Letter from an alumnus about 9/11 And The War In Iraq

Date Posted: March 25, 2005

I enjoyed reading Mark F. Bernstein ’83’s piece on Geoff ’01 and Bethany Gasperini ’01 (cover story, Feb. 9) and their experience in coping with Geoff’s yearlong deployment to Iraq. However, I believe Mr. Bernstein did his readers a great disservice in implicitly linking Geoff's realization on Sept. 11 “that this was going to be affecting [his] future” with his subsequent training for the Iraq war.

I may be wrong, but I don't recall many tanks being sent into Afghanistan. But from the way Mr. Bernstein presents the chronology, it seems as though Geoff’s training as a tank platoon leader and his deployment to Iraq followed logically and directly as a response to the attacks of Sept. 11.

Given that so many Americans still believe – incorrectly – that there was a connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11, all journalists should be especially careful not to imply such a link.

JOHN McGILL ’04

Brooklyn, N.Y.

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