The Highlander

Issue date: 3/20/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Ashton Do Flags adorned the quad in the shape of a cross, Camp Dignity on the quad was just one of several events that took place during Dignity Week. [Click to enlarge]

During her years in college, activist Dahlia Wasfi felt immersed in contradiction while bombs rained down on her family during the first Gulf War. For Wasfi, her intellectual pursuit in America was overshadowed with worry as her family back in Iraq struggled to meet their basic necessities of water, food, and electricity.

Joined by Iraq war veteran TJ Westphal, Wasfi revealed unseen perspectives of the Iraq war in the Science Amphitheater last Thursday evening, March 15.

The presentation, "Dignity in Iraq: A Re-Humanization of the Iraqi People," was part of a greater series of events throughout "Dignity Week," hosted by the Peace and Justice Studies program and many other sponsors. Throughout the week, there were events that promoted human dignity for Sudan, Iraq, the death penalty, and sexual diversity.

"A lot of the week was community building for people who are passionate and deeply affected at a soul level," said TJ Bowen, event coordinator and a Regis Non-Profit Management graduate student.

During college, Wasfi didn't understand the pro-military stance of her American peers- who said the war was a means to punish Saddam Hussein- because their views contradicted the desperate reality that her family and the Iraqi populace faced as a result of American involvement.

In 2002, nearly ten years later, Wasfi was a practicing medical doctor but could no longer stay quiet in the face of growing patriotism and racism toward Middle Easterners. Since then, she has taken several trips to Iraq to see her family in Basrah and Baghdad, taking note of the war-torn destruction in her home country along the way.

On the other hand, war veteran TJ Westphal served at the beginning of the war when soldiers were deployed to find WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) in Iraq. He could tell right away that there wouldn't be any.

Continued...

Page 1 of 3 next >

Article Tools