I am an MSU alumnus and a Vietnam veteran. I certainly hope MSU students and faculty members have expressed their opinion about President M. Peter McPherson's blatant and very sick support ("McPherson to head Iraq's financial reconstruction, leave 'U' temporarily" SN 4/17) for a government that invades a country, kills thousands of civilians and then says "We won." McPherson is accepting blood money. And, via our association with MSU, we are too.
Thanks to U.S. controlled UN sanctions, our government has managed to kill over 1.2 million civilians in Iraq, half of them children, during the past 12 years. We have destroyed their sanitation systems, water systems and medical systems.
During the recent "war" we also have destroyed their railroads, communications systems and much of their history. And amid all this destruction, we somehow missed their oil wells. Amazing. We also forgot to mention that we installed and supported Saddam Hussein in all of his evil deeds.
Now we are sending in U.S. corporations and well known U.S. people to "rebuild." And the mega-rich are getting richer. We have used, and are using, our military for an evil purpose.
History will reveal the details. My hope is that the Internet speeds up the process. People will shake their heads in disbelief, and wonder what "We the People" were doing.
Arnold Stieber
1969 Graduate