The “Outside the Bubble: World Headlines” section of Friday’s Argus (April 11, 2008, Volume CXLII, Number 39) references the General David Petraeus testimony to a Senate committee at the Capitol. When I saw this, I realized I that should write in, because two other Wesleyan students and I were in the room with Petraeus and the Congress. We sat quietly and held signs in protest, and hanging around our necks were names of Iraqi civilians and U.S. soldiers killed in the war. We heard Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker dodge questions about the War in Iraq like bullets shot from frustrated Democrats and Republicans alike.
One thing that struck me in listening to it all is the realization that Congress has no compassion. Its frustration with the surge seems to stem from concern only with American lives lost and the monetary cost of the war at home. I wish these Congress members could see beyond themselves and look at a country turned upside-down and devastated by warfare, one million civilians dead and five million more refugees over the boarders. Petraeus is in a difficult position with such a failure as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, but I wish he would stand up and admit that the surge isn’t working. We talk about “progress” in war as if that’s a possibility but, unfortunately, it’s not. We’re all losing, and we’re losing our compassion. I’m not sure what we are as humans if we have no compassion.
To Wesleyan students, I would encourage us all to keep living outside of the bubble! Though the Petraeus hearings made world headlines (and subsequently, the “Outside the Bubble” section of the Argus), they were open to the public. Three Wesleyan students were sitting in there but it could have been hundreds. We need to show that we care about the state of the world, and that we’re paying attention to a Congress that repeatedly writes out a blank check for warfare in our name.
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