_ _ _ _ _ z_
Opinion
TI h E ClACkAMAS P rìnt
WEÓNESdAy, OCTObER 10, 2001
EDEEnniwi
Resist the fever of patriotism, support your rights
Staff Writer
the‘military necessity’of such
bombings on civilians as those
and Nagasaki. In all of these
cases, civilians were the tar-
The terrorist attack on the
World Trade Center is evil be
cause it killed innocent civil
ians; people like you and me
just going about their daily
lives. To propose a war on Af
ghanistan would achieve the
same end.
Some people say that the
United States knew that this
was going to happen, but
whether the U.S. government
knew that this was going to
happen ahead of time or not is
not at issue. What is at issue,
as I see it, is how we the people
will react to government policy.
To cite a couple of examples
outside of war, I would like to
point out the U.S. warship’s
bombardment of the Mexican
city of Vera Cruz in 1914, which
killed 100 Mexican civilians be
cause the Mexican government
wouldn’t apologize for arrest
ing some American sailors.
More recently, in 1986, Presi
dent Reagan sent planes over
the Libyan capital city of Tri
poli after its dictator and sus
pected terrorist, Muanmmar
Khadafi. Khadafi wasn’t killed,
but around one hundred civil
ians were killed when the
planes dropped bombs on the
crowded city. There are more
examples like those ones to be
found.
There are also the wartime
acts of terrorism carried out by
the United States. I question
carried out on the cities of
Dresden and Tokyo, and the
atomic bombings of Hiroshima
gets. Let us not forget the mas
sacres of villages during the
Vietnam War. How about all of
JESSE GURZYNSKI
the civilians killed by the U.S.
military during the Gulf War,
when such targets as hospi
tals, electricity, and water sup
plies were bombed. These were
not of military importance, but
the civilians needed them.
Now I hear that the United
States wants to avoid killing
civilians, but during the Gulf
War didn’t they claim that
their so-called smart bombs
weren’t killing civilians?
Even more frightening for me
are the implications here at
home. I am reminded of George
Orwell’s 1984 - “It was not de
sirable that the [people]
should have strong political
feelings. All that was required
of them was a primitive patrio
tism which could be appealed
to whenever it was necessary
to make them accept longer
working hours or shorter ra
tions.” Or in this case, the of
ficial repealment of rights that
were only dubiously promised
anyway. I worry about my hu
man right to speak my mind
without being brutalized, im
prisoned or assassinated.
During the Gulf War, the Pen
tagon had exercised “virtual
total control...over the Ameri
can press”, according to a
joint statement by fifteen
Washington News Bureau
chiefs. Now we hear of an anti
terrorism fanaticism reminis-
cent of the anti-Communist
McCarthyism of the 1950s.
Where does it stop? Will some
anti-terrorist version of the
House Un-American Activities
Committee arrest m¿ for speak
ing my mind about terrorism,
under suspicion that I am a ter
rorist collaborator?
1 don’t know if anyone else
has been watching, but world
wide, governments seem to be
cracking down on their own
people, and there is no reason
to exclude the United States
from that. To quote Sub
Commandante Insurgente
Marcos, of the Zapatista Na
tional Liberation Army in
Mexico, “More or less rapidly,
national societies are being
militarized, and armies suppos
edly created to protect their
borders from foreign enemies
are turning their cannons and
rifles around and aiming them
inward.” Let us not forget that
on May 4, 1970, National
Guardsmen fired into a crowd
of student protesters against
the Vietnam War at Kent State
University, killing four and
wounding nine leaving one
paralyzed for life.
Don’t let others think for you. It
is easy to be taken by the media
generated fear and hatred, but
please resist the fever of patrio
tism. This issue threatens the life
and freedom of humans here and
humans in Afghanistan, so it is im
portant to be careful what actions
you will tolerate from the U.S. gov
ernment. I honestly don’t know
what can be done to prevent ter
rorism, but the loss of our freedom
here and the loss of innocent lives
in Afghanistan are intolerable.
Standing tall, proud patriotism emerges amid the ashes
FRANKJORDAN
News Editor
The terrorist attacks that oc
curred in New York City, Wash
ington D.C. and the Pennsyl
vania countryside on Sept. 11
have shocked the citizens of
this great country into a sense
of newfound patriotism. While
this can be nothing but good,
the only question that I have
is “Where was this sense of pa
triotism on September 10 and
before?”
As members of this great so
ciety, Americans have taken for
granted for many, many years
the freedoms that are guaran
teed in the U.S. Constitution.
The freedoms of speech, reli
gion, assembly and print have
been used and abused by citi
zens up to the point that when
any of these freedoms are
threatened, either by our own
government, or by exterior
forces (such as terrorists), we
will vigorously defend our very
right to exercise these free
doms. This is where I think
patriotism comes into play. The
love for one’s country and its
way of life is something not
guaranteed by any official
document, but something that
each one of us as Americans
feels
in our
heart
and
soul.
The
United
States
has
not
seen
this
kind of
out
pour
ing of
love
for our
nation
and
the
mem
bers of
our
armed forces since the end of
Operation Desert Storm in Feb
ruary 1991. The way that
Americans responded to the
troops before, during and at the
end of that conflict had not
been seen since the end of
World War II. But as soon as
their busy lives and forgot
about their country as a whole,
unless the country was trying
to do something wrong to them,
to mess up those daily lives.
Now,
the
at
tacks of
Sept. 1 1
have
regilvanized
our ef
forts and
our at
tentions
to
the
eradica
tion of
the ter-
r o r i s t
threat,
not only
in
the
United
States,
but
in
far-off
places.
What
America needs to do has not
been clearly defined. But the
resolve is there. The very best
God Bless America
the troops were home and the
parades had ended, the people
of this country went back to
thing about this country is that
we will not back down from a
fight. From the beginnings of
this country until the present
day, Americans have correctly
had an “us versus them” men
tality. Everyone around the
world really does want to be
like us, and it is up to us to keep
this feeling alive.
Fly the Stars and Stripes,
sing the national anthem and
“God Bless.America” and sup
port an American service per
son who may very soon be
marching off to war. As a vet
eran of the United States Army,
I know firsthand what those
symbols and songs mean to me.
To fight for a country that
stands behind you, no matter
what its citizens’ feelings to
ward war and the military are,
is the single greatest feeling
that a person can have. The
only thing that I ask is that the
citizens of the greatest coun
try of the world don’t forget
what living here really means.
And not to ever forget it, even
in the hustle and bustle of our
daily lives.