Our View

This week, Collegian photographer Theanne Tangen will head to Colorado, where she will train to potentially fight in Iraq. Then, she will head to a far-off country-probably one that borders Iraq.

Theanne is a fiery girl with a sparkplug personality who takes great candid shots of people when they are relaxed.

We will miss her and pray for her safe return.

She will head out with millions of other American soldiers, including those who fight for their country because it is the finest in the world, those who fight for their country because they needed money for school and those who fight for their country because they needed to escape a life that would eventually kill them.

None of them may return.

The Earth may be wiped completely clean of them, only a headstone in a cemetery to remind us that they lived lives and walked among us for a while.

All of this for some weapons which may or may not exist. Or some oil, depending on how cynical you are.

This week, Collegian video game reviewer Jason Jorgensen will ship out too. Jason’s a good guy with a strange sense of humor and he knows a good video game when he sees one.

We will miss him and pray for his safe return.

What price will our President pay in American lives, in Iraqi lives, in human lives before this is over?

Bush has somehow made Iraq into the number one enemy despite the fact that none of the September 11 hijackers were Iraqi, no money tie has been established between Iraq and al-Qaeda and no smoking gun has been found by the United Nations weapons inspectors.

Europe is leery of this war. The Middle East is leery of this war. Even Canada is leery of this war. Two-thirds of your population are leery of this war without the backing of the UN, Mr. Bush.

Sometime this week, Collegian columnist Lacey Engebretson will begin a journey which will end in the Middle East. She is a smart girl with a wonderful smile and a way with words.

We will miss her and pray for her safe return.

If this war goes poorly (and we pray that it ends quickly with minimal loss of life), do not hate the soldiers. They are simply hard-working pawns in Bush’s game. They fight for our country and we should be proud of them.

But they are us. Our friends and colleagues. And they are going to war. Some may not return.

Mr. Bush, we pray that you know what you are doing. It’s the only thing we have left to do.

Send comments and thoughts to sdsucollegian@yahoo.com.