2008 Woodie Awards
Veteran talks on conflict
Benjamin Sobieck
Issue date: 2/8/07 Section: News
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The words of Josiah Overfors, vice president of SCSU College Republicans, opened a presentation regarding a debate that has enveloped the campus as of late.
Following Wednesday's appearance by anti-war advocate Cindy Sheehan, Repya took an opposite stance 8 p.m. yesterday in the Atwood Glacier Room.
Repya's experiences consist of personal involvement not only in the current Iraq War, but also the first Gulf War and Vietnam.
Although he had been retired when the United States disposed of the regime in Iraq in 2003, he volunteered to return to the armed forces at the age of 59 in 2004.
It was this time in his life an audience of about 40 gathered to hear.
Repya said his work there could be grim, yet served to show the atrocities of Saddam Hussein.
"When I was in Iraq in 2005, we found the 300th mass grave with an estimated over 350,000 Iraqis that had been killed by their own regime over the 40 years Saddam was in charge of that country," he said.
Repya also addressed critics of the Iraq War who point out the lack of electricity in parts of the country.
"What the people who would tell you that aren't telling you is the fact that the demand for electricity today, because they're free and in liberty, is five times what it was," he said.
Part of that liberty is the ability to hold free elections, something Repya said was a sign things are on the right track.
He asked the audience how many voted in the last presidential elections, and nearly all raised their hands.
"How many of you would've gone to the polls if you were told there would be snipers that could shoot at you, car bombs that possibly could go off at the polling station, mortar rounds that could be dropped on you as you waited in line, how many would've thought twice about going to vote?" Repya said, and few raised their hands.