Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 2004)
Oregon Daily Emerald Friday, October 22, 2004 NEWS STAFF (541)346-5511 FEN SUDICK EDITOR IN CHIEF STEVEN R. NEUMAN MANAGING EDITOR FARED I’ABEN AVISF1A YAHYA NEWS EDITORS PARKER UOWEU. SENIOR NEWS REPORTER MORIAFT BAFJNGFT MEGUANN CUNIFF KARA HANSEN ANTHONY LUCERO CANELA WOOD NEWS REPORTERS CLAYTON JONES SPORTS EDITOR ION ROETMAN SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER STEPHEN MILLER BRIAN SMITH SPORTS REPORTERS RYAN NYBURC PULSE EDITOR NATASHA CHIL1NGERIAN SENIOR PULSE REPORTER DAHVI FISCHER AMY LICHTY RYAN MURPHY PULSE REPORTERS DAVID JAGERNAUTH EDITORIAL EDITOR JENNIFER MCBRIDE AILEE SLATER CHUCK SLOT1IOWER TRAVIS WILLSE COLUMNISTS ASHLEY GRIITIN SUPPLEMENT FREELANCE EDITOR GABE BRADLEY NEWS FREELANCE EDITOR/ CNFCTOR OF RECRUITMENT DANIELLE HICKEY PHOTO EDITOR IAUREN WIMER SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER HM BOBOSKY PHOTOGRAPHER NICOLE BARKER PART TIME PHOTOGRAPHER F.RIK BISHOFF PARTTIME PHOTOGRAPHER RRLT FURTWANCLER GRAPHICS EDITOR KIRA PARK DESIGN EDITOR ELLIOTT ASBURY CHARLIE CALDWELL DUSTIN REESE DESIGNERS SHADRA BEESLEY JEANNIE EVERS COPY CHIEFS KIMBERLY BLACKFIELD PAUL THOMPSON SPORTS COPY EDITORS AMANDA EVRARD AMBER LINDROS NEWS COPY EDITORS LINDSAY BURT PULSE COPY EDITOR ADRIENNE NELSON ONLINE EDITOR SLADE LEESON WEBMASTER BUSINESS (541) 346-5511 IUDY RIEDL GENERAL MANAGER KATHY CARBONE BUSINESS MANAGER REBECCA CRITCHEIT RECEPTIONIST NATHAN POSTER A1BINC GUO ANDREW LEAHY IOHN LONG MALLORY MAHONEY HOLLY MISTELL DISTRIBUTION ADVERTISING (541)346-3712 MELISSA GUST ADVERTISING DIRECTOR TYLER MACK SALES MANAGER ALEX AMES MATE BETZ HERON CAUSCH-DOLEN MEGAN HAMLIN ELISA JESSOP MAEGAN KASER-LEE MIA LE1DELMEYER EMILY PHILBIN SHANNON ROGERS SALES REPRESENTATIVES KELLEE KAUFTHEIL AD ASSISTANT CLASSIFIED (541) 346-4343 TRINA SHANAMAN CLASSIFIED MANAGER KATY GAGNON SABRINA GOWETTE LESLIE STRAIGHT KERI SPANGLER KATIE STRINGER CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ASSOCIATES PRODUCTION (541)3464381 MICHELE ROSS PRODUCTION MANAGER TARA SLOAN PRODUCTION COORDINATOR JENCRAMLET KRISTEN DICHARRY CAMERON GAUT ANDY HOLLAND DESIGNERS The Oregon Dally Emerald is pub lished daily Monday through Fri day during the school year by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the University of Ore gon, Eugene, Ore. The Emerald operates independently of the University with offices in Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The Emerald is private property. Unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law Chalabi makes spy game a reality The president got an unusual endorsement Tuesday; Hasan Rowhani, the head of Iran’s secu rity council, told local media that Tehran’s best interest is served by the re-election of George W. Bush. Does it seem strange that a member of the “axis of evil” would support our current ad ministration? Not if you under stand the circumstances sur rounding our attack on Iraq. When future historians write about this war, 1 suspect they will sum it up like this: In the year 2003, neoconservatives within the Bush Administration were duped by an Iranian double agent into attacking Iraq and removing Sad dam Hussein in order to pave the way for a pro-Iran, Shia-controlled Iraq. It was one of the greatest acts of espionage ever perpetrated against the superpower. Who is this Iranian double agent? His name is Ahmed Chal abi, the founder of the anti-Sad dam Iraqi National Congress (INC). The CIA now knows that the INC was either a front for, or had deep links to, Iranian intelli gence and that Chalabi was pass ing U.S. secrets to Tehran. How was Chalabi getting ahold of our secrets? The neocons in the Bush Administration were giving our DAVID JAGERNAUTH CRITICAL MASS secrets to him! Who were these neocons? Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wol fowitz, Richard Perle and Dick Cheney, to name a few. Their plans for the invasion of Iraq did not begin after the Sept. 11 terror ist attacks or even when they took office in 2001. It began in 1997 when they founded the nonprofit organization Project for the New American Century. The neocons laid out their vi sion for “American global leader ship” (i.e. world domination) in their Statement of Principles on June 3, 1997. They wrote: “It is important to shape circum stances before crises emerge” (i.e. military preemption); to “promote freedom abroad” (i.e. occupy totalitarian regimes); and to institute the “Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity” (i.e. kill Muslims). In January 1998, members of the Project wrote to President Clinton, urging him to “remove Saddam Hussein’s regime from power.” They argued that he was responsible for a destabilized Middle East that was putting American troops, Israel, moderate Arab states and oil in jeopardy. Clinton rejected their argu ment, choosing a policy of con tainment over regime change. Containment was effective in keeping WMDs away from Sad dam, but sanctions were helping to keep him in power by weaken ing resistance movements. This angered the neocons. Once they realized that the Project couldn’t be achieved with Clinton in pow er, plans were set in motion to steal the 2000 election. Or so I suspect. There is no smoking-gun proof of this, but if you look at that list of Project sig natures back in 1997, you will find Jeb Bush’s name right next to Dick Cheney. Could it only be a coincidence that the voter fraud, which ultimately won Bush (and more importantly Cheney) the White House and ensured the im plementation of the Project, oc curred in the state headed by Jeb Bush, a signatory to the project? Maybe. But I doubt it. Even before the neocons hi jacked America, Ahmed Chalabi was their handpicked, pro-U.S. puppet leader primed to assume power through “democratic” elections after Iraq’s liberation. Chalabi was the primary, if only, source for the administration’s false claims that Saddam pos sessed weapons of mass destruc tion and connections to al Qaeda. He was feeding the administra tion (and The New York Times, it turns out) the disinformation they wanted to hear. Bush, the neocons and the media took Cha labi’s chum like a bunch of chumps, ignoring our own intelli gence officers who were suspi cious of Chalabi and his claims from the very beginning. Chalabi’s lies became the un contested truth after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The United King dom’s The Guardian newspaper reports that an Iranian spy (not Chalabi) warned the United States of the impending attacks but was not believed. If true, that means Iran knew about the at tacks and, perhaps, even helped to plan and/or finance them. The 9-11 Commission confirmed that Iran has had connections to al Qaeda since 1991. Iran might have foreseen that the attacks would provide a cata lyst for the invasion of Iraq. And now Iran has exactly what they wanted: Saddam is gone and Iraq is up for grabs. If you are afraid Bush will send us to war against Iran, I’ve got news for you: We already are. The majority Shia population of Iraq is attacking our troops everyday. They are being supported by Iran — which is 90 percent Shia — because Tehran wants an ally in the Middle East to help them spread their version of fundamen talist Islam and increase interna tional terrorism. To summarize: Bush’s foreign policy decisions were actually be ing controlled by Iran through Chalabi. Bush allowed an Iranian spy to access high-level U.S. se crets that more than likely ended up in the possession of al Qaeda terrorists. Hundreds of our troops died doing Iran’s dirty work, and now they are killing more Ameri cans everyday without conse quence in a power struggle over Iraq. Is there any wonder why Iran supports the re-election of George W. Bush? davidjagemauth@ dailyemerald. com Columnists endorse their presidential picks Chuck Slothower - John Kerry (D) I voted for John Kerry for president be cause the presidency of George W. Bush has been an unmitigated disaster. It would be enough to vote against Bush because he invaded a foreign nation un necessarily. It would be enough to vote against Bush because he has sided with business interests over the environment at every opportunity. It would be enough to vote against Bush because he contin ues to nominate right-wing ideologues to the federal bench. Put all these reasons together, and this election is a no-brainer for those with brains. Jennifer McBride - John Kerry (D) The majority of the last two years, my father has been unemployed. For me, the main factors deciding this election are eco nomic. John Kerry's public service pro grams have the potential to create more jobs rather than more tax cuts. Small busi nesses will benefit from Kerry's proposed health care credits, and if there are tax cuts, they will generally be spread among those vulnerable classes who need it the most. Even if Kerry spent every day in France, sipping champagne and ignoring the coun try altogether, I think the United States would still come out ahead compared to another four years of George Bush's alter native for America. Ailee Slater - John Kerry (D) John Kerry is my choice for president for one reason: civil liberties. Throughout his term, Bush has made severe dents in the rights of women, starting with an ear ly move as president to limit overseas funding to family planning services that discussed the idea of abortion with clients. Apparently Bush doesn’t like the idea of logic, which obviously says that ending access to preventive birth control and education will probably lead to more abortion. Whereas Bush virtually ignores the issue of civil rights completely, Kerry discusses his support of affirmative ac tion and enforcement of justice for all victims of hate crimes. Re-electing Bush does not in fact mean another four years; with his justices on the court, Bush’s conservative, archaic social ideas could last for decades. TYavis Willse - John Kerry (D) President Bush’s record across a wide gamut of issues is spotty enough that un decided voters of nearly any political stripe or interested in nearly any issue can find reason to support someone else for president. Three years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Department of Homeland Security and the nation’s in telligence agencies are a messy, under funded spaghetti of poor communica tion. The war in Iraq, however viable its premises, is spinning its wheels, no thanks to the absence of a co herent exit strategy. His adminis tration — which admittedly inher ited an unsustainable economy and the beginnings of a recession has nonetheless seen a 177 percent in crease in long-term unemployment. Nev er mind that the White House’s 2005 budget proposal would create a $5.2 tril lion deficit over the next decade ($18,000 for every person living in America to day). Speaking as a fiscal conservative, then, John Kerry’s economic record may not be stellar, but Bush’s is simply dis mal. But Kerry’s most important qualifi cation is his evident ability to see an is sue for the complexities it actually possesses, rather than succumbing to the myopia of chasing policy goals without considering the consequences of that pursuit. John Kerry is the better candi date for many reasons, maybe the most compelling of which is that he isn’t Bush. INBOX Dear Student Body, Every year, all finance constituents of the Associated Students of the University of Oregon meet to facilitate open communication and foster goal setting. Our retreats are an opportunity for your student leaders to learn the processes that govern our student organizations. These re treats consist of all-day workshops and team-building ac tivities. Unfortunately, attendees of this year’s retreat misrepre sented the University. It is regrettable that a few people chose to illegally consume substances after our evening workshops had concluded. We deeply apologize for the actions of a few participants that have negatively impacted the reputation of the University. In addition, we apologize for not carrying our profes sional demeanor throughout the extent of the retreat, as this reflects poorly on everyone. Those elected and hired are holding themselves accountable and taking a proac tive approach to deal with this issue and ensure that this doesn’t happen again. We have been in contact with the director of Student Judicial Affairs and have planned to take responsibility for our actions. We would like to reassure you that this will not affect our abilities as leaders, as we are still deeply committed to representing the interests of all incidental fee-paying students. We understand that these actions have drawn negative attention from the public, but rather than view this as a setback, we choose to use this as an opportunity to show you we are still worthy and capable of our leader ship roles. Respectfully yours, 2004 Finance Retreat attendees OREGON DAILY EMERALD LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor and guest commentaries are encouraged, and should be sent to fetters@dailyemerald com or submitted at the Oregon Daily Emerald office, EMU Suite 300. Electronic submissions are preferred. Letters are limited to 250 words, and guest commentaries to 550 words. Authors are limited to one submission per calendar month. Submissions should include phone number and address forvenfication The Emerald reserves the right to edit for space, grammar and style. Guest submissions are published at the discretion of the Emerald. ONLINE POLL THIS WEEK’S POLL RESULTS Is the United States appropriately addressing the war on ter rorism? (66 votes) 1. Yes - The Department of Homeland Security and the USA Patriot Act have made Americans safer. 21.2 percent 2. Yes - Imprisoning Saddam Hussein was worth invading Iraq, even if there were no weapons of mass destruction. 7.6 percent 3. No — Invading Iraq has drawn the focus away from more important goals in the war on terrorism. 24.2 percent 4. Yes - The United States has done more harm than good and has indirectly helped foster more terrorist activities. 45.5 percent 5. Undecided -1.5 percent
