I am not a member of the GW Action Coalition, and I am personally still undecided as to whether I would support military retaliation for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, especially since no one is really sure of the perpetrator of these attacks. However, reading Bill Eldridge’s recent article (“Wrong to protest retaliation for terror,” Sept. 17, p. 5), filled me with a different fear and sadness than I experienced as a result of these terrorist attacks. That fear and sadness are derived from looking into the face of close-mindedness, ignorance and hypocrisy.

Eldridge attacks GWAC because they have chosen to denounce the use of force before an official decision has been made. He denounces GWAC and its supporters, questioning whether they should be called true Americans. Perhaps in his time at GW, Eldridge did not learn one of the most fundamental American principles: freedom of speech. For someone to call anyone’s citizenship into question because they speak freely is profoundly disturbing and shows a complete lack understanding of American democracy.

The principles Eldridge does suggest we rally behind – lack of the rights to free speech, thought and protest – are the complete antitheses of everything that this country stands for. Perhaps Eldridge should be the one reevaluating his citizenship; he has quite obviously already lost sight of that for which he so strongly claims to fight.

-Ben Williams
freshman