I am shocked and appalled after reading Monday’s Hatchet (“Bush, Cheney honor veterans at GW,” Jan. 21, p. 1). To begin with, what did the protesters hope to accomplish when they picketed the Smith Center on Friday at an event honoring the veterans? Perhaps this was just simply an exercise in self-aggrandizement. After all it is fun being in The Hatchet; I will testify to that.
Seriously though, could they not have chosen a better venue in which to protest, than one in which the president and many other prominent government officials were honoring our veterans? I think it was the grossest insensitivity to shove a banner claiming Iraqi genocide in the faces of some of the same veterans who fought in the Gulf War. Furthermore, it was extremely counterproductive to make such prominent figures uncomfortable at our University. Are we or are we not trying to increase the prestige of this University?
I also take issue with Bernard Pollack’s statement that “GW is radicalized.” It is not that GW is radicalized but that the same 40 people who protest everything have only gotten ruder and nastier. I am curious to know what it means to be “opposed to the Bush-Cheney administration.” I am already very irritated by some of the conservative measures that Bush has taken and will take in the future, but I recognize that Bush is now our president and will be for the next four years. I hope that these opponents will express their grievances in a decent and democratic way that does not bring shame on our country.
I cannot believe there is a group on campus calling themselves the GW Anarchists. What kind of cowards are these that would deface a Navy memorial? These people are nothing but a bunch of miscreants who should save their parents’ money by not attending this University.
