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Thursday, January 30,2003
9 - -
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Commentary
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor
Jessica Richelderfer
Editorial Editor
Pat Payne
Editorial
Bush revealed
nothing new
in his speech
about Iraq war
Tuesday night, in the same tradition that has been car
ried on by every president every January since the days
of Thomas Jefferson, President George W. Bush gave us
the State of the Union.
The problem is, he really didn’t. There was precious lit
tle substance, only vague puffery about how to fix the na
tion’s problems. That, of course is to be expected, as every
president uses the State of the Union to “float” ideas.
But the reason most people said they watched the
speech was to hear Bush’s justification for war with Iraq.
We listened for that reason as well, and what we heard
further convinced us that war is the wrong path for
America to take.
Media hype and Ari Fleischer’s statements to the con
trary, there was no further “building of the case” from the
president. There was no new information, not even a
crumb from the dossier that the administration is ru
mored to be releasing this week. Instead, we heard the
same hyperbolic propaganda. It was, for all intents and
purposes, an “off the rack” patriotic speech that could
have come from any country on the brink of war.
We were actually taken aback by Bush claiming divine
providence and guidance for the United States in a impe
rialist war against Iraq. It dredged up too many examples
from history — “manifest destiny,” “divine right of kings”
and “Gott mit uns” to name a few.
Bush’s speech also left us with too many unanswered
questions.
Why, exactly, do we need to remove Saddam Hussein
by force now? Have the inspectors failed and we don’t
know it yet? Actually, they haven’t even been given the
chance, and bombing will be counterproductive.
Where are Saddam’s weapons? How will bombing stop
the weapons from being used? How will killing innocent
Iraqi civilians liberate them or make U.S. citizens safer?
What is the end plan after Hussein is out of power? Why
is removing Hussein from power even on the table? How is
Hussein a greater murderer than the butchers behind the
civil wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Con
go? Regime change is not what the world — and the presi
dent, sometimes—have said they are looking for. Why did
Bush subtly conflate the two agendas into one?
We haven’t heard any answers from the president, nor
do we expect to, as we are skeptical that he even has them.
The times do not call for rhetoric about war — not
when the game is disarmament. The world wants Iraq to
disarm. America wants Iraq to disarm. Certainly nobody
in their right mind would want to see Hussein with a nu
clear bomb. However, unilateral action is not legal, nec
essary or helpful.
Instead, here’s the plan: The United States should give
some proof of the existence of weapons, then get U.N. ap
proval and send in international peacekeepers to protect
the inspectors — whose numbers must be increased sub
stantially — as they do their job. The world will find the
weapons and destroy them, and the agenda of disarma
ment will be accomplished.
That isn’t what we heard Tuesday night, however. All
we heard was more propaganda about war — a war
Bush wants to portray as Hussein’s fault even as he
does the mongering.
Editorial policy
This editorial represents the opinion of the
Emerald editorial board. Responses can be sent
to letters @dailyemerald.com. Letters to the
editor and guest commentaries are
encouraged. Letters are limited to 250 words
and guest commentaries to 550 words. Authors
are limited to one submission per calendar
month. Submission must include phone
number and address for verification. The
Emerald reserves the right to edit for space,
grammar and style.
LOCK IT UPil
Here we go again.
Sometimes, I sadden myself. I feel like
I have become so desensitized by the pa
rade of violence on nightly newscasts
that when I hear that another child has
been killed, it often goes unnoticed to
me. These events turn up in the news re
ports so often that many times it really is
easy for me to ignore it and often it leaves
me unaffected.
But this time, it’s different.
This time, when I heard the news that
a 10-year-old girl from Vancouver had
been accidentally killed by her older
brother, I was left shocked and saddened.
This time it stopped
me dead in my
tracks. This time I
paid attention.
The Oregonian
reported that on
Jan. 13, Emilee Ran
dall was accidentally
shot in the head by
her 13-year-old
brother Matthew
with his father’s gun
while their parents
were out of the
home. The gun was located in the master
bedroom, unattended, on a high shelf.
To make matters worse, Matthew was al
ready on probation for unlawfully possess
ing a firearm in 2001. He broke probation
Sarah
Spellman
Spin cycle
by possessing this firearm and is currendy
serving his full 30-year sentence.
It gets even worse. The father of Emilee
and Matthew is Craig Randall, a Clark
County sheriff’s sergeant. The gun used in
the accidental killing was his duty gun.
This story upsets me beyond belief for
many reasons. Of course, it is sad that
any innocent child has to die much be
fore her time should run out. But it is
even more depressing when this situa
tion could have easily been avoided.
The problem here is guns.
As one could easily notice from recent
events, children and guns just do not seem
to mix, often resulting in many tragic in
stances. One that is near and dear to Ore
gon natives especially: the Thurston High
School shooting of May 21, 1998. When
these acts are brought home, however, it
can evoke different views from people. And
this case is no different.
I am personally appalled by the fact
that there was a gun left unattended in
the house of this sergeant. As a man of
the law, I would think he should have
known better than to leave his gun unat
tended and that this wouldn’t have had
to happen. Although there is currently no
policy with the Clark County Sheriff’s Of
fice regarding storage of guns, Craig Ran
dall should have taken action and re
sponsibility to prevent Matthew from
getting a hold of the weapon. Whether a
safety lock was to be in place, or purely
locked in storage, anything could have
possibly prevented this tragedy.
Sure, the parents may have trusted
their son, but with a background such as
his, a “better safe than sorry” method
needs to be taken. I can imagine that this
family is sorry now.
Although the damage has clearly been
done, I hope that as a society, we can fi
nally learn from this. How many children
have to die? How many families have to
suffer with this great loss of a loved one
until we finally get a clue? Guns are dan
gerous — period.
It is time that, as a nation, we put away
our “it won’t happen to me” mentality. It
has become clear that a certain level of
responsibility needs to kick in. I am not
arguing that the possession of guns
should be criminalized — it is our consti
tutional right and a privilege as American
citizens. But with this privilege, respon
sibility must be taken to prevent children
dying in the manner of Emilee Randall —
through the carelessness of gun owners.
It is easy. Let’s not let these accidents
happen, and let’s prevent them in the
first place. Be safe — take responsibility.
Contact the columnist
atsarahspellman@dailyemerald.com.
Her views do not necessarily represent
those of the Emerald.
Letter to the editor
Iraq forum deserves thanks
I attended the University forum on
Iraq last week and was encouraged to
hear the question — of whether the Uni
versity should take a position — be
fleshed out publicly in a civil and in
formed manner.
I would like to thank the University
Senate for organizing the event, as well
as University President Dave Frohnmay
er and professors McLauchlan, Murphy
and Pope for their efforts to examine the
issue and answer questions from the
audience. I’d also like to thank the ASUO
for doing a good job of publicizing the
event, but they didn’t do a good job,
so I can’t thank them for it (a Page 8
story written by an ODE staff member
doesn’t count).
Kudos to the University Senate and
their speakers, though. And I look for
ward to Friday’s University Assembly
meeting to consider the issue of the Uni
versity and Iraq.
Paul Griffes
junior
geography
CORRECTION
Monday’s article about
womens basketball (“UO
women struggle In win
against Cougars,” ODE, Jan, j
27) should have said that
while the Ducks lost to
Washington State on a last
second shot at Mac Court in
the 2000-01 season, they
swept the Cougars in two
regular-season games and at j
the Pac-10 Tournament !
during the 2001 -02 season, j
The Emerald regrets the error.