It may seem strange for us, who hail from a campus as active as this, to conceive of a group of young adults who remain, by and large, politically apathetic. Moreover, it seems almost unreal to conceive of a campus where politics are viewed as irrelevant.

This, however, seems to be the case in the Land Down Under where my sister is currently studying abroad. While in Wollongong, Australia, my sister, though not as politically inclined as me, entertains my incessant questions regarding the country's internal affairs by providing anecdotes from her friends. While she is in no way an expert regarding the Australian political consensus, with President Bush in Sydney last week, she maintained that her colleagues remained unenthused as "they feel that Australia is too far away to be threatened by terrorism."

Despite this statement probably being slightly embellished, I couldn't help but consider the parallels to this line of thought that existed in our country. How long ago did we, perhaps subconsciously, identify with the same autarkical view?

Most likely on Sept. 10, 2001, when we all felt that perhaps we were not geographically immune to the threat of terrorism, but certainly were immune ideologically. The general dialogue of the public seemed to suggest that the hegemony of the United States negated any potential threat of terrorism. Surprisingly, critics of our involvement in the Middle East hail this view as the arrogance that initially incited the attacks on our country while simultaneously arguing for us to pull out of Iraq. Do they simply hope that the ensuing civil chaos would be so great the threat of action against America could once again be ignored?

Beyond the fragile infrastructure that would not withstand U.S. withdrawal, have we also somehow disregarded the Islamic extremism we are fighting in Iraq? Their political convictions are inherent in their radically intolerant religious beliefs, completely subverting the rational actor model of war held by the West. Their emulation of martyrdom illustrates only a small facet of their frightening beliefs. While they glorify the use of one's child as an explosive devise, the hypocritical zealots adhering to the "pull-out" strategy demonize a war that, in light of General Petraeus’ report illuminating successes in Iraq, can still be won.

It seems we once again feel ideologically exempt in considering our country's place in the world. The First Amendment and democratic principles the populace so comfortably enjoys and naively lament for developing countries will never be present in an Iraq left without institutions or administration.

Democracy and peace are not innate. A government in which people are considered free can only take place in a society where the populace is willing to partake in the responsibilities that are necessitated by freedom. A solution where Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds are all able to recognize that is not manifest in the immediate removal of our troops.

Removal of troops from that situation does, however, require us to once again examine our feelings of sovereignty at home. If we did take our troops out of Iraq, how long until we would have to worry about the United States becoming home to a military conflict? It didn't take much time for left-wing groups across the nation to respond with allegations of prejudice upon the arrest of the six imams who were making a sanctimonious show of prayer in the Minneapolis airport last fall.

But imagine a world where the brave men and women of America aren't keeping the fighting a safe distance away from the homeland. Imagine a world where our troops are emasculated by being brought back home just to wait for another attack and where the rhetoric against war is illustrated not by military casualties, but by American civilian casualties as attacks on our country multiply and strengthen.

Add to that those who adhere to the Islamic extremism responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks and the embittered officials who are left without a political infrastructure — and the threat of action against our country grows even more. But the left, stagnated by their ignorance and terrified by conservatives, recoil at allowing anyone to admit that. If we lose there, the war will follow us to America. I just hope there are people ready to defend it.

Mattie Duppler ([email protected]) is the vice chair of the College Republicans.