Last Thursday marked the nine year anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks. But what does this mean for Americans? Many citizens assume that with the reduction of troops in Iraq and the few news reports coming out of Afghanistan that tensions are winding down. This is hardly the case.

According to proponents of U.S. involvement in the Middle East, troops must remain in order to ensure victory and the salvation of our freedom and safety. That is quite the contradiction considering the Patriot Act is still in effect, Muslims cannot build a recreational center without a witch hunt coming after them, the U.S. government continues its deficit spending and borrowing and casualties continue to mount in the Middle East. Was this the change you had in mind?

So what can be done to solve this mess? Simple. Pull out all U.S. troops and stay out of entangling alliances. In its place, promote free trade and understand why we were attacked in the first place. They don’t hate us because we promote freedom, but rather seek violence because of our nearly 60-year military influence in that region.

To learn more about this issue, come out to the MLK Commons this Thursday starting at 9 a.m. where the NIU Libertarians will be staging an anti-war demonstration. We welcome both sides of the argument in order to ensure an educational and entertaining debate.

Dan Godlewski

Senior

History major

President of NIU Libertarians