Students react to bombings

After the U.S. and Great Britain attacked targeted areas of Afghanistan Sunday, the IU community reflected on the decision. While many staunchly supported the strikes, others gathered to protest the military actions arguing that the strikes would also affect innocent civilians.\nAssociate professor of political science Dina Spechler said a "peaceful" solution to the terrorist attacks on the United States and the Taliban government's refusal to turn over suspected terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden, was never really a strong possibility.\n"I was expecting something of this sort, so I can't say that I was surprised," she said. "I think the purpose of today's actions were really to make it possible for either overt or covert ground forces to operate in some form and possibly also for a bombing campaign to occur."\nSpechler, however, doesn't rule out a potential agreement between the United States and the Taliban government before a full fledged war begins. \nGraduate student David Staniunas said he expected Bush to order the bombing, but is morally divided by it. \n"It was just a matter of time but how do you disagree or agree with a bomb," he said. \nSenior Joshua Nelson said he believes Bush acted as he needed to, but that the future will hold a hard-fought, bloody war, not a sudden, sweeping victory for the United States.\n"I think we'll have years and years and years of fighting. I'm never in support of war, but if there has to be a war, then so be it," Nelson said.\nFreshman David Odefey, co-founder of Students For A Non-Violent Solution, said that Bush acted rashly. \n"This was a militaristic solution that will almost inevitably devastate the lives of almost every Afghani and kill untold numbers," he said.\nFreshman Jason Robbins said military reaction was necessary. \n"It was an imminent event that was bound to happen," Robbins said. We have to get to bin Laden some way. For the betterment of life as a whole, there are casualties of war"