Opinions are extremely strong among veterans and professors when it comes to the second Gulf War.

University Police Sergeant and veteran Albert Ekstrom said he believes war is a last resort, but the threat is great enough where the United States has to engage.

James Schmidt, an associate history professor, said the declaration of war by the United States is unjustified.

“This is an aggressive, unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation,” he said.

The war is a strategic move by the United States to gain an advantage, Schmidt said.

The United States’ motives for war may be because Iraq lies in the middle of the Middle East; it is the second-largest oil reserve and the United States will have control of weapons of mass destruction, Schmidt said.

War is about United States’ imperialism over the world, but “the empire cannot last forever,” Schmidt said.

Terrorist attacks will occur, and “eventually the rebel alliance will win,” he added.

NIU political science professor Gary Glenn said he has no doubt that a threat exists.

The threat is the possible conjunction of the existence of a regime in Iraq, which has shown its willingness to use weapons of mass destruction, and al-Qaida, “which has shown its ability and willingness to kill us in our homeland,” Glenn said.

The government is not sure of the likelihood of the conjunction of the two threat forces, but the chance cannot be taken, Glenn said.

Larry Johannessen, an associate English professor and veteran, said he thinks the idea of bringing democracy to a country that has never had democracy before is ridiculous.

He also said it is hard to say whether or not a war is justified.

“Innocent people will die,” he said. “We have to ask the question, ‘How many have to die for a war to be justified?'”

As a veteran, he said he feels different about war than most people, and war is not how the movies portray it.

“I know some of the consequences of war,” he said. “War does things to you, does things to people.”

Ekstrom agreed and said that veterans do not like war, but he believes in the veteran slogan.

“We honor the warrior, but not the war,” he said.