During World War II, the U.S. government created the Manhattan Project to protect itself from the Germans in case they would bomb the U.S. years later. But the government discovered that the Germans never created an atomic bomb; the Germans had only gotten to the beginning stages.

The story, according to Dinesh D’Souza, is a defense against critics of President Bush’s going to war in Iraq, even though Bush was not sure that something bad was occurring in Iraq.

“You must be careful when you jump to assumptions, especially when you are dealing with the building of nuclear weapons,” D’souza explained.

About 100 students, faculty and community members listened to D’Souza lecture, “What’s so Great About America?” in the Mandela Room on Wednesday, April 16.

D’Souza, a widely-known conservative thinker, has stirred controversy over the last two decades because of his opinions. His talk at Binghamton University even forced police to calm protesters outside the Mandela Room. And a poster advertising the event was graffitied in the basement of the New University Union.

The event was sponsored by College Republicans, Binghamton Review, College Libertarians, Young America’s Foundation and Theta Delta Chi, but D’Souza’s lecture was most heavily supported by Harpur College.

College Republicans, who hosted the event, negotiated with Ricardo Laremont, interim dean of Harpur College Council, which acts as the group’s primary financial aid body. Laremont agreed to provide $5,000 of D’Souza’s $7,000 speaking fee.

“We wanted to combat political apathy on our campus by exposing students to intellectually conservative viewpoints from a well-renowned politically conservative activist/author,” said Ari Feinman, president of College Republicans.

During his speech, D’Souza addressed the war in Iraq, saying America is at war against terrorism.

“America fighting the War on Terrorism is very similar to America fighting kamikazes in World War II; you do not know who they are or where they are until they kill,” D’souza said.

He then explained the idea of a suicide bomber as one who does not want to live and is willing to die for a cause. D’Souza made the distinction that although terrorists enjoy their lives, they hate the United States more.

D’Souza’s final point touched on hopes that the next president will try to display America in a different light. Middle Eastern countries see America as very frivolous, and most of what they see are the ideas that Hollywood promotes in their movies and advertisements, he said.

“I hope that the new president will show the ‘other America’ — the one that shows how people are faithful and go to church, not the ‘blue America,’” D’souza said.

Among his written works, in 1995 D’Souza published one of his most controversial books, called “The End of Racism.” In 1997, he published the first book to make the case for Reagan’s intellectual and political importance, called “Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader.” In 2002, he published his bestseller, “What’s So Great About America,” which was acclaimed for its thoughtful patriotism. In 2003, he published “Letters to a Young Conservative,” which has become a handbook for the new generation of young conservatives.

D’Souza graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College in 1983. He worked his way up to becoming a policy analyst in the Reagan White House. He eventually served the John M. Olin Fellowship at the American Enterprise Institute, and the Robert and Karen Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.