I am writing this letter in response to Brendan Cavalier’s April 8th Column, “Real Battle for Baghdad now set to begin”. In it Mr. Cavalier takes a very naïve approach to the reasons for this war. He has totally bought into our regime’s propaganda, while totally ignoring the truth. Whether or not you are for or against this war, you must realize that it is not being fought because George W. Bush thought it was the right thing to do. If it was being fought for morals, we would most likely be involved in dozens of similar conflicts across the globe. There are countless other brutal regimes in the world that are never going to be subject to a US invasion. Two of them, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, are right next to Iraq. Yet the US has no intentions of liberating the Saudis. Why, you might ask? Saudi Arabia has cooperated with the United States. They give us oil, bases to bomb whoever we want, and they are often one of our few supporters in the Arab world. We will not overthrow their brutal and opulent regime, because it is not in our national interest. Also, Mr. Cavalier seemed to be totally ignorant of the fact that America has not only openly supported many brutal dictators throughout the world, but even gone as far as overthrowing democratically elected governments to install them. Just ask anyone who lived under Col. Carlos Castillo Armas in Guatemala, Pinochet in Chile, or the Shah in Iran and they will paint a very different picture of American values than Mr. Cavalier did. This war is not being fought for any moral reasons. It is being fought because our leaders think it necessary to clear out any weapons of mass destruction from Iraq, and to secure its oil. James Downing, CAS ’06 (207) 441-6708