The Daily Collegian asked students to look back on the Iraq conflict one year after the president declared war. Students were asked what their reaction was to troops still being in Iraq one year later.

"I think it's unreasonable to think that it was going to be resolved in a magical little time bubble. It just wasn't going to happen quickly even if we wanted it to."

-- Lena Matternas
sophomore-information sciences technology

"I think that the troops have been staying there for too long, and they need to leave since everything is over. The troops don't seem to be safe, and that might scare off other countries from going over to help."

-- Deepak Saini
senior-biology

"I think it's silly, but I'm not really informed about it. To my understanding, I have no clue why we still have soldiers over there."

-- Andrew Gehman
freshman-division of undergraduate studies

"It's sort of a waste of money and troops. We're having more casualties now than when we attacked, so I guess it's not really worth keeping troops there since we're not doing much anyway."

-- Ernest Fung
sophomore-biomolecular biology

"I feel the same way that I felt when the declaration of war was handed down. I'm thoroughly opposed to war. I'm thoroughly opposed to imposing our views onto another country. I think troops should be sent home, and I think it's good to try to help countries but not by forcing our ideals onto them."

-- Kamilah Cole
junior-women's studies

"$300 billion would be worth it in Iraq if Iraq would in fact be able to destroy the U.S. and any other part of the world. But the fact that no weapons of mass of destruction have been found, it's a waste. Penn State tuition has been raised at least 10 percent since I started school and 300,000 people have lost their jobs and this has been linked to Iraq. Therefore, I think it was wrong of the president to lie to the country and send our troops to war."

-- Takkeem Morgan
senior-communications arts and sciences

"I didn't think that we should have gotten involved to begin with, but now that we're there, we need to see it through no matter who is president in the future."

-- Nathan Lott
freshman-mechanical engineering

"I think going to war last year was a good idea, but Bush should have had more to show for it. For instance, they didn't find any weapons of mass destruction."

-- Belinda Liu
freshman-science and business

--Compiled by Rebecca Oberholtzer