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Friday, May 30,2003
--Oregon Daily Emerald
Commentary
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor
Jessica Richelderfer
Editorial Page Assistant
Salena De La Cruz
Editorial
Alas, there’s no
nobility in U.S.
portrait of war
As the U.S. war with Iraq moves further into the past,
details of the conflict and ongoing events make it look
less and less like the noble undertaking that President
George W. Bush would like to portray it as, and more like
the ugly routine that is the greater part of all wars.
That isn’t to say that the troops involved didn’t face
danger or act bravely. Many of them did. But the sad facts
of the war are emblematic of Bush’s administration in
general — smoke and mirrors that make things appear
to be what they aren’t.
The most recent revelation, that Pvt. Jessica Lynch was
n’t actually heroically rescued from the abusive grip of evil
enemy combatants, is perhaps the most astounding. British
news sources broke the story that there were no Iraqi soldiers
in the hospital at the time U.S. troops took Lynch out. Lynch
did not engage in firelight with Iraqis before her capture, the
Washington Times and other sources have reported. Lynch
was well taken care of by Iraqi doctors, according to CNN and
numerous other sources, including having hospital staff do
nate their own blood for her when the hospital ran dry.
The image portrayed in the media was very different,
however, and it was a picture Bush needed at the time:
Noble heroics and a daring rescue. Hardly, as it turns out.
The question of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, re
peatedly cited by Bush as the “imminent danger” faced by
America, is now a non-starter. This could be called smoke
and mirrors, except there isn’t even any smoke, much less a
smoking gun. No WMDs have been found, and no proof has
ever been offered that the United States faced any danger
from Iraq. It sure sounded good at the time, didn’t it?
Here’s more ugly routine: Remember the sudden strike
on a hidden bunker that began the war with Iraq? CBS
News recently visited the site and interviewed Army Col.
Tim Madere, who has been investigating the bombed re
mains. Madere says there was no bunker on that site,
there are no bodies and the palace that was there is still
standing. Madere told CBS that if people had been in the
palace, they “could have survived” the bombing.
It’s getting hard to find the real thing among all
the mirrors.
On Sunday, Britain’s The Observer reported that as
many as 3,000 prisoners of war are being held in Bagh
dad, and the Red Gross has repeatedly been denied ac
cess to them. This is in violation of international law. It’s
hardly noble for the world’s most powerful democracy to
flout the law after using Saddam Hussein’s disobedience
as justification for attacking his country.
The event that best exemplifies the senseless routine of
death accompanying war is also the saddest. Dwayne
Williams, a 23-year-old sailor, was returning home onboard
his ship, the USS Nassau, on May 23. He had been deployed
for nine months and was only 900 miles from land when he
fell overboard trying to catch a football. He was seen in the
water waving his arms, according to CNN, but when the
crew sent out a rescue team, they were unable to find him.
He was lost at sea while catching a football. The horri
ble meaningless of that is nearly enough to turn one to
existentialism. And it’s representative of the senseless
ness of the war with Iraq, which is increasingly looking
nothing like the government’s picture of it.
The war is reminiscent, however, of the French ship in
Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” which Marlow sees
firing repeatedly into a stretch of jungle where no ene
mies are visible.
Conrad writes: “There was a touch of insanity in the
proceeding, a sense of lugubrious drollery in the sight;
and it was not dissipated by somebody on board assuring
me earnestly there was a camp of natives — he called
them enemies! — hidden out of sight somewhere.”
American men and women fought, killed and died in
Iraq. Innocent Iraqis were killed. The entire affair — and
the Bush presidency — is appalling.
WOV// 4500. MOW I
CAM SPEND MY MONEY ON
SOMETHING WORTHWHILE.
THANK GOD I CAN AFFORD
L PRIVATE SCHOOL. _
Peter Utsey Emerald
There is no quick fix for ending violence
Chuck Slothower’s column (“Gunning
for safety,” ODE, May 5) outlined the dan
gers of the National Rifle Association
and how there is not enough gun con
trol in the United States. He addressed
issues such as the number of gun
deaths in the year 2001 (which is cor
rect) and the lack of safety individuals
take to secure their firearms.
While his argument on tax credits for
safe storage is semi-legitimate (but not
practical), he veers off the path of reali
ty and sanity a number of times. He be
gins his column with a heartstring
puller about a severely troubled
14-year-old who took the life of his high
school principal and then turned the
weapon on himself.
I don’t understand how this story
helps him prove his case for gun con
trol. He implies, but doesn’t prove, that
stricter gun control laws would have
saved those two lives. There are many
stories which include death by
firearms, and they are just as sad as
those which include drunken driving
accidents; however, there is no quick
cure, if any at all, for either of these ille
gal acts. It’s a matter of enforcement of
these laws and addressing those in need
of help before they resort to violence.
Although I am not personally a fan of
the NRA, there are some half-truths in
Slothower’s article which paint a biased
picture of the organization.
First, he mentions that “Gun enthu
siasts bring a level of passion, organiza
tion, and money, preventing even the
discussion of reasonable gun restric
tions.” Perhaps gun control legislation
doesn’t bring headlines in the news, but
each bill proposed at both state and fed
eral levels gets its share of time to be
discussed, same as any other bill.
This passage also leaves the pre
sumption that there is no counterforce
which attempts to combat the NRA and
its ilk. This is not true, as there are nu
merous groups such as Handgun Con
trol Inc. and Center to Prevent Hand
gun Violence, which battle with the
pro-gun lobby to further restrict
firearms ownership. Last time I
checked, there was no violation associ
ated with effective lobbying.
The second issue has to do with the
“(prevention) of even the discussion of
reasonable gun restrictions.” I would
like to know when the last level-headed
firearms restriction was contemplated
in any legislative body.
The Brady Bill II on the federal level,
the banning of all semi-automatic
weapons in Illinois, or the establish
ment of federal ballistic fingerprinting
are not what I would call reasonable or
slightly realistic. It is also important to
keep in mind that when a law is creat
ed, it has to be enforced, so there is no
use in creating ones that aren’t reason
ably within the scope of police efforts
to enforce.
There are other great flaws in the col
umn, but the primary problem that
stems from all of this is the culture of
fear that we live in, and that Slothower,
along with my good pal Michael Moore,
have done their best to reinforce.
It is the lack of education concerning
the roots of violence that is the greatest
problem in our society — and the gov
ernment’s ignorant actions when at
tempting to curb them. There is no
quick fix, and the violence won’t stop
until our country’s war on the poor
comes to an end.
Joel Sokoloff is a senior political science
major.
Letter to the editor
Don’t give up civil
rights for patriotism
Memorial Day is a time to honor sac
rifice. Unfortunately, politicians dis
honor true patriots when they hide be
neath empty catch phrases like
“national security.”
One such policy plays on fear while
annihilating civil rights. Once called
the Total Information Awareness of
fice, the Department of Defense has
given TIA a public relations over
haul— renaming it the Terrorism In
formation Awareness program after
our own Senator Ron Wyden spear
i
headed a movement voicing concerns
about its lack of oversight.
Unfortunately, TIA’s new makeover
is only skin-deep. The premise is still
flawed — that by cataloguing millions
of people’s credit card reports, med
ical status and educational back
grounds, we can somehow establish
patterns exposing terrorists. Not only
is this a ludicrous proposition, but it
would burden our already inefficient
security system.
The FBI complained after Sept. 11,
2001, that they had too much informa
tion. As the ACLU pointed out, “You
don’t find a needle in a haystack by
bringing in more hay.”
Even if TIA was feasible, can the
government be trusted with so much
information? The Detroit Free Press
reported that Michigan police used in
formation databases such as TIA to
stalk women, harass motorists, spy on
estranged spouses and even threaten
political opponents. Similar incursions
happened during the Vietnam protests.
The director of TIA, John Poindexter,
has a less than impressive record when
it comes to public accountability.
By all means celebrate apple pie, but
also remember the price we Vo paid for
civil liberties. Don’t let it be in vain.
Jennifer McBride
freshman
pre-journalism