Ryan Doyle walked out of a geography presentation disappointed.

“I came here for geography, not an anti-war presentation,” said the sophomore middle school education major.

Tuesday in the physical science building, Professor Mohameden Ould-Mey gave a presentation titled “The Iraq War and 9/11 as Footnotes to the Palestine-Israel Conflict” for Geography Week.

The geology/geography department in recognition of Geography Week invited Ould-Mey, an associated professor of geography at Indiana State University.

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan established the third week in November as Geography Awareness Week. This week is set aside to promote the importance of geography through schools in the United States.

Ould-Mey began his presentation by asking what people thought the War on Terror was really about.

“Who believes the war was about weapons of mass destruction?” Ould-Mey asked.

Only two raised their hands in the audience.

Ould Mey asked, “Who believes the war is about democracy?”

This time three hands were raised.

Ould-Mey then asked if people thought the war was about oil, or democracy.

Again only a few raised their hands.

“I can say we are all confused about the war, and this is a serious confusion,” Ould-Mey said. “We have to realize that there is a moral price for this war.”

He showed a slide and explained how the United States spent $466 billion on the War in Iraq.

During his presentation, Ould-Mey showed pictures from the Abu Ghraib Prison.

The pictures displayed Iraqi prisoners stacked on top of each other unclothed and tortured by American troops.

Ould-Mey made it clear how wrong and immoral all this behavior was by American troops.

Doyle did not disagree with Ould-Mey but felt only one side of the story was being shown.

“If he was going to show the pictures of the Abu Ghraib then he should have shown pictures of Nick Berg,” Doyle said.

Nick Berg, a journalist, who looked for tele-communications work in Iraq, was kidnapped by a terrorist group and be-headed.

His murder was televised on the Internet.

Ould-Mey said terrorism is a reaction to the occupation in Iraq.

“We have no right to be in Iraq,” Ould-Mey said.

He said it is not rocket science.

“It all should be stopped immediately,” Ould-Mey said.

He said terrorists are reacting to the relationship America has with Israel as being their support system.

“Israelis have over 10,000 Palestinian soldiers in jail, but Palestine only has one Israeli soldier in their prison,” he said.

He said America does not belong there because the Iraqis have not done anything to the United States.

During the presentation, Ould-Mey was asked about the many terrorists that were being stopped by the American troops in Iraq.

“I am not aware of any terrorists that wanted to attack America that have been captured by the United States,” he said.

Ould-Mey believed the terrorists captured now by American troops were not trying to attack the United States.

Doyle disagreed.

Doyle believes American troops are catching terrorists for Americans’ safety.

“It is just sad how he downgrades the war and efforts the troops are making in Iraq,” Doyle said.

Doyle has a brother in the military and receives the inside view from him.

He said his brother was assigned to secure the Jordan Border in Iraq.

“Now, there is no need to do so anymore,” Doyle said. “Trained Iraqi troops are now covering it.”

Doyle said there is a positive change overcoming Iraq.

“You do not see all the positive outcomes that are not being displayed on television,” Boyle said.

Boyle criticized Ould-Mey’s views and felt he downgraded the war and effort of the American troops.

“He basically said everything I already heard on television and I did not want to hear that at something that was suppose to be for geography,” Doyle said.

Ould-Mey said in response to Doyle reaction, “If the facts are unbalanced, then I will not balance them.”

Mohameden Ould-Mey, an associate professor of geography at Indiana State University, gives a geography awareness lecture titled “The Iraq War and 9/11 as Footnotes to the Palestine-Israel Conflict” to a packed Room 3040 in the Physical Science Building on

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