In her letter titled “Let us appreciate what we have,” published in last week’s Pacer, Ms. Jacobsen offers a fallacious argument.

As the granddaughter of veterans in particular, and an American in general, I take offense to the idea that refusal to support military action in Iraq is equivalent to denouncing sacrifices made by our troops, past or present.

I and those who share my position haven’t forgotten how the liberties which many currently take for granted were purchased.

I have the utmost respect for those who choose to make a commitment of their time and possibly their lives to the defense of this country, so much so that I don’t wish to have it demeaned in a war the people of the world do not support, or have their sacrifices diminished in a war many feel isn’t motivated by some altruistic desire to bestow democracy upon oppressed people and protect the world from terrorism, but may instead be motivated by potential political and economic gains to be made from it by those in power.

Also, at no time that I’m aware of during my tenure as president of Students and Faculty Against W.A.R. has any member of the group put up a sign on campus “saying ... that President Bush is just trying to live up to his daddy's reputation.”

We’ve made every effort to keep our signs relevant to the issue at hand, and beg that any argument do the same.

Samantha Young is a junior Computer Science major from Lewisburg.