By Mari Shinkai and Yi-Fang Vicky Lin
On-line Forty-Niner

As the U.S.-led war in Iraq intensifies with continued strikes, various student groups at Cal State Long Beach possess different stands toward the war. Despite disagreements, students have expressed respect for the distinctive perspectives.

The College Republicans gives its support for President Bush and the war based on moral motivation, Jason Garthoffner, member of College Republican said.

“We do not necessarily support George W. Bush because he is the republican, but because we think it is the right thing,” Garthoffner said. “Saddam Hussein is an evil dictator, he tortured and killed his own people. We believe he should be overthrown.”

Alex Omel, another member of College Republicans, said he believes U.S. military action against Iraq is vital to the liberation of the Iraq as well as for the justice and freedom of its people.

“The U.N. has proven itself impotent in the regard that 17 resolutions were broken. Twelve years and peace doesn’t work, we’ve tried that,” Omel said. “I’m in support of [the war]. I know a lot of the club members are too.”

Campus Crusade for Christ is also in favor of war but mostly it is for the U.S. troops. Two members of the group currently serve in the Marines and Navy.

“I think the majority of people in [Campus Crusade for Christ] Long Beach are in support of our troops in Iraq,” said John Lockmer, member of the leadership team for the organization. “We are praying for the troops and the people in Iraq, especially for [their two members].”

The African Student Union official stance is in opposition of the war.  Ob Adisa Asad, Sgt. of Arms of the organization, said he believes the war itself on an ethical, moral, political and social basis is a wrongful act.

“It just creates deaths,” Asad said. “It benefits people who have a higher class distinction, and traditionally, people of color, specifically of African descent have been sent to wars to serve on the front lines.”

The African Student Union believes the war has affected African-American community by the disproportionately numbers of African-American reservists called to war.

“Even though [African-Americans] may not be the large majority in the military, it takes away from a large majority of our community. We lost people to war,” Uduak Joe Ntuk, member of the African Student Union, said.

Ntuk also said no sufficient evidence could prove Iraq has links to chemical weapons, attacks against Americans or connections to terrorist groups. He said U.S. military action violates international law, and the United States has no right to use military force towards innocent Iraqi civilians.

College Republicans raised questions to anti-war groups that their opposition to war is politically driven.

“If you’re truly antiwar, would you be against all previous wars, such as Civil War, revolutionary, World War I and World War II? Or are people against this war because we have a republican in the White House?” Omel said.

The Campus Progressives do not support war based on “hypocritical reasons behind war.”

“If you look at most of the other wars we’ve fought, they’ve been for economic reasons. The people who lead our country are not interested in democracy or human rights,” Jeb Sprague, member of Campus Progressives said.

Nina Flores, member of Campus Progressives also emphasized that “the U.S. history shows a plethora of failed interventions by the U.S. government in the name of liberating people or spreading democracy.”

“Chile, Nicoragua, Guatemala — the list goes on and on,” Flores said. “What this boils down to the largest army in the world beating up on a third-world country resulting in the economic rape of their number one resource, oil.”

Sprague also criticized on how the mass media is used as a tool of propaganda and called it “biased journalism.”

“Look at the people who control the media and advertisements, they are out to make profits, they are not out to inform. People are easily misled by mass media about war,” Sprague said.

Campus Progressives strongly protests the war in Iraq but expressed its compassion for U.S. troops.

“People say that if you are against war, you’re against troops, but I don’t think that’s true. My cousin was just sent to Iraq and I don’t want him to die,” Sprague said. “But life is not worth losing for war and I just don’t believe it’s going to promote democracy.”

Although student groups have different points of view, they expressed their respects towards freedom of speech.

“We believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and everyone has freedom to express that opinion and belief. We reserve the right to voice ours and respect those who respect us,” Asad said.

“We’re all Americans. You have your own opinion and others can have their own opinions, just to a certain extent. You need to support the troops there,” Omel said.

Lockmer also emphasized that people have the freedom to voice their opinions because many soldiers have fought and died for the freedom.

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