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Monday, March 15,2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Jan Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor:
Travis Willse
E OI TO RIAL
War in Iraq
fails to meet
objectives
For the past 362 days, U.S. military men and women have
been half a world away, fighting against an unknown enemy
in a war more complicated than, perhaps, it should be.
Since March 19, 2003, U.S. soldiers have occupied Iraq,
first fighting to overthrow Saddam Hussein's dictatorship
and defeat his army. Since the end of major combat on May
1, U.S. soldiers have remained in the country, helping ensure
a proper transition to democratic leadership and prevent
possible uprisings, facing attackers who wear no uniforms
and have no faces.
Beyond these facets of war, many across this nation have
felt very real consequences. As of March 12,558 U .S. soldiers
have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom. More than 75 percent
of those deaths have occurred since May 1. Additionally,
2,788 U.S. soldiers have been wounded in action.
By the numbers, 10 U.S. soldiers have died each week the
United States has occupied Iraq. About eight U.S. soldiers are
wounded every day in Iraq. Since major fighting was sup
posed to have ended on May 1, more than one U.S. soldier
has died for each subsequent day troops have remained.
The merits of entering Iraq have been hotly debated, most
recendy with the revelation that President Bush used inaccu
rate information during his 2003 State of the Union address,
aimed at facilitating the impending need to preemptively
strike Iraq.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Sunday on "Face
the Nation" that the war in Iraq was "the right thing to do,"
despite the fart that U.S. troops have found absolutely no
trace of weapons of mass destruction — the major justifica
tion for invasion.
"(Saddam) didn't say 'Come in and look, and see what
we have,"' Rumsfeld said. "He was engaged in active decep
tion."
On "CNN Late Edition," Rumsfeld noted that simply be
cause weapons of mass destruction haven't yet been found
doesn't mean they will never be discovered.
"You could have hidden enough biological weapons in
the hole that we found Saddam Hussein in to kill tens of
thousands of people," Rumsfeld said. "So it's not as though
we have certainty today."
What's most disturbing about this train of thought are the
simple standards this country is founded on. President Bush
presented his argument to Congress to invade another coun
try on the supposition that weapons of mass destruction
might be present. Congress approved military action. The
U.S. military invaded Iraq, ousted its leader and has been
looking for WMD for almost a year.
To contrast this, in America, prosecutors present argu
ments to judges to obtain search warrants, whereby the evi
dence gathered during the search will be used to convict.
Judges, based on whether they believe there is enough prob
able cause to allow a search, either sign or do not sign search
warrants. If signed, police can search an individual's premises
for only the specific item listed on the search warrant.
For Rumsfeld to say that he's glad America went to war
with Iraq is appalling. If a similar search occurred in this
country — a yearlong search that has yet to render any results
— dvil libertarians would be up in arms, and many politi
cians would concur.
But some say that weapons of mass destruction are irrele
vant at this point A world without Hussdn in power is a bet
ter place, and the United States should be applauded. Yet
since Dec 13, when Hussein was captured, the United States
has remained in Iraq with no end in sight
While it's true that abruptly pulling soldiers out of Iraq
would be detrimental to the efforts already under way, keep
ing Americans in Iraq without a solid plan for removal is
unimaginable
As the year anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom nears,
President Bush needs to oudine his plan to remove U.S. sol
diers from Iraq. He needs to set a timeline for this endeavor.
And he needs to follow through with it
This being an election year, it's foreseeable that both Bush
and Democratic candidate John Kerry will unveil a plan this
week to bring Americans home. For this, we should all be
grateful.
But until we start seeing results, more Americans will be
lost in an outing that has resulted in zero WMD findings and
a deck-of-cards worth of high-profile captures. It's time to
start moving.
Because for every day we delay, at least one more soldier
will be sent home with an American flag.
Y hmm... ^
toJSEQuaJCEt,
1EP.. WHO
SHOULD we
A
Steve Baggs Illustrator
Schools must consider impact
of allowing antisocial behavior
In a welcomed display of social decen
cy, Northeastern University's president
Richard Freeland yesterday informed stu
dents that he was postponing the visit of
hip-hop star Ludacris, a $125,000 event
planned for the University's Springfest on
April 2. His decision was based on his be
lief that deadly post-Super Bowl rioting,
directly involving Northeastern students,
called for a type
of "moratori
um" on events
that could nega
tively impact
the neighbor
hoods again, not to mention to serve as
punishment for errant behavior.
Mr. Freeland's gesture is a rare one
among university administrators, who
frequently lack the commitment to lead
their student bodies away from the po
tential for antisocial behavior. But the
decision is doubly impressive in this
case, since the entertainer Ludacris,
protests from students aside, represents
precisely the values that any institution
of higher education should assiduously
denounce. Instead, the concert was ironi
cally looked at, at least by one student
leader responsible for booking it, Tom
COMMENTARY
Kneafsey, as "an answer to decreasing
student apathy and increasing connec
tion to the school."
How did the decision to hire the for
mer Pepsi spokesman strike a blow
against apathy and help create a connec
tion for students to Northeastern? Per
haps it is the wide range of world themes
and precise use of language that makes
Ludacris such a draw.
Ludacris brings a vivid world view, re
plete with sociopathic babble and lyrics
that simultaneously revile women, blacks
(referred to regularly as "bitches"), the
white establishment, and law and order;
they also contain language and sentiment
that could never be uttered on campus by
anyone not in an "underrepresented" vic
tim group without severe consequences,
censure and indignation. How does bring
ing such a performer to campus further the
intent of diversity, and what message of in
clusion do the students give who push for
inviting him?
"Welcome to the United States of
America," he sings, as an example, in his
song "Coming 2 America": "Time to roll
out the red carpet on /all bitch asses. /
Hailin' from the filthy, dirty South, where
the Kings lay. / Ludacris; / Disturbin' Tha
Peace family. / Recognize royalty when
you hear it. / the throne has been taken,
so kiss this nigga's earring. / Luda throw
some grapes on these bitches!" All of
which is summed up nicely, at least in Lu
dacris' lyrical imagination, by the chorus
of: "Move bitch, get out the way / Get out
the way bitch, get out the way / Move
bitch, get out the way / Get out the way
bitch, get out the way."
No wonder, with artistic expression like
this, that Michael Romano, Northeastern's
student government president, bemoaned
the loss of an appearance of Ludacris, say
ing that "this was going to be the biggest
thing to happen to student life and student
activities — ever."
President Freeland may not have even
considered the moral and artistic vacu
ousness of Lucadris in making his deci
sion to cancel the April show. But in do
ing so, he sends a second important
message to Northeastern's students: In
addition to having to be law-abiding
neighbors, they may also want to decide
how the visits of antisocial, sociopathic
artists reflects on who they are and what
they value in life.
Richard Cravatts lives in Weston, Mass.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Willamette needs attention
of Gov. Kulongoski, public
I attended the State of the Willamette
Address last Saturday (Feb. 22), and I was
very happy to hear the two senators ex
press their dedication to river restoration.
Since my aunt, several friends and many
acquaintances have recently found out
that they have cancer, I was very disturbed
by what I learned about the large amounts
of carcinogenic materials present in the
water. The lead, arsenic, PCBs and pesti
cides found in the water have all been
shown to cause cancer and other illnesses,
even at low exposure.
Since many farms and 70 percent of
the population are located along the riv
er, it would be naive to think that these
chemicals do not come into contact with
people. I demand that Oregon Gov. Ted
Kulongoski keep his campaign promise
(which is one of the reasons I voted for
him) to clean up the river and to protect
the health of our community. And I urge
all people who care about their own
health and the health of their families to
write the governor.
Tannith Perry
senior
international studies
War's dividends:
debt, joblessness
University graduate student Sean Wait
son's guest commentary ("Bush adminis
tration's removal of Hussein has paid divi
dends," ODE, March 5) paints such a rosy
picture of the mess in Iraq. We are in a war
we will never get out of, hundreds of
Americans have lost their lives, thousands
of innocent Iraqis have been killed by ter
rorists wearing bombs, while the United
States implies that Libya, Iran, Pakistan
and China are all too eager to open their
countries up for inspection lest they be in
vaded also.
Turn to LETTERS, page 4A