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Email: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
www.dailyemerald.com
Friday, April 25,2003
--Oregon Daily Emerald
Commentary
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor
Jessica Richelderfer
Editorial Page Assistant
Salena De La Cruz
Editorial
Quacks to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Sensenbren
ner, R-Wisconsin, who said April 17 that the USA PATRIOT
Act will be made permanent “over my dead body.” It’s a re
lief that at least one elected official has questions about how
the act is being used, and U.S. Attorney General John
Ashcroft should be offering answers.
Smacks to Rev. Franklin Graham, son of famed preach
er Billy Graham, for demonizing Islam and then hosting
Good Friday services at the Pentagon. So much for Amer
ican government’s neutrality toward religion. No, tell us
how you really feel.
Quacks to Keizer resident Gary Boyles, who filed suit
against the Salem-Keizer School District for forcing his son
and daughter to watch commercial advertising on Channel
One during school hours. Hurrah for Boyles! Not only are the
commercials a sick form of brainwashing to hoist on kids, but
Channel One’s programming isn’t so special, either.
Smacks to the Lukes potentially being split up because
of the NBA. There ought to be a law that would make Rid
nour and Jackson a Draft package-deal, and our hearts
break to think of having only one curly-haired bailer on
campus next year.
Quacks to the ASUO Executive for all of their work on leg
islative issues and their recent award for it from the United
States Student Association. Representing student voices to
demand more funding, more access and a better education is
one of the most important things student leaders can do.
Smacks to the mainstream media (especially televi
sion) for resuming their usual soap-opera style coverage
of murders and pop culture within seconds of Saddam
Hussein’s statue being toppled in Baghdad. Never mind
in-depth features on international relations or the causes
and consequences of war, every detail of the Laci Peter
son case must be told over and over again!
Quacks to Golden State Warriors center Adonal Foyle,
who started Democracy Matters, a nonprofit, nonparti
san organization encouraging college students to get in
volved in politics. Here’s an NBA player being a great role
model and giving back in a way that can make a huge dif
ference to the future of our democracy. Find out more at
www.democracymatters.org.
Smacks to the Chinese government for covering up the
extent and nature of the SARS outbreak. Saving face and
handling issues internally is well and good in many cases,
but this was a matter of much greater importance than
any one government. Shame on them.
Quacks to the ASUO elections being over. We value stu
dent government more than do most students, probably,
but still, it’s nice that the hot air front has passed, and our
new leaders can begin the task of preparing for their jobs.
Plus, we’re stoked that the University has a first-genera
tion college student for an out lesbian redneck student
body president.
Smacks to Richard Perle for making the rounds of news
talk shows in the past week, angrily telling France and
Germany that the sanctions against Iraq should be lifted
and declaring his disgust that commercial greed would
trump international policy. It is hard to imagine a person
who could be more hypocritical in taking this stance; Per
le has loads of commercial interests that profit from war.
Shame on him.
Editorial policy]
This editorial represents the opinion of the
Emerald editorial board. Responses can belli
sent to ietters@dailyemeraid.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.
Editorial board members
Michael J. Kleckner
Editor in chief
Salena De La Cruz
Editorial page assistant
Jessica Richeiderfer
Managing editor
DJ Fuller.
Columnist
Jenna Cunningham
Student representative
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Killing during an unjust war is murder
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Guest commentary
We are veterans of the United States
armed forces. We stand with the majority
of humanity, including millions in our
own country, in opposition to the United
States’ all-out war on Iraq. We span many
wars and eras, have many political views
and we all agree that this war is wrong.
Many of us believed serving in the mili
tary was our duty, and our job was to de
fend this country. Our experiences in the
military caused us to question much of
what we were taught. Now we see our real
duty is to encourage you as members of
the U.S. armed forces to find out what
you are being sent to fight and die for and
what the consequences of your actions
will be for humanity. We call upon you,
the active duty and reservists, to follow
your conscience and do the right thing.
In the last Gulf War, as troops, we were
ordered to murder from a safe distance.
We destroyed much of Iraq from the air,
killing hundreds of thousands, including
civilians. We remember the road to Basra
— the Highway of Death — where we
were ordered to kill fleeing Iraqis. We
bulldozed trenches, burying people alive.
The use of depleted uranium weapons
left the battlefields radioactive. Massive
use of pesticides, experimental drugs,
burning chemical weapons depots and oil
fires combined to create a toxic cocktail
affecting both the Iraqi people and Gulf
War veterans today. One in four Gulf War
veterans is disabled.
During the Vietnam War, we were or
dered to destroy Vietnam from the air
and on the ground. At My Lai we massa
cred more than 500 women, children
and old men. This was not an aberration,
it’s how we fought the war.
We used Agent Orange on the enemy
and then experienced firsthand its effects.
We know what Post Traumatic Stress Dis
order looks, feels and testes like because
the ghosts of more than 2 million men,
women and children still haunt our
dreams. More of us took our own lives af
ter returning home than died in battle.
If you choose to participate in the in
vasion of Iraq, you will be part of an oc
cupying army. Do you know what it is
like to look into the eyes of a people that
hate you to your core? You should think
about what your “mission” really is.
You are being sent to invade and occu
py a people who, like you and me, are
only trying to live their lives and raise
their kids. They pose no threat to the
United States even though they have a
brutal dictator as their leader. Who is the
United States to tell the Iraqi people how
to run their country when many here
don’t even believe their own president
was legally elected?
Saddam Hussein is being vilified for
gassing his own people and trying to de
velop weapons of mass destruction. How
ever, when he committed his worst
crimes, the United States was supporting
him. This support included providing the
means to produce chemical and biologi
cal weapons.
Contrast this with the horrendous re
sults of the U.S.-led economic sanctions.
More than 1 million Iraqis, mainly chil
dren and infants, have died because of
these sanctions. After having destroyed
the entire infrastructure of the Iraqis’
country, including hospitals, electricity
generators and water treatment plants,
the U.S. then, with the sanctions,
stopped the import of goods, medicines,
parts and chemicals necessary to restore
even the most basic necessities of life.
There is no honor in murder. This war
is murder by another name.
When, in an unjust war, an errant
bomb dropped kills a mother and her
child, it is not “collateral damage,” it
is murder.
When, in an unjust war, a child dies of
dysentery because, a bomb damaged a
sewage treatment plant, it is not “destroy
ing enemy infrastructure,” it is murder.
When, in an unjust war, a father dies
of a heart attack because a bomb dis
rupted the phone lines so he could not
call an ambulance, it is not “neutraliz
ing command and control facilities,” it
is murder.
When, in an unjust war, a thousand
poor farmer conscripts die in a trench
defending a town they have lived in their
whole lives, it is not victory, it is murder.
There will be veterans leading protests
against this war on Iraq and your partici
pation in it. During the Vietnam War,
thousands in Vietnam and in the United
States refused to follow orders. Many re
sisted and rebelled. Many became con
scientious objectors and others went to
prison rather than bear arms against the
so-called enemy.
During the last Gulf War, many GIs resis
ted in various ways and for many different
reasons. Many of us came out of these wars
and joined with the anti-war movement.
If the people of the world are ever to be
free, there must come a time when being
a citizen of the world takes precedence
over being the soldier of a nation. Now is
that time.
When orders come to ship out, your
response will profoundly impact the lives
of millions of people in the Middle East
and here at home. Your response will
help set the course of our future. You will
have choices all along the way. Your com
manders want you to obey.
We urge you to think. We urge you to
make your choices based on your con
science. If you choose to resist, we will
support you and stand with you because
we have come to understand that our
real duty is to the people of the world and
to our common future.
This statement was prepared by U.S. veterans
and signed by more than 1,000 U.S. veterans.
For more information, visit
www.calltoconsdence.neL