I'm a little surprised by the country's reaction to Iran's leader coming to speak at Columbia University. Apparently we are outraged by the man who denies the Holocaust, wants America and Israel to be wiped off the face of the earth and executes homosexuals. Why are people in an uproar about a man exercising his freedom of speech? Because he thinks differently from us? Just last week a group of protesters found themselves on my campus. Their message? All homosexuals burn in hell. And how many nooses have been hung in trees and off the backs of cars in the past month alone? Are we so much better than the people we condemn? I'm not in any way supporting Iran, nuclear warfare or terrorism. As a nation that prides itself on being the land of the free we should at least respectfully listen to whatever this man has to say. He claims that the American people have been fed misinformation by the government and as far as I'm concerned he is right. It doesn't take a political analyst to realize that the war in Iraq is a blunder. Remember six years ago when we headed into Afghanistan to find Bin Laden? That made sense because he was responsible for the attacks. Then all of a sudden we're in Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction. Now we're freeing the Iraqi people. While we're at it we might as well bother North Korea and Iran too. Why don't we just go to war with the world?

I've heard many people tell those who do not support the war that if they don't like it they should live somewhere else. It is very possible to enjoy living in this country but oppose the current policies. Just because I don't think it's right that our troops are overseas doesn't mean I don't respect and appreciate the armed forces as a whole or the freedom and opportunities available to me in America. I'm going to go ahead and say it: this war is absolutely ridiculous, utterly embarrassing and completely useless. The war on terrorism. How do you fight terrorism? You don't. You don't change the thinking of millions of people. You don't get them to buy your products and practice your religion and wear your clothes and boost your economy. What angers me is that suddenly we're so concerned about the welfare of people in these countries but so oblivious to problems in America. When will we take care of our own people? When will we give everyone health care? When will we stop driving our mammoth SUVs which rely so heavily on oil? When we stop all the racism, crime and injustice in America maybe then we can tell others what to do.