Thursday
Editor in chief: Jack Clifford
Managing Editor: Jessica Blanchard
Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
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EDITORIAL EDITOR: MICHAEL j. KLECKNER opededitor@journalist.com
but not:
CAPTAIN
SENSIBLE
This month marks the end
of what Saddam Hussein
called “The Mother of all
Battles.” We, at the spear
head of a multinational army,
went in to save the small nation of
Kuwait from a larger invader. Af
ter less than a month, that invad
er, Saddam Hussein of Iraq, was
ejected from Kuwait and his
vaunted armies smashed. Howev
er, Hussein was never made to an
swer for his crimes in an interna
tional court. His war crimes and
shattering of international
treaties, still ongoing, are some of
the most unconscionable acts this
world can witness. It is high time,
now, 10 years after the war to fin
ish the job: Arrest Hussein, and
bring him to trial for his crimes.
In a war, one of the immediate
goals of any army is to neutralize
its opponent. This the U.N. coali
tion did handily. In one post-war
report, the U.S. Army stated that
only two of Iraq’s 42 divisions
were still in any shape to fight.
However, the aftermath of a war
also has to address the root cause
of the conflict and remove it. It
was here that we failed miserably.
We did not remove the cause of
the war: Hussein himself, the
leader of the Baath party and dic
tator of Iraq.
Hussein has committed numer
ous breaches of international law
during his two decades in power.
In the vicious 1980-1988 border
conflict between Iraq and Iran, a
war that laid the foundation for
Kuwait’s invasion, Hussein made
large use of chemical weapons,
including the nerve gas sarin, on
enemy troops. This is a direct vio
lation of the Geneva Protocol,
which applies to all nations. Sarin
has also been used by Hussein on
a large scale to eliminate ethnic or
religious minorities within Iraq it
self that he felt were threats to his
power. Two major groups de
stroyed in this way from 1986 to
the present are the Kurdish mi
norities in the north and Shiite
Muslims (one of the two main
branches of Islam; Hussein is a
Sunni) in the south.
When the war ended, U.S. aid
to forces poised to depose Hus
sein from within was hamhand
ed, to say the least. More than
$100 million was spent by the
CIA to equip and encourage tradi
tional anti-Hussein forces to re
volt. The returns were dispropor
tionately small. Other than some
small running battles with Iraqi
forces, the only other defining re
sult of the plan, according to The
Washington Post, was that one of
the CIA-aided groups turned trai
tor and aided Hussein in slaugh
tering their comrades. Hussein
has only increased his grip on
power in Iraq since the end of the
war. Sanctions placed on the na
tion have restricted his reach, but
not his ambition.
It is now 10 years later. Kuwait
is free. However, so is Hussein.
We would like to think the Gulf
War is over, but it isn’t. We are, at
this moment, only in the middle
of a prolonged armistice. We will
not have a full victory until the
Hussein family is out of power in
Iraq. There can be no victory until
the perpetrator is made to answer
for his crimes.
Pat Payne is a columnist for the Oregon
Daily Emerald. His views do not necessar
ily represent those of the Emerald. He
can be reached at
Macross_SD@hotmail.com.
.
Letters to the editor
OSPIRG working
against Norton
It was fitting that the front page
of the Emerald yesterday coupled
an article about OSPIRG’s return to
the ASUO ballot (“OSPIRG goes
back to ASUO ballot,” ODE, Jan.
31) and the confirmation of Interi
or Secretary Gale Norton (“Senate
confirms nominations of Whit
man, Norton,” ODE, Jan. 31).
Norton has a history of develop
ing pristine wilderness and advo
cating for polluters as they scar our
land and pollute our waterways.
OSPIRG has a 30-year history of
fighting for forest protection and
cleaning up Oregon’s polluted wa
terways.
Norton’s confirmation is now
the cornerstone of the Bush/Ch
eney plan to drill for oil in the Arc
tic National Wildlife refuge. OS
PIRG is working to protect the
area, fighting to save the porcupine
caribou, hundreds of species of
birds, and saving one of the last
unspoiled places on Alaska’s eco
logically diverse northern coast.
All of this drilling would take over
10 years to get oil to the states, and
when it finally did, it would only
produce about 6 months worth of
oil.
Now more than ever, it’s impor
tant that we have public interest
groups like OSPIRG working to
protect our environment from
greedy hands of the new adminis
tration and from the oil compa
nies, like BP, that have been
chomping to get this beautiful area
for years.
Michelle Ternus
sophomore
psychology
Oil spoils nature
I am writing to discuss the re
cent oil spill in the Galapagos Is
lands, in which a tanker ran
aground and spilled more than
170,000 gallons of oil into a na
tional park. This is a reminder of
the danger that oil poses to the nat
ural world.
Unfortunately, clean-up crews
say that it will be impossible to re
move much of the oil that has
spilled into the ocean and that
threatens nearby islands. I hope
that in the future we will learn
from this disaster to better protect
our most important natural areas.
For example, right now BP is
pushing to open the Arctic Nation
al Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
The Arctic Refuge is one of the
last unspoiled areas left in the
United States. It is also one of the
most ecologically important pro
tected areas. It is a unique and
pristine wilderness area where
many species, including caribou
and polar bears, make their home.
I urge BP to look at the mess that
oil has made of the Galapagos Is
lands and to cancel their plans to
drill in the Refuge.
Michelle Swank
freshman
undeclared
CORRECTION
The story “OSPIRG goes back to
ASUO ballot” (ODE, Jan, 30) should
have da rified that OSPIR6 staff a re
funded by student fees, not the state
Public Interest Research Group.