Editor, Daily Nexus,

How bizarre that Pro-Troops Rally on Saturday that only had about 100 participants received a whole article’s worth of coverage (“Locals Hold Pro-Troops Rally,” Daily Nexus, April 21, 2003). I am not proposing that the article should not have existed as it was enlightening how hate-filled and foolish the jingoists can be. Yet, both sides of this story were not reported. The Not In Our Name peace rally that has been active every Saturday for over half a year had about 450 participants but got no Daily Nexus coverage again this week.

Also, for those who think the peace rallies were ineffective because we didn’t stop the war, just imagine if the international communities against the preemptive strike on Iraq hadn’t spoken out so strongly before the war even started. The administration wouldn’t have embedded media, and there wouldn’t have been any rhetoric about saving civilians or upholding the Geneva conventions. In the first Gulf War, there was no discourse about humanitarian aid after the U.S. killed so many innocent people. The rallies were also effective at bringing international attention to the injustice our country has been serving up to the Iraqi people for more than a decade as the U.S. helped Saddam build his arsenal and then bombed civilians continually for years when there was no official war. The war is not over, and the grab for power by the neo-conservatives is just starting, but just imagine what could happen if we stay silent and not question our government’s policies when so much of the world is against its actions.