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Wednesday, April 23,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Commentary
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor
Jessica Richelderfer
Editorial Page Assistant:
Salena De La Cruz
Unilateral reconstruction
As the war winds down and the
rebuilding ensues, voices from
around the world can be heard of
fering their respective visions of
a new Iraq.
From their summit in Athens on
April 17, European Union leaders
called for a “central role” for the
United Nations, “including in the
process leading toward self-govern
ment for the Iraqi people.”
The foreign ministers of eight
Middle Eastern countries — all of
Iraq’s neigh
bors, plus
Egypt and
Bahrain —
echoed that
sentiment at
their meeting
in Riyadh, Sau
dlMsArabia the
next day DJ Fuller
Meanwhile, No holds barred
in Iraq itself,
tens of thou
sands of protesters hit the streets of
Baghdad, demanding a speedy re
moval of coalition troops and the
establishment of an Islamic state.
From this cacophony of voices,
a consensus has emerged: The
United States is not to monopo
lize the rebuilding process in or
der to shape a new government in
its own interests.
Yet this is precisely what the
Bush administration intends to
do. America will rebuild Iraq the
same way it invaded it — unilater
ally. The architects of the recon
struction are the same men who
orchestrated the destruction, and
they are unlikely to change strate
gies midstream.
The Defense Department,
though the war is all but over, will
remain the dominant influence in
Iraq long afterwards. Never mind
talk of the United Nations; even the
State Department is being
squeezed out of the reconstruction
to make room for a select group
with special connections to the na
tional security establishment.
Jay Garner, head of the rebuild
ing process, was hand-picked for
the job by Defense Secretary Don
Letters to the editor
Recommended reading
David Icke, in his books
(www.davidicke.com), including
his most recent “Alice in Wonder
land and the World Trade Center
Disaster,” describes in a similar
way as Gerry Spence, who wrote
“From Freedom to Slavery,” how
most of the human race has been
submissive to destructive forces of
government and corporate tyran
ny. Both tell how, like sheep, we
would easily trade in our freedom
out of fear of our “wolves” for pro
tection only to empower a more
dangerous master.
Icke uncovers the forces closer to
us than a cave in Afghanistan behind
Sept. 11, 2001, and examines the
war on terrorism. Since this book
was written, 500-1,000 Middle East
ern people have been taken to
prison in Southern California who
were only trying to cooperate with a
new regulation requiring them to
aid Rumsfeld, who sat with him on
inquiries into the threat of ballistic
missile attacks on the United
States; both are proponents of a
missile defense system. Garner is
also connected to the Jewish Insti
tute for National Security Affairs, a
militaristic think tank stacked with
retired officers. On JINSA’s board of
directors: Richard Perle, who was
appointed chairman of the Penta
gon’s Defense Policy Board by
Rumsfeld, a position he recently re
signed amid controversy over his
lunch with a Saudi arms dealer,
among other things.
Philip Carroll, who will oversee
oil operations, is a former Shell Oil
CEO who also served on the
Greater Houston Partnership, a
business lobby among whose mem
bers was Halliburton, the company
with which Vice President Dick Ch
eney is now so infamously associat
ed. Carroll left Shell in 1996 to run
Fluor — one of the handful of com
panies invited to bid on the lucra
tive Iraq reconstruction project —
until last year.
The company that won that con
tract, Bechtel, has its own ties to
the highest echelons of the defense
community. Jack Sheehan, a senior
vice president with the company, is
a retired Marine Corps general who
serves on the aforementioned De
fense Policy Board; former execu
tives include Reagan’s secretaries of
state and defense, George Shultz
and Caspar Weinberger. Bechtel
was to oversee the construction of
an oil pipeline between Iraq and
Jordan back in 1983, when Sad
dam Hussein and the United States
were still on good terms. The facili
tator of this deal, which eventually
fell through, was none other than
Rumsfeld, who negotiated private
ly with Hussein in Baghdad during
a two-year stint as special presiden
tial envoy to the Middle East.
Because of the overwhelming in
fluence of the Defense Department
on the rebuilding process, it is un
likely that the new Iraq will accom
modate the interests of its people
or of the international community,
when they conflict with those of
the U.S. right-wing national securi
register with immigration authori
ties. They were regarded as terror
ists. The immigration and natural
ization services would give no reason
for the arrests.
We have a moral/social respon
sibility to get informed and do all
we can to protect all people's
rights and civil liberties. Regard
less what side of issues you take,
such as the USA PATRIOT Act, I
urge everyone to read his book
with an open mind. You may or
may not agree with him; however,
I think this book and his other
writings are too essential to not
consider. “Brainwashed” by
George Harrison, and my songs
“Phoenix Rise” and “Wake up!”
also speak loud and clear.
Ceila Levine
Eugene
Bush is playing
a dominating game
of dominoes
President George W. Bush on Sun
day lent insight to the next “game”
Steve Baggs Emerald
ty estaDiisnment. l ne neoconserv
ative branch of the Bush adminis
tration will actively shape Iraq ac
cording to its own preferences.
For evidence of this, we need
look no further than the Iraqi Na
tional Congress, a former exile
group that has returned to wield its
influence on the newly liberated
country. Its leader, Ahmad Chalabi,
rejected by the State Department
as having virtually no support with
in Iraq — he has been away for 40
years — has been embraced by the
Department of Defense. U.S. Spe
cial forces thus provided trans
portation and training for Chalabi’s
personal militia upon his arrival in
Kurdish-controlled territory in Feb
ruary, and continue to do so.
From these unfolding events, it
seems highly likely that Chalabi is
being groomed to play a large role
in the forthcoming provisional
government, though he claims
this is not the case. If he indeed
accedes to power, he will owe
both his position and his newly
rebuilt country to the Department
of Defense. I wonder, then, where
his allegiance will lie?
Whatever we think of Opera
tion Iraqi Freedom, let us not in
dulge in the kind of self-congratu
latory myth making that such
appellations very deliberately
promote. The people of Iraq,
though liberated from the tyran
ny of Saddam Hussein, will not
taste meaningful self-direction for
a very long time.
Contact the columnist DJ Fuller
at djfuller@dailyemerald.com.
His views do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
he intends to play: dominoes. Greet
ed by reporters upon arrival at the
White House, the president was
asked of his concerns about Iraq’s
neighbor to the northwest: Syria.
Stating his knowledge of Syria’s pos
session of chemical weapons, the
president went on to say, “First
things first — we’re in Iraq now.”
“First things first.” His advisors
must have cringed at the premature
divulgence of his next task for our
young men and women in uniform.
Having fought as a nation and lost so
many thousands of young lives in
Vietnam ostensibly to prevent the
falling dominoes of communism,
the administration appears to be
setting up its own dominoes in the
Middle East, hoping they’ll fall in the
direction of democracy.
The late pacifist minister A.J.
Muste is quoted as observing that
“the problem after war is with the
victor. He thinks he has just proved
that war and violence pay. Who will
now teach him a lesson?”
The road home was supposed to
have been through Baghdad. Is it
now through Damascus? Or
Tehran? Or Pyongyang?
With Iraq successfully “liberat
ed” and the world rid of a brutal
despot, the American public must
not rest satisfied in the belief that
the “war on terrorism” has ended.
The president himself has warned
of a “long and difficult” struggle.
He should know: He’s setting up
the dominoes.
Todd Huffman
Eugene
Hate comments
not representative
of Christian faith
I am writing with regard to the ar
ticle concerning hate mail that was
received by ASUO officials (“Reli
gious, racial hate mail infiltrates
ASUO,” ODE, April 9). I am a Christ
ian, and reading the abhorrent com
ments made by someone claiming to
speak on behalf of all Christians
deeply upset and angered me.
I am not writing to criticize you
for printing the article; it was good
journalism and it is your job. The
reason I am writing is because peo
ple like this who make such sicken
ing and hateful statements against
other human beings must be re
buked, as they not only defame the
name of Christ and Christianity, but
also of humanity.
Because to the God I serve, hu
manity is the most precious thing. I,
as a Christian, do not believe in that
kind of hate, and neither does any
true Christian because hate is not
the heart of Jesus. A true Christian
is a follower of Christ, the same
Christ who said, “This is my com
mand: Love one another” (John
15:17). No Christian I know believes
otherwise, and on behalf of all true
Christians, I condemn the state
ments of hatred and bigotry that
were made by someone who profess
es the name of Christ.
Katie Hopkins
sophomore
international studies
and geography