. With his decision to unconditionally add more troops in Iraq, he is not fully considering the opinions of leaders who might be able to impart valuable insight on the continuing violence. The process of reconciliation needs such communication to succeed.
Although the likelihood of a panel at Tufts University reversing the quagmire in Iraq is small, the presence of these political movers and shakers coming to the Hill presents students with a direct link to an often distant conflict. The public panel discussions will allow students to not only hear about the war from eye witnesses, but also to be engaged and to pose questions to the leaders best able to inform us.
In the end, the war in Iraq is a matter that should concern all. As voters, intellectuals and global citizens, it is disrespectful to the thousands, many of them our peers, who have died in the Middle East in a war waged under the burden of misinformation. We should not miss any opportunity to get our minds involved.
