Commentary
New book displays Bush's flaws
Forget the nonsensical back-and
forth rhetoric being reported out of
Washington this week regarding
Richard Clarke's book "Against All Ene
mies. " After actually reading it cover to
cover, the following facts are apparent.
First, the George W. Bush admin
istration inserted an enormous layer
of bureaucracy between themselves,
Clarke and other terrorism experts,
making communication between
---- them very
GUEST ^fficuh.
COMMENTARY ™,awuh
the Bill
Clinton
administration almost daily, but was
not allowed to actually talk to Bush
until Sept. 4, 2001.
Second, though Republicans have
roundly criticized the Clinton ad
ministration for its lack of terrorist
planning, the Clinton team was ac
tually very pro-active. The adminis
tration did this by not only making
Clarke and his staff of experts regu
lars in the White Mouse, but by au
thorizing military strikes, rooting
growing al Qaida cells out of Bosnia
and Europe and avenging the assas
sination attempt on George H.W.
Bush with military action against
Iraq — all of this in opposition to
the wishes of the 1990s Republican
held Congress.
For the past three years, Americans
have been used, fearmongered and
lied to, in order to achieve this
administration's right-wing political
agenda, including a bait and switch,
bogus attack on Iraq. This move, the
biggest foreign policy blunder since
the trumped-up Spanish-American
War in 1898, has not only cost the
United States billions of dollars,
hundreds of lives and thousands of
maimed soldiers, but it has created a
new generation of terrorists, now
even more outraged by America. Iraq
is now the vortex of that mistake, fu
riously sucking budding Arab terror
ists toward Baghdad.
Donald Rumsfeld said the other
day that, as he predicted, indeed we
have found terrorists in Iraq. No kid
ding. He invited them.
Jim Bottorff, a 1996 University graduate,
lives in Chicago.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Larson proves his weakness
Lars Larson's recent refusal to par
ticipate with other invited talk-radio
hosts at Southern Oregon University's
First Amendment Forum is revealing.
He said that he would not attend
the forum if he was not allowed to
carry a concealed weapon onto the
campus. Oregon administrative rules
prohibit concealed weapons on state
campuses. SOU administrators re
fused to give in to Larson's demand
and violate Oregon law, thus, no Lar
son showing.
Larson went on to gratuitously com
pare his boycott activism to the actions
of historical civil-rights giant Rosa
Parks. Nice try, but a more accurate
comparison might be "Chicken Uttle."
We know personal safety is not the
issue because Larson was offered the
services of an armed security guard,
which he refused. Perhaps Larson's
blustery boycott is a convenient dis
traction, masking his fear of having to
debate ideas in an environment where
he can't bully, ride the volume fader,
break to commercial or simply hang
up on callers whose views differ from
his. Outside the domain of his own ra
dio show he would be ceding the dy
namic of wielding absolute control.
Mr. Larson would have had a won
derful opportunity to discuss and de
bate his concerns about concealed
weapons and public access issues re
lating to weapons if he would have
simply participated in the forum. 1
frankly don't believe he had the guts
to do so outside the fortress of his
right-wing broadcasting studio.
Gerry Rempel
Eugene
Editorial Board doesn't understand concept of racism
The Emerald recently corrected
an error surrounding the 4J Chavez
rally ("Chavez editorial miscon
strues important point," ODE,
March 11). But it is important to
look at the main argument of the
original article, in addition to its
the Emerald missing the point and
not understanding the deeper
underpinnings of racism.
Brad Schmidt said, "The Emerald
Editorial Board does not talk to every
individual involved in a discussion."
While not talking with activists, the
Emerald has used such heated rheto
ric as "some of the worst rhetoric to
fjIlfcS ¥
COMMENTARY
mistake,
because
this is the
most
recent
example of
r
date, and one of the worst plays of
the race card the Editorial Board has
seen in recent memory" ("41 Chavez
campaign must look beyond race,"
ODE, March 10).
In its "Vagina Monologues" editori
al, the board dismissed a protest as "a
bizarre display that seethes with a dis
tinctly Eugenean brand of irony"
("Protesters undermined the diversity
they sought," ODE, Feb. 17), and said,
"The protesters' arguments ... are rid
dled with fallacies that detract from
their message of fairness, tolerance
and diversity," saying "The protesters'
arguments are ultimately divisive, not
diversifying." This same argument was
used in "4J Chavez campaign must
look beyond race," claiming that it
"constitutes a more racially divisive
policy, harmfully dividing a
community instead of unifying it."
This tendency to blame protest
ers for being "divisive" when they
confront racism, rather than ana
lyze the racism, is disturbing. I
don't have the space to debate the
racism that the protests surround
ed, but when a person of color per
ceives a group to be racist, unifying
with them is not usually the first
thing on that person's mind. The
Emerald's accusations come down
to the argument that it is "divisive"
to claim someone is being racist.
While examining these claims may
be distressing, they are important
claims that should be discussed,
not set aside for the sake of unity.
The Emerald's arguments also
completely ignore the claims of
institutional racism, seeing such
conflicts only as personal
disputes. While "Vagina
Monologue" protesters claimed
that a racist environment created a
hostile space for performers of color
that forced them out, the editorial
board said "Some of those who
complained that the play's cast did
not represent them didn't try out for
the play, and some of those who did
dropped out." When protesters com
plained that no outreach was done
to minority populations, the
Editorial Board said "It would be
wholly inappropriate for the pro
ducers to ask each auditioner what
her sexual orientation or gender
identity was, and worse yet, cast
parts based on her answer."
When people pointed out that
each Eugene school was named after
a white man, the Editorial Board
said "Picking a namesake for the
school on the basis of race reduces
the recognition of legacy to
tokenism." When they pointed out
that the lack of representation of
people of color, and Latinos specifi
cally, shows that Eugene is still influ
enced by racism, the editorial board
was upset by its interpretation that
"One of the common arguments for
naming Southside after Chavez is a
simple matter of demographics."
I've come to love and depend on
the Emerald for coverage of cam
pus activities and activism. But
instead of attacking anyone who
claims something is racist, I would
appreciate it if the Editorial Board
would at least begin by analyzing
the alleged racism.
Toby Hill-Meyer is a senior majoring
in women and gender studies and
sociology.
t
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