Iraq and Afghanistan: America's invisible war

Phil Avillo, retired history professor, was interviewed for a story on York's reaction to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars:

Phil Avillo, another wartime veteran -- he lost a leg as a marine in Vietnam -- agrees that the war is far from people's minds because it is far from their daily existence. "We no longer see the connection between terrorism and the way we live our lives," he says. "9/11 did that but only for a month or so, until George Bush said, "Let's go shopping.'"

Instead, Mr. Avillo, a retired York College history professor and twice an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Congress, says when the U.S. first attacked Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, Americans should have been forced to reduce oil consumption as well. "The president should have made the case that reducing our consumption of foreign oil was one more piece of the war on terror." 

Instead, he says, the war goes on, "but for most people, life hasn't changed at all. Most communities are unaffected."