 "Photo: Amanda Lund/Collegian")
A fairly large crowd gathered in the Student Union Ballroom last night to hear what best-selling author and conservative scholar Dinesh D'Souza had to say in his talk, titled "What's So Great about America."
D'Souza is the author of a number of books, including the most recently published "What's So Great about Christianity." He has appeared on a number of news programs including Nightline, The O'Reilly Factor and the satirical Colbert Report on Comedy Central.
The lecture, which was sponsored by the University of Massachusetts Republican Club and the Young Americans Foundation, began with UMass Republican Club president Brad DeFlumeri introducing many of D'Souza's accomplishments, both in literature and politics.
D'Souza then began his lecture by talking about the United States' War on Terrorism and who the real enemy is that we are fighting. He compared this war to World War II, claiming that America's enemy then was not the Kamikaze suicide bombers, but the Japanese. "Why now are we fighting this method of terrorism, when our efforts should be focused on a specific group?" he inferred.
"Terrorism is not an opponent, terrorism is a tactic. So who, then, is the enemy?" said D'Souza.
He then posed the question, "What about America has prompted such feelings of hatred from certain Muslims to offer up their lives in the attacks on September 11, 2001?"
In referring to the events on Sept. 11, D'Souza felt that the cultural left is responsible through looking back in history to the Carter and Clinton administrations.
On the topic of President Bush, D'Souza admitted that in hindsight, the war in Iraq was a mistake and the best course of action would have been to focus on Iran. He also noted, though, that President Bush did have to make a decision based on the information he had at the time.
"He made a decision in the exigency of war," said D'Souza.
Addressing the question of what to do next, D'Souza stated that American foreign policy should be in America's best interest. He claimed, especially concerning Iraqis' opinions of American presence in Iraq, that the only way to find out what people want in a democracy is to talk to their elected representatives. He also remained skeptical about whether the Iraqi people actually want Americans to remain there or leave.
According to D'Souza, there is only one way to lose the War in Iraq and that is by losing it in the American mind. So then how do we win? D'Souza claimed that we will win and be able to withdraw when the Iraqis can defend their own country and security.
He expressed confidence that this will happen soon on its own, and felt America should be patient and not completely withdraw military forces, "because the results are so uncertain at this point as to what would happen."
"The ultimate outcome is to have a pro-American democracy existing in the Middle East, something that has not happened yet," said D'Souza. "But we need to be patient in planting the democratic seed."
He claimed we also need a broader strategy to fight the war on terrorism, and that a strict military strategy was not enough. In D'Souza's opinion, in order to fight this war, America needs to drive a wedge between traditional Muslims and radical Muslims.
In referring back to the original posed topic of the lecture, "What is so great about America," D'Souza challenged those that find so many faults in the U.S. by asking, "what would the world look like had America never existed?"
He claimed that whether the U.S. has become involved in conflicts in the past due to reasons of self-interest is beside the point because, after American interference, the outcome usually serves in the best interest of many of the countries involved.
"The job of America is not to make the world perfect, but to make it better," said D'Souza.
Kristen Healy can be reached at kkhealy@student.umass.edu.
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