T he war in Iraq has consumed a lot of time in Americans’ lives. Surely, most everyone has been involved in debates about who should be in Iraq, why we should or shouldn’t be there, and how to get out. And anyone who was alive in November remembers the passion that channeled through the country in support of John Kerry or President Bush as they verbally sparred over the Iraq War.

Passions seem to have subsided now, at least temporarily, and Americans have mostly gone back to their lives as they were before the candidates stirred up the war debate.

In Mission Viejo, however, the passionate support for the war rages on. Earlier this month, the South Orange County Community College District voted on a measure that would halt the study abroad program between its colleges and Spain. Students from Irvine Valley College and Saddleback College will no longer have the opportunity to learn in Spain.

The reason? Spain made the decision to withdraw their troops from Iraq.