Our campus has been calm this week, with the exception of the crowd of eager students who waited hours to see Richard Dawkins at Hogg Auditorium and the unusually high number of promotional predators on the West Mall. 'Twas not the scene around this time five years ago.
Then, students were camping out, walking out, sitting in - saying "no" to the March 19, 2003, declaration of the Iraq war.
On one occasion leading up to Bush's official decision, more than 2,000 students left class at 11:30 a.m. to attend a demonstration at the Martin Luther King statue, marking what has been called the largest UT student protest in 35 years. Students both for and against the war came together. As a young American living in the aftermath of Sept. 11, it was hard to walk through campus and not feel connected with each and every student passerby. Upon Bush's declaration, some even literally joined together with rope and PVC pipe and took over the intersection of 24th and Guadalupe streets to protest. On March 19, 2003, UT alum Jonathan Bougie, while writing a chalk advertisement for this event, allegedly had his face smashed into a planter by UTPD officer Wayne Coffey, who was cleared of excessive force charges a year later.
Disquiet gradually diminished on campus, but not in Iraq. On March 23, 2003, after only three days actually on the ground, nine Marines were killed and a dozen U.S. soldiers taken hostage in Baghdad. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, then told the public that the war was "going to get a lot harder," but he assured citizens that there was hope because of the possible discovery of a chemical factory in Najaf. Little did he know that city would see one of the war's deadliest battles, and an estimated death toll of at least 400 only a year later.
On Wednesday, Bush reiterated the same things officials were telling the public in the first days on the ground in Baghdad - the cost of this war, in terms of human life and money, is more than he anticipated. This being the culmination of his tumultuous reign, he had a good opportunity on Wednesday's five-year anniversary to leave a constructive glimmer on his soiled legacy by bringing some troops home - by admitting that officials knew in March 2003 that this was going to be hard and that they'd have to deceive the public every step of the way.
We'll ask President Bush once again to consider the families of fallen and wounded soldiers when speaking of the "hard-fought gains our troops and civilians have made over the past year." Remember the unrest and warnings of Jonathan Bougie and the many youth of tomorrow's generation who fought against your actions five years ago.
This mess was indeed anticipated.
And we ask students to remember the rows and rows of tents that filled the Main Mall leading up to President Bush's declaration of war in the spring of 2003. As you walk through campus, think of the many students from at least 13 organizations who camped for three or more nights on UT's lawn. For those united activists, it was eventually time to go home and shower or e-mail Mom.
We ask you to remind our officials that our troops must be afforded that same luxury. - C.H.
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