Forum explores Iraq war concerns
The last of a three-part series
addressed questions
and concerns about the effects
of the recent war in Iraq
War hits home
Lindsay Sauve
Family/Health/Education Reporter
Was the war really about oil? How
does geography affect the way two
cultures interact? And where are
those weapons of mass destruction?
Many questions concerning the re
cent war in Iraq were brought to the
table Wednesday night at part three
of the Muslim Student Association’s
forum entitled “Justice: Islamic Per
spectives on Peace and War.”
Geography Professor Shaul Go
hen examined the British invasion
of the Arabian Peninsula shortly
before World War I and the influ
ence Britain had in establishing
countries and governments that
remain today. He said that exam
ining the effects of colonialism is
essential for understanding the re
lationship between the United
States and Iraq.
Cohen also said that giving the
Kurdish people in northern Iraq
independence was part of the
United States’ rationale for the
war, but said he doesn’t see
this happening.
“It seems there is intent for Iraq
to maintain one country under mi
nority rule,” Cohen said. “The
British, Americans and other Arab
states are committed to maintain
ing Iraq as it has been.”
Political science Professor Jane
Cramer discussed whether oil in
terests played a part in the reason
to go to war, an issue that has been
heavily disputed in academic and
Wal-Mart
continued from page 1
difficulties with the CD, they can call
1-800-WAL-MART, adding that no
one has complained about the CD yet.
However, Robert McCaleb of Boul
der, Colo., said he complained to Wal
Mart twice about the CD. McCaleb,
who received a copy of the CD from
The Colorado Daily—the University
of Colorado campus newspaper —
said the CD installs a program on the
computer as soon as the disk is placed
in the CD-ROM drive.
McCaleb also said he thinks
TagRecall.exe may not be a trojan
horse but spyware, which could reg
ister as a virus in programs such as
Norton AntiVirus. Spyware is defined
as any technology that aids in gather
ing information about a person or or
ganization without their knowl
edge.On the Internet, spyware is
programming that is put in some
one’s computer to secredy gather in
formation about the user and relay it
to advertisers or other interested par
ties and can get into a computer as a
software virus or as the result of in
stalling a new program.
The cover of the Wal-Mart adver
tisement has a disclaimer stating,
“This CD-ROM has been checked
with virus-checking programs and
duplicated under strict quality con
trols. Wal-Mart will not accept any
responsibility for any damage or
loss caused through the use of this
CD-ROM.”
Microcomputing Services Man
ager Dan Albrich ran the CD on two
different computers in the Com
puting Center, one with a Windows
98 platform and one with a Win
dows 2000 platform. After running
the CD program, Albrich then
searched the computer hard drive
for any spyware the Wal-Mart CD
may have put onto the computer
Danielle Hickey Emerald
Geography Professor Shaul Cohen discussed several historical interactions between Britain and Middle Eastern countries in a
forum on Wednesday. "The British, Americans and other Arab states are committed to maintaining Iraq as it has been," he said.
media forums. Although Iraq was
invaded for many reasons, there is
evidence that some of those rea
sons include oil, she said.
“Iraq could be the world’s
biggest oil pit,” she said. “Interests
have put constant pressure on Iraq
in several ways.”
Cramer formed the argument
that oil interests, both strategic
and private, were crucial elements
in the reasons America declared
war. She said that politicians and
policy makers, including Richard
Perle, former chairman of the De
fense Policy Board, and Deputy
Secretary of Defense Paul Wol
fowitz have both openly advocat
ed for strategic oil interests.
Cramer added that other reasons
for going after Iraq’s oil included
the desire to weaken the Organi
zation of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries and not depend on oil
from Saudi Arabia, a country the
U.S. government accuses of har
boring terrorists.
Other speakers included politi
cal science Professor Richard
Kraus, who discussed the United
States’ use of human rights issues
as a political weapon in conflict
situations with other countries.
He addressed the recent phenom
enon of the United States’ efforts
to back out of international hu
man rights agreements and organ
izations, including the interna
tional criminal court and human
rights treaties.
Journalism Professor Carl Bybee
also discussed media coverage of
the war in Iraq as well as the war
on terrorism. Event coordinator
Hasan Kesim offered perspectives
on Middle Eastern media coverage.
Kesim said the idea behind or
ganizing the forum was to encour
age awareness of the Islamic per
spective, something not always
addressed by mainstream media
in America.
“I wanted people to hear some
news about the other perspectives
of the people in Iraq,” he said.
“There are things people need to
hear and understand.”
Contact the reporter
atlindsaysauve@dailyemerald.com.
system. On both computers, no
spyware was found.
However, when the program was
run on the Windows 2000 plat
form, it did open up an Internet
connection — but there was no
way to a Web site or owner of the
address. Albrich is investigating
the unknown address.
Symantec also said in their re
sponse that “D:\TagRecall.exe is a
non-repairable threat. (Norton An
tiVirus) with the latest beta defini
rocraura
Ice Cream and Coffee Parlour
tion detects this. Please delete this
file and replace it if necessary.”
Danette Thompson, a Wal-Mart
public relations representative,
echoed Burk’s remarks, saying she
wasn’t sure why TagRecall.exe
would be called a trojan horse, but
she was sure no virus existed on the
CD. She said Wal-Mart might look
more seriously into the possible
problem if the company planned on
distributing the CD again, which it
isn’t planning to do.
Albrich said students should scan
their computers for viruses with
Norton AntiVirus if they have used
the Wal-Mart CD and think they
might have a trojan horse.
The computing center “doesn’t
know everything about it,” Al
brich said. “But users are best pro
tected by having Norton AntiVirus
installed.”
Contact the reporter
atalishaughnessy@dailyemerald.com.
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