Monica Owens” piece ‘We still need to fight,’ is, like so much

‘Bushspeak,’ at odds with reality.

Owens says the Taliban ‘brutally repressed’ their own people. In

fact, the United States gave the Taliban billions of dollars and

CIA help throughout the 1980s, effectively bringing them to

power.

Owens says Saddam Hussein engaged in atrocities against his own

people.

She fails to mention that he did so with our support and

approval. Saddam was a longtime ‘friend’ of the United States when

he engaged in his worst atrocities.

The United States hardly ‘liberated’ Iraq. It invaded, after

millions of people around the world took to the streets against us,

demanding the United States adhere to the most basic tenants of

international law. U.S. troops in Iraq constitute an occupying

invader, as witnessed by the continuing violence against U.S.

troops.

‘Bushspeak’ claims Iraq had weapons of mass destruction they

were about to use on our allies and us. The fact that former

weapons inspectors like Scott Ritter showed Iraq could not possibly

have those weapons did not deter Bush”s invasion. Neither did the

fact that the rest of the world believed none of it, or the fact

that Saddam submitted to inspection demands. We now know Bush”s

claims were a complete and deliberate lie.

Owens” title reads ‘We still need to fight.’ Surely we don”t

need to kill more innocent civilians in Afghanistan or Iraq. Bush

has done quite enough already. Instead, let”s fight to remove the

most corrupt and criminal administration in U.S. history.

Eric Levine

Fort Collins resident

This letter is in response to Jon Ackerman’s opinion article,

“Fan 101: Introduction to being a CSU Ram,” (Sept. 26). Good

work!

In spite of the fact that CSU lost its second straight home game

and has fallen to 2-3 for the season, it’s still necessary to

observe proper fan etiquette and be educated while in the

stands!

What I’m talking about is the keys issue. For four years now,

I’ve stood in the stands and listened to the uneducated shake their

keys after the opposing team has scored and is kicking off. It has

infuriated me to no end and I’ve lost my voice on more then one

occasion by yelling at the people around me to put their keys away

after an opponent scores. What are we trying to do… tell

ourselves to go home or pump up the opposing team’s kicker? We just

got scored on!

I think that Ackerman’s article helped in the effort to educate

the Ram fans this past Saturday because it seemed that there were

considerably less out-of-pocket keys after Utah scored. Maybe this

was because people were less enthused for a game that was rapidly

sending the Rams toward a losing record, but I’d like to think that

we’ve finally gotten through to the many who don’t understand how

to act while at CSU home games.

So for those students who still choose to take your keys out

during opponent kickoffs, please listen to the educated fans around

you as they’re desperately trying to help you in becoming an

educated Ram fan!

Carter Sealing

Senior, Finance and Real Estate

I would like to thank the event staff, CSU athletic department

and local police for “babysitting” my friends and I while we

tailgated on Saturday.

I arrived at 12:20 p.m. with all my gear and friends only to be

told that we couldn’t tailgate until 1:30. This didn’t stop us from

putting our flag up, setting up our entertainment center and

opening a few beers. I am ashamed that our athletics program thinks

it is one top program in the nation, yet limits tailgating to three

hours.

And it didn’t stop there. We were told by cops inside: “Your

tailgate party is too big, we will have to shut you down… is that

a beer bong? Put that away or it is ours.” “Its time to go in (45

minutes before game), break up the party.”

This is all ridiculous. How can we be too big, it’s one giant

party in a parking lot? What a scam to get you to buy tailgate

spots. I obviously have beer, I’m obviously going to drink it, why

does it matter if it is fairly fast out of the can or very fast out

of a little old beer bong.

I am a senior who has spent hundreds of dollars on supporting my

school and devoted myself to going to every game. Let’s show we are

a top program and quit babysitting the students who will do it

anyway. Other schools have tailgaters show up three days early. I

don’t expect that, but four or five hours shouldn’t be too

hard.

Matt Beckmann

Senior, mechanical engineering