Where were you the day the Gulf War: Part 2 was declared? I was on my way to a Celine Dion concert at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. The show began at 8:30, war began around 7:15 after President Bush’s address to the nation two weeks ago. Before the show began, Dion knew what had occurred and suggested: “Why don’t we just try to have a good time tonight?”

A good time is what we’re having, alright. Life is going on as usual. Although we may have a loved one abroad fighting the war or know someone who has a family member overseas, we truly have experienced no change in our lives except that a few of our favorite television shows have been preempted or in constant rerun. Heaven forbid, American television be interrupted. What would we do without “American Idol” and “The Bachelor?” Thank goodness, the Academy Awards went on, right?

What makes me sad is that we have it so good but we don’t how good we have it. Sure, fears linger about terrorist threats, the economy is in a slump, and we can’t escape hearing about the tragic events going on in Iraq. We don’t know what it is like to run from your city to a safer region or to hear bombs explode in your very own backyard. We have no idea what life must be like for the millions of U.S troops, men and women, serving our country, but leaving their families and friends behind. The victims are also the number of embedded journalists from here and abroad that are risking their lives to cover the war. We have no idea what the Iraqis are feeling and experiencing. They cannot go on with life as easily as we are.

The victims are on both sides. Americans and Iraqis are innocent victims of a war that America sleepwalked into. There are two sides to the war. No matter where you turn, the issue is up for debate. While on the orange line last two college students from Charlestown started up a conversation about the war with me. I, of course, disagree with war and congratulated the protesters around the world for their cause. The two men on the T, however, disagree with protesters because 1) they not only take up streets and cause more traffic, but 2) protesting against the war does not support the troops. My argument is that protesters are trying to stop the war to bring back the troops to their families.

Celebrities have also voiced their opinions, most notably at the Academy Awards, when film maker Michael Moore used his victory speech for the documentary “Bowling for Columbine” to declare President Bush “fictional” and the war “fictional.” His speech was followed by boos and applause. Best Actor Adrien Brody’s speech was less controversial and more sentimental. Other actors, including Martin Sheen, Sean Penn, and Susan Sarandon have also dissented the war, but there are the few actors that agree with the war.

Not everyone in Hollywood is a Democrat. If you think you are staying neutral and avoiding any sort of political debate, chances are you will be pulled into one in the end.

From the American standpoint, regime change in Iraq is necessary to combat terrorism and free the Iraqi people from tyranny and oppression. However, the Iraqis have something different to say.

Ali Buhagi, a sophomore majoring in engineering, is half Iraqi and half Bahraini. He has family living in Baghdad. His relatives must flee to the north to avert any threat of bombs in their city, but Buhagi has not been able to communicate with his family since war began. He has no idea if they are safe, and he is constant fear here that any minute his phone will ring and bad news will be on the other end. I asked him what Iraqis thought of Operation Iraqi Freedom. How could the Iraqi’s live under the strict control of Saddam Hussein all these years without initiating a regime change?

To put it bluntly, Buhagi said, “Iraqi freedom is Iraqi business.” That sentiment comes from his family, who are tired of war, destruction, and lack of medical supplies. They do not deny that Saddam’s leadership is unjust, but his family does not want war because of the disruption it causes in Iraqi lives.

Families are separated during war, there is no electricity or water, and education has been put on halt, including Buhagi’s cousins’ schooling, and communicating with family members outside of Iraq is difficult. Life is not normal in Iraq, says Buhagi.

Fighting is occurring over there, and we’re watching from here. But to make ourselves less isolated than we already are, we should stop thinking everything is happening “over there” and start thinking of why it’s happening in the first place. My worries of guilt are selfish compared to the struggle going on in Iraq. So there is no solution. I live here, they live there. But I can turn the selfishness into something good, into educating myself, voicing my opinion, and trying to make sense out of this war.

We may have no idea what war is like but it is important that we consider how many lives are affected by the war and what it must be like to be in an Iraqi’s shoes or a soldier’s combat boots.

Call me crazy, but I would like to hum a Louis Armstrong song and mean it one day.

“I hear babies cryin’, I watch them grow

They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know

And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world”

– Comments for Afsha Bawany may be sent to [email protected]