‘Misleading’ column criticized
My letter is in response to a col
umn by Amy Edwards, titled “Ameri
can Watchdogs in place” (DN Aug.
27), the first day of school — a perfect
day to publish a misleading column.
There are several objectionable
things so I have addressed them in a
numerical order. I start from the sec
ond paragraph in which Amy writes:
1. We are going to war.
Are we really? Until Aug. 27,1990
there has been nodirectconfrontalion
between U.S. troops stationed in Saudi
Arabia and the Iraqi forces in Kuwait
and Iraq. This statement almost sounds
like you wanted to say, “We are
looking forward fora war.”
Despite the increasing buildup of
troops in the Gulf (both U.S. and
Iraqi), there are important signs that
there are efforts on way to diffuse
tension between Washington and
Baghdad. The families of the diplo
mats arc on their way home via Tur
key. Whereas these significant changes
arc taking place, your statement that
we are going to war is quite contra
dictory or maybe it reflects your un
realistic perspective of an already
“trigger-happy” U.S. foreign policy
(remember Panama, Grenada or Vi
etnam).
2. In your article you state and
seek to elaborate on the most obvious
of geopolitical facts. I am curious
about the audience of such kind of
writing. For example you state: “Saudi
Arabia has oil” and that “Americans
crave to maintain their way of life.”
OOOH! Please slop! You are hurt
ing my intelligence and that of the
2,000 new students who have joined
UNL this fall. Don’t you think every
Tom, Dick and Harry is aware of
these above stated “universal truths
(if I may).”
3. You state and I partly agree with
you here that “Washington manufac
tured a protest letter for the Kuwaiti
emir to sign? . . . Kuwait sent this
letter to other nations to enlist their
help.”
Rumor has it that when a day after
the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the
Kuwaiti emir (actual spelling is ameer)
was asked to read a letter of protest
(in Arabic) on TV, he had trouble
reading it (My sources are C-SPAN,
Lincoln cable channel 21). If this in
fact is correct, don’t you believe it is
outrageous that the king who had
billions slashed away in Swiss ac
counts (which now stand frozen) could
not read. Maybe the honorable king
did not get lime from his 60 wives
(approximately) and countless chil
dren (exact). I know this is an exag
geration and I also know that the
personal life of the (former) Kuwaiti
king is not the issue on trial, but if the
Kuwaiti rulers say that they tried their
best to resolve the border and oil
production problems with the “mad
man” of Iraq, can we really believe in
what they say?
4. You state that the United Na
tions believes the “use of force could
be used to stop vessels.”
I am sorry, but your statement is
only partly correct. The United Na
tions only allowed the use of “LIM
ITED’ ’ force. To you, maybe, force
and LIMITED force do not mean a
whole lot of difference.
A question for you though, maybe
you can answer it in your next col
umn: Would you advocate stopping
of shipping vessels carrying food and
medicinal stuff?
5. And finally the classic example
of the worst piece of column writing
I have had the willpower to go through.
Here I have to write exactly the entire
paragraph about your father’s insight
into foreign policy and understanding
of world affairs. Y ou state and I quote:
“My dad told me last week that he
thought we would use nuclear weap
ons against Iraq. I disagreed. Turning
Iraq into a parking lot would leave us
with a long walk to work. But who
knows? Maybe dealing with a mad
man requires tactics that arc just as
mad. His willingness to take on world
outrage leaves a large question about
rational talks with the Iraqi leader.”
Give me a break lady? How hypo
critical can you get? You do not agree
with your dad about the use of nuclear
weapons but then maybe to get things
over with quickly you think it is not
such a bad idea after all. I am curious.
Did you write this Friday night before
school started?
Did you watch a lot of Rambo
movies this summer with your dad?
Or maybe those Chuck Norris movies
where Arab “terrorists” hijack and
slaughter all American and Israeli
passengers and towards the end Nor
ris kicks some Arab butt. He destroys
all Arabs from the face of the earth.
Is that the world you envision? Is
that the prophesy you have for us on
the first day of school?
Are you aware of the geographical
location of Iraq if we really believe
President Bush will authorize the use
of nuclear weapons. You will destroy
Iraq for sure, but devastate Turkey,
Jordan, Syria, Iran, Kuwait as well. In
case of a bigger disaster Israel, Russia
and Egypt too. Yes, I said Israel. Ooh,
maybe now you are concerned about
a nuclear solution.
World problems can be quite mind
boggling. Before you embark on a
trip to explain them to us, be sure you
have some vision of them yourself.
Let us all pray that the crisis is over
with and all U.S. troops come home
safe and Free and that there is abso
lutely no wasting oF lives.
Naveed Siraj Memon
Graduate Student
Industrial Engineering.
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