But Dominic A. Hood ’05, who backs the war, argues that the United States had to take action.

“I think we are in a precarious situation in the world right now and after Sept. 11,” Hood said. “The lesson that we learned is that we can’t simply wait around to be attacked first, and in this case, the Iraqi government is an obvious threat to our national security. I think it is in our national interest to take preemptive action.”

Students in support of the war also said they are wary of Saddam.

“I also think Saddam is a threat to his own people and we know about the crimes he has committed against his people for years and I think it’s important to stop him,” said Elizabeth K. Mahoney ’05.

Not all students could define their position on the war.

Almost 10 percent of undergraduates said they were “undecided” about their support for the military action against Iraq.

Adam S. Levine ’05 said he “somewhat supports” the war in Iraq—though he has extremely mixed feelings.

“I was very on the fence between ‘somewhat support’ and ‘undecided,’” he said. “Overall, I’m very cautiously in favor of it. I think Saddam is a danger to us and to something near and dear to my heart, Israel.”

Hitting Close to Home

Thirty-seven percent of Harvard students said that they had a close friend or relative in the armed services who could be involved in the war.

Mahoney said both her brother and sister are in the armed forces. Her sister is a senior at the United States Military Academy at West Point, while her brother has been on standby in the States for the past few weeks. She also has a cousin who has already been deployed.

Mahoney said that her relatives’ involvement in the war doesn’t affect her opinion about whether the U.S. should take military action against Iraq, but it does influence how she feels about the war.

“It’s a tough time, it’s very sobering in a way, and it contributes to making sure that we have good reasons that we go to war,” she said. “Knowing my brother could go there is obviously something I take very seriously.”

Levine, too, said he was concerned about the welfare of his distant cousins in Israel as well as Israel as a whole because of the possibility of Iraqi retaliation.

“I remember hearing from them their accounts of what it was like during the first Gulf War and how the Iraqi missiles were landing in Tel Aviv,” said Levine.