The Bona Venture

Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Tony Lee [Click to enlarge]

About 100 people filed into the John J. Murphy Professional Building's Dresser Auditorium at 4 p.m. Wednesday to gain a better understanding of the United States' current war efforts in Afghanistan in a presentation given by Matthew Hoh.

The Franciscan Center for Social Concern and Clare College sponsored the speech.

Father Michael Calabria, O.F.M., lecturer in Arabic and Islamic Studies, opened the presentation by explaining his history with Hoh and his own opinions of the United States' strategic policy and goals.

Hoh began by addressing his view of Afghanistan's background. He said the biggest problem the country faces is ending a 35-year-long civil war. Life in Afghanistan is completely different from life in the the United States, Hoh said.

"Average life expectancy is 44 years, men have multiple wives, and one out of five children will not live longer than five years," Hoh said.

Due to these circumstances, the U.S. will always be on top when it comes to military defenses, he said.

Hoh is well educated on Afghanistan's war after serving 12 years with the U.S. government. Prior to his assignment in Afghanistan, Hoh served in Iraq from 2004 to 2005. He also worked with a State Department reconstruction and governance team before becoming a Marine Corps company commander in Anbar Province from 2006 to 2007. After many attempts to change U.S. actions in the Middle East, he decided to resign from his position.

"I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan," Hoh wrote in his resignation letter, according to a press release on the university's Web site. "I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end."

Stacia Salvatore, a freshman journalism and mass communication major, said the speech helped clear up some questions she had about the Afghanistan War.

"I never really understood all the concepts of the war in Afghanistan," she said. "I liked hearing real facts that better educated me on this topic."

e-mail: magaveeg09@sbu.edu
e-mail: mangincr09@sbu.edu

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