The latest Harris telephone poll asking the question, “Do you favor keeping a large number of U.S. troops in Iraq until there is a stable government there or bringing most of our troops home in the next year?” of Americans “shows a clear 63% majority now favors bringing troops home in the next year,” as quoted by the Wall Street Journal.

Just 33% favor keeping troops in Iraq until a stable government is established. An increasing number of representatives, including Republicans, have called for a timetable to be set for withdrawal. Whenever President Bush or his spokesman is questioned about increasing violence or the possibility of withdrawal, he blabbers something about “our Mission,” never really explaining what that is.

Meanwhile, President Bush’s approval rating has fallen to below 50% amid the outbreak of the Downing Street memo, clearly showing his plans to invade Iraq well before any threats materialized.

What do you think? Is it time to bring the boys back home? Is Bush doing a good job? Dialogue is democracy. Let’s talk about it.

This year was an awareness raising one for many students at Wheaton College. One situation of particular interest and investment was the situation in Darfur, Sudan. Many activities happened to try and get students involved and aware of what was occuring there. A couple of letter writing campaigns and a funds drive helped students react to the genocide. Four students also went and spoke with one of the senators about their concern for the situation.

As is the case, I often wonder if our active involvement really accomplishes much. I’ll be honest, regardless of how many letters I write and petitions I sign and protest I attend, I wonder if we are really accomplishing much. I decided a while back that regardless of how little was accomplished outwardly by some of these actions, inwardly I needed to respond to the injustice I saw.

Well, recent weeks have shown that our concerns must be having some impact. Just this weekend a major bill was passed in Illinois concerning Sudan. You can read about it here. Basically they have decided to divest from Sudan; They will no longer invest in any company that does business with Sudan.

Praise God.