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EDITOR IN CHIEF
Ryan Frank
EDITORIAL EDITORS
Kameron Cole
Stefanie Knowlton
Violence sells
Clinton uses the possibility
of war with Iraq to cover
up sex scandal
npi
1:
e formulas and
equations that make po
litical science a ‘sci
ence’ are often less than
obvious. Certainly the study of
math or chemistry is much more
scientific than the study of poli
tics. And in most cases tradi
tional science will utilize math
in order to reach a conclusion
while social sciences will study
people’s reactions or voting ten
dencies. In the case of the recent
foreign policy push by the Clin
ton adminis
tration how
ever, it
becomes
clear that
mathe
matic
i
formulas do play a role in politi
cal science. The formula is sim
pie: sex scandal +
lying about sex
scandal + getting
caught at both +
Kenneth Starr +
impeachment in
quiry + struggling
Asian economy =
foreign policy.
After five years
of essentially serv
ing as the non-for
Opinion
Aaron
Aitman
eign policy presi- —^—
dent, Clinton has finally become
internationally active. In the
past few months Clinton has ne
gotiated peace deals in Ireland,
Kosovo and the Middle East.
And more recently he has
shipped additional troops and
weapons to the Persian Gulf.
Each of these foreign policies
was hailed as a victory, and to
the person with a very short
memory, they are. However,
when one examines both the
death toll and possible death
toll incurred because of Clin
ton’s previous inability to act,
these victories becomes less ap
parent.
Take the Bosnian situation as
an example. In 1995, U.S.-led -
NATO forces organized forces
to prevent genocide in the for
mer Yugoslavian province of
Bosnia. On several occasions,
NATO warned Serbian forces to
honor their borders and stop the
ethnic cleansing or face an air
strike. Yet the Serbs did little
more than flinch before going
about their usual business, and
the NATO forces did nothing to
back up their warning. This fail
ure to act has done nothing to
slow down the genocidal tactics
of the region while bolstering
the stronghold of Europe’s most
murderous leader since Adolf
Hitler— Slobodan Milosevic.
And now, as the impeach
ment inquiry proceedings are
set to begin, Clinton has again
focused his attention on Iraq.
Never mind that for seven and a
half years Iraq has withheld
documents pertaining to its
weapons of mass destruction
program. These documents
were supposed to be handed to
U.N. weapons inspectors at the
conclusion of the Gulf War. Dur
ing this same span, Hussein has
halted the inspections and then
allowed them to continue on 12
different occasions. The specu
THAT SHOULD HELP
AM£RiCAMS horobt
ABOUT THAT MOMICA
THING.
lation among the inspectors is
that Hussein was moving
weapons data and material to an
undetectable location during
these times.
Now consider that 105 days
have passed since the weapons
inspection teams were denied
access by Hussein. In these past
105 days, it is quite possible that
Iraq has been able to hide much
of its arsenal. Or perhaps 105
days was enough time for Iraq in
classic Hussein fashion to move
weapons operations to a factory
that also produces medicine or
baby milk.
David Kay, a former U.N.
weapons inspector in Iraq, ex
pressed disappointment with the
United States’ decision not to
launch an attack. In a television
interview with Fox News, Kay
said it was not only possible but
probable that Hussein has
moved more weapons than ever
in this 105 days and is mcst like
ly “in the process of rebuilding
his biological weapons.”
If physically sending troops
and weapons to the Persian Gulf
was the best way to get Hussein
to comply, then why didn’t Clin
ton order the disbursement of
troops 100 days agor Commit
' ting to a strategic move at that
time would have benefited
' American interests and pos
sibly saved some of the
400,000 Iraqi children who
have died of malnutrition
j since the post-Gulf-War sanc
tions began.
Unfortunately for the United
States and its allies, President
Clinton’s commitment to foreign
policy is contingent on his own
political circumstances. At
tempts to make policy against
atrocities committed in the
world are meaningless if the mo
tivation behind them is to gain a
few points in the CNN/USA To
day Gallup Polls. Stabilizing
Iraq’s power in the Middle East
is needed to save lives lives that
are more important than the cur
rent president’s fascination with
his own reputation and subse
quent place in history.
Aaron Artman is a columnistfor
the Emerald. His views do not nec
essarily represent those of the neivs
paper.
Letters to the Editor
Anti-hate Laws
The cover story “Anti-hate laws combat
prejudice” (ODE, Nov. 13) about Matthew
Shepard, the young Wyoming man blud
geoned to death by two straight men, re
minds us that we must achieve national hate
crime legislation. As a gay man, I’m a sur
vivor of such an attack.
Year after year, I continue to realize that
facts of my 1 ife are irrelevant to straight people.
I’m angry that the price of our visibility is the
constant threat of violence, anti-gay violence
to which practically every segment of this so
ciety contributes. There is no place in this
country where we are safe, no place where we
are not targeted for hatred and attack.
We hide our anger in substance abuse, sui
cide and over-achieving in the hope of prov
ing our worth. It would be wonderful if I did
n't see only heterosexual couples in TV and
movies. My brothers and sisters should have
the legal right to marry, have a job and hous
ing without fear of being bashed, stabbed,
shot or tied to a fence and left to die.
Mike Walsh
Eugene
Child care campaign
I want to write in support of ASUO’s child
care campaign ("Students with children
spotlighted," ODE, Nov. 12). Getting more
block grant money from the state of Oregon
to support student parents is an issue that af
fects all students and not just parents. First,
students won’t have to pay more ASUO fees
to child care subsidies if the block grant is
increased. Second, students without kids
have no way of being sure if sometime in
their academic career they will need this as
sistance. Third, the increase in the block
grant will benefit children and student-par
ents as members of the community.
Affordable child care for student families
is a huge issue which goes unnoticed because
many people don’t recognize how many of
us have kids and how costly it is to keep them
in day care in order to come to class. I pay al
most $500 a month for one child in
preschool. Financial aid calculates the aver
age day care costs to be far less than that. I
make $800 a month as a GTF, and even after
my subsidies, almost 30 percent of my in
come goes to child care. That's a second rent
payment. And when you consider the addi
tional costs of raising a child after day care,
the scope of the problem is more apparent.
I can’t imagine how I could afford to stay
in graduate school if I had two children in
stead of one. It’s no surprise to me that
women Ph.D.s are vastly under represent
ed in my field. They’re the ones who can’t
afford to work for GTF salaries and support
their children.
Please support the ASUO child care
campaign for more funding and child care
facilities.
Robyn Carpenter
Graduate student in Political Science