Elie Dvorin’s column suggests that we should abandon the Geneva Conventions while fighting terrorism. No one is pretending that our troops would get better treatment from terrorist forces if we followed the Geneva Conventions. However, we can’t win “hearts and minds” or hold the moral high ground if we do not treat people better than their previous oppressors did. While Dvorin may see a terrorist being executed by a hero, by merely changing some of his diction, the clip shows a wounded, unarmed man being murdered. Because the clip does not show what led up to this man being shot, how do you think the Islamic world will see it? How many hearts and minds will be won with this video?

There will never be a large enough terrorist force to take over the United States, but that isn’t how the terrorists can win. Because they know they cannot destroy us, the terrorists seek to bring us down to their level. They win when we change our ideals and give up our freedoms. When I see so many people like Dvorin abandon our ideals, I wonder if the terrorists have already won; we seem to be living in a society based on fear, rather than one based upon the hope that freedom brings.

David Heiberger

senior in engineering