Freedom Week!

It is with great honor that we announce the DePaul Conservative Alliance's Freedom Week! On Monday, November 5, to honor Veteran's Day, the Alliance will hold a Support the Troops rally in the atrium of the Lincoln Park Student Center. Alliance members will be present with letters of support you can write to the troops serving overseas. Please stop by any time during day classes.

On Friday, November 9, the Alliance will commemorate the 18th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The brutal "progressive" systems of communism and socialism fell with the destruction of this wall separating Berlin. At 7pm in room 314 of the Lincoln Park Student Center, three local Chicagoans, formerly living in the Soviet bloc, will speak about their experiences living under communism and what the destruction of the Berlin Wall meant to their lives and their countries. This event is free and open to the public.

Please visit our events page for more information. Freedom Week is a project of the Young America's Foundation.

We encourage you to attend and participate in events of Freedom Week!

A Terrorism Awareness Week Thank You

The DePaul Conservative Alliance wishes to thank all who attended and participated this past week's Terrorism Awareness Week. TAW successful in sparking a campus-wide academic discussion on a tenaciously seminal issue of our time: radical Islam.

On Monday of last week, students, faculty, administrators, and members from outside the DePaul community all were treated to a forum, diverse in ideas, examining the threat of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Amir Abbas Fakhravar, the Natan Sharansky of our time, recieved a standing ovation after his stirring presentation. Robert Spencer encouraged a sincere intellectual discussion and called on all Muslims to engage in reason. Professor Scott Hibbard gave both Fakhravar and Spencer ideas to consider and debate about a potential war with Iran. An outstanding discussion amongst the panelists and the audience ensued.

The marketplace of ideas was alive and well at yet another Alliance event: a screening and discussion of the film Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West. A deeply thought provoking film sparked an open and diverse discussion of the enemy the West faces today.

On Friday of last week, the Alliance called on companies who invest in rogue state sponsors of terror like Syria and Iran to divest from those nations. Thank you to all who stopped by the table in the Student Center.

Once again, the DePaul Conservative Alliance sparked an open and diverse discussion of an important issue campus-wide. Even though Terrorism Awareness Week is over, we as a community hope to continue to examine the threat of radical Islam in our curriculum and campus discussions.

Thank you again to all who were and still are willing to engage in these ideas.

The DePaul Conservative Alliance

Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West

The DCA wishes to thank all who attended War with Iran? on Monday night. Seating was limited and we apologize to those who sincerely wished to participate in this open dialogue but due to restrictions were unable to fit in the Cortelyou Commons.

Please come to Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, a documentary we will be showing at 7pm in room 220 of the Student Center. Seating is limited. In order to ensure accommodations please arrive early.

We invite you to stop by an informational table we will be hosting on Friday in the Student Center, Divesting Terror.

Enjoy the rest of the week. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach us at contact@depaulca.org. Be sure to look at our events page for upcoming events in November.

on Islamic and Christian relations

Recently Islamic clerics sent a letter to the Pope, Archbishops, Patriarchs displaying side by side excerpts from the Bible and Koran that placed an emphasis on peace and understanding between one another. The clear goal for these representatives and leaders of Islam is clear: they wish for the two faiths of Christianity and Islam to coexist in harmony as the letter states if "Muslims and Christians are not at peace the world cannot be at peace." I read this and I cannot help but feel good about seeing this initiative from Muslims, proving that the vast majority of those who are of the Islamic faith are peace loving individual who strive for similar goals of the Christian faith, just through a different world view. However, as I read further I grew concerned and realized that these leaders of the Islamic faith were taking an initiative in the wrong direction.

The clerics went on to write that Islam is on peaceful terms with Christianity as long as Christians "do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them and drive them out of their homes." Having taken that statement into consideration, I realized that we should not have a problem and should not have had a problem in over 700 years, but that is hardly the situation we see today. The only events occuring for Christians "on account of their religion" would be the massive persecutions seen around South Asia and the Middle East by Islamic extremists in the name of their faith.

Yes, American and coalition forces are fighting Muslims who do fight under the banner of fundamental Islam, but they do so along side freedom and peace loving Muslims, much like these clerics claim to be. Not only are Western nations led by America fighting with Muslims of Iraq and Afghanistan, but they are doing so for the sake of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan and all peoples within these borders regardless of their faith. This is being done with the understanding that the religious harmony these Islamic leaders strive for can only exist in nations that are free and not run by thugs and dictators who claim their fundamental beliefs to be absolute truth and grounds for persecution and genocide.

To these Islamic clerics: you are absolutely correct. The world cannot have peace as long as Islam and Christianity and Western civilization in general are in conflict, but it is not that simple. Islam and Western tradition are not at war against each other, but these forces and militant Islam are, and the world cannot be at peace as long as these two are fighting as well. So if you seek peace much like I and members of my faith and citizens of my nation do, you should denounce those who ignore the values of the Koran you cited in your letter to my religious leaders and wage war and terror contrary to the values you hold dear. Denounce Osama bin Laden and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and their militant ways, letting us move forward towards a true harmony.

Mick Paskiewicz
Vice President, The DePaul Conservative Alliance

LPS Volume III, Issue 2

The second issue of the Lincoln Park Statesman is now available.

More issues are at depaulca.org/statesman, with an archive back to Volume I, Issue 1.

If you would like to write for the Statesman, please send an email to lpstatesman@gmail.com. You can also send in an opinion/editorial.

Terrorism Awareness Week

Terrorism Awareness Week takes place October 22 - 26. Amir Abbas Fakravar and Robert Spencer will be speaking in a forum titled "War With Iran?" Also, on the 24th, the DCA will be showing the documentary Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West at 7pm. On October 26th, the DCA will host an information table about divesting terror.

For more information, please visit our events page. All events are free. For non-university guests, please contact Nick Hahn at nhahn3@depaulca.org. Or, visit David Horowitz's website at terrorismawareness.org.

George Will: Questions for Obama

George Will has proposed 17 questions for Barack Obama in his September 30th article on Townhall.com.

An excerpt:

"You advocate leaving in Iraq "some" U.S. forces for three missions -- fighting al Qaeda, training Iraqi security forces and protecting U.S. forces conducting those two missions. Some experts believe that even 60,000 U.S, troops would be insufficient for those functions -- even if the Iraqis were not, as they will be for the foreseeable future, dependent on U.S. logistics, transport, fire support, air support, armor and medivac capabilities.

"What is your estimate of the numbers required by your policy? How, and in consultation with whom, did you arrive at your estimate? As to fighting terrorists but not insurgents -- how would soldiers and Marines tell the difference? If, while searching for terrorists, they make contact with insurgents, would your rules of engagement call for a full force response? You say all "combat brigades" should be out of Iraq "by the end of next year." Even if al-Qaeda is still dangerous? Who, after the end of next year, will protect U.S. noncombat forces that you say "will continue to protect U.S. diplomats and facilities" and to "train and equip" Iraqi forces?"

You may view all of his queries here.