War veteran to share experience

Iraq war veteran and Wilmington College sophomore Matt Southworth has had more life-changing experiences before graduating college than some people will have in a lifetime. He will share these experiences at 8 p.m. today in Woodburn Hall Room 100. His speech is free to the public and will be followed by a question-and-answer session.\nThe speech, sponsored through the IU chapter of Amnesty International, will be a discussion of Southworth’s Iraq war experiences and will cover many different aspects of the war, media coverage, the Patriot Act, civil liberties and his thoughts on Iraq, Iran and terrorism. \nSouthworth said he hopes to inspire people to take action and leave them with a positive mind-set.\nSouthworth was with the U.S. Army in 2004 as an intelligence analyst. His job was to “take collected intelligence and make predictive analyses,” he said.\nSenior Josh Horwitz, president of IU’s chapter of Amnesty International, said it is important to have a dialogue about the war in Iraq.\nHe said he would like for Southworth’s speech to iron out any misconceptions about what is happening overseas.\nHorwitz said the media gives a lot of biased reports that do not give viewers an accurate report of foreign affairs.\n“We hope to clear it up and give another point of view that a lot of people wouldn’t have access to,” he said.\nHe said that after listening to Southworth, many people will realize there is a lot more going on than what the news media is reporting.\nSouthworth is a good person to have come share his experiences because of his background, Horwitz said.\n“Southworth came from a conservative military family predisposed to be pro-war, and after his experiences, he is now against the war,” Horwitz said.\nChristy Campboll, former Amnesty International IU chapter president, said Southworth has a lot of insight on terrorism because he is now a human rights and peace activist.\nAfter listening to Southworth’s discussion, students can “get information that will inform them about the situation in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay and build their own opinions,” Campboll said.\nCampboll said she hopes students will become motivated to let their opinions be heard and contact their representative congressmen.\nThose interested in international affairs should be inspired to attend Southworth’s speech, which will discuss American policy, Campboll said. \nHorwitz said Amnesty International would like to start a discussion between pro-war and anti-war students. \n“We would like to get the ball rolling,” he said.