After attending the public debate on the war with Iraq on Monday, I have to question reporter Nathan Hall’s priorities in reporting the event in “Parliamentary debate winners argue against U.S. war with Iraq (Nov. 20).

The University’s Parliamentary Debate Society brought together two experts in the field for a constructive discussion on the topic. Steve Young is a distinguished local attorney and former dean of Hamline School of Law. Professor Colin Kahl is an expert on U.S. foreign policy, who received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. This is the same Columbia where political legends such as former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski and Kenneth Waltz have been faculty.

Unfortunately, Hall included not a single quote from either speaker. He did not even go so far as to hint at what their arguments were. Judging from Hall’s article, one wouldn’t know that the actual debate even happened.

Instead, he focused on the Marxists who happened to be selling books outside and on five statements from the audience. Hall cites only one quote in favor of the war, even though this was a full half of the debate. He eschewed balanced reporting to cite at least four reasons not to attack Iraq.