The United States’ war on terror is still sweeping Afghanistan and the Middle East one year after 9/11 and people are still straddling the fence between “Let’s Roll” and “World Peace.”
ETSU students are no different. There are varying opinions among the students about how long the war should take and whether or not the nation is actually accomplishing anything through the war.
War is costing Americans billions of dollars to operate while the nation is in an economic slump.
It has no truly defined enemy excluding the ever elusive Osama Bin Laden. Fighting terror has now become not only an issue for America but an issue for the United Nations.
Students have mixed reactions. Most were reluctant to actually talk and express concern about other threats against their way of life, yet, all were in favor of finding whoever is responsible for what happened on Sept. 11 and punishing them.
“We are now in a position where we are the most powerful nation and we have to decide what to do. There are a lot of other politics in our homeland that Bush is slacking off on,” said Dave Duram, 25, a graphic design major.
“I think we need to go in there and kick their butts,” said Richard Singleton, 46, who is thinking of majoring in social work.
“They have perpetrated this war on terror to actually stimulate our economy. Three years from now they’ll be looking to kick someone else’s butt.” Singleton said.
President Bush has also named another enemy in this war: Saddam Hussein.
“I’m ready to go and make him [Hussein] pay single-handedly because we should have handled him a long time ago,” said Mike Carlson, 25, a history major who also serves in the Marine Corps.
“We have just been told to keep our phones and beepers working and on our body at all times,” said Carlson.
Students still say they have an immense amount of patriotism.
“Even though I don’t always agree with how our nation is handling things I will always support my country,” said Corey Sutton, 23, an undeclared major.
Although students have mixed emotions about the war on terror, it will go on. As President Bush said, “This is going to take awhile.

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