SCOTT MILLER
News Assistant
While still enrolled in courses at Pepperdine, sophomore political science major Richard Nye has been embroiled in the current war in Iraq, along with the ensuing controversies.
Nye has been in Iraq, serving as a sergeant in the U.S. Army since October 2006. Since his deployment overseas, Nye has witnessed the real side of war, and as a result, he has changed some of his perceptions and reaffirmed others.
When Nye volunteered to be deployed to Iraq, he strongly supported the Bush Administration’s stance on the war in Iraq; something he still supports.
“While I tried to come over with an open mind, I had my political views,” Nye wrote in an e-mail from Iraq. “I supported the Bush Administration.”
Since Nye had two older siblings who served in the war, he said he was aware of what he was getting into by enlisting. He also had contact with several people who had served in both Iraq and Kuwait, who told him about their experiences and gave him advice.
“Still I had never experienced war before,” Nye wrote. “It wasn’t really real before I got here. But then I get over here and get shot at, and I see people dying. I see the way the Iraqi people are forced to live, and all of the sudden I came to the crashing conclusion that this is a war, and bad things happen in war.”
Dr. Chris Soper, professor of Political Science, said he feels many of the young people at Pepperdine and around the United States view the war in Iraq only as an abstraction.
“A lot of his [Nye’s] peers are not fully aware of what it is like to be in Iraq,” said Soper, one of Nye’s professors during the fall.
What has changed is Nye’s view of the politics behind the war. Since being a part of the fighting, Nye said his perception on politicians and Washington has changed. He feels the politicians and political debate in the United States has not done justice to the cause, and said when politicians make the trip to Iraq’s combat zones, they are not getting the full experience.
“Maybe they’ve [politicians] been to the region a few times and checked some things out so that they can add some credibility to their resume, and they can fuel their agenda or whatever,” Nye wrote.
Nye said he feels that this kind of behavior falls on both sides of the aisle.
“The men and women fighting and dying over here are just numbers and votes for them, Republican, Democrat, or other,” Nye wrote.
Nye additionally said he feels that the media reporting on the war has not accurately portrayed the events of the war and blames the media’s reporting for a misconception about the war and its negative effects on morale of both U.S. and Iraqi soldiers.
“And it’s the same with folks back home,” Nye wrote. “They don’t know what it’s like. The media doesn’t report the news; they report a story, no matter the accuracy. But it’s real.”
Nye has also felt the strong criticism from media that the war in Iraq is “not our fight,” something he still denies.
Nye believes that the cause of American involvement is noble and worthy of the United States’ best efforts.
“Sometimes people tell me ‘It’s not our war. We shouldn’t be involved. We have too many problems at home we need to fix first,’” Nye wrote. “But if you were walking down the street and you see some teenager beating up and stealing from a 10-year-old, would you just walk away and say it’s not for you to get involved because you have your own issues with school you need to work out first? I hope no one would think that.”
Even though Nye feels that there are problems in the system, he still said that something good will come of the war effort.
“We’ve really botched this up well,” Nye wrote. “But it’s not too late to fix it. Not even close to being too late to fix it.”
Nye also still believes that the war is making a positive impact and difference on the Middle East, and Iraq specifically.
He said that the United States and her allies owe it to the Iraqi people to follow through on the war, regardless of why politicians decided to invade the country in the first place.
“The people here are real,” Nye wrote. “We owe it to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan to follow through on this.
No matter what the reason we were told by our politicians that we were going to war, we’re at war. We are embroiled in this thing and can’t cop out of it now. We can’t abandon these people. The ends will justify the means.”
02-01-2007
