_ ““"J ■■VW.MW.WI.
Gulf war, abortion occupy readers i
war undesired,
but is reality,
thanks to Bush
At the end of last semester, Jan. 15
seemed like a long way off, but here
we are again, fighting for peace. When
the bombs first started falling a week
and a half ago, I heard someone nearby
shouting joyfully, “It’s starting; we’ve
got war!” I, however, was probably
not the only confused and depressed
individual in America. Having a friend
on the front lines, and the prospect of
myself becoming cannon fodder have
made this whole sequence of events
hard to swallow.
I fear that many people don’t
understand the gravity of the situ
ation. This is war, not a Nintendo
game or a Rambo movie! Although
we’ve only seen buildings destroyed
under the might of good old Ameri
can “ordnance,” there are people dying.
Tm sure everyone was just as sick
ened as 1 was when the prisoners of
war were paraded around on Iraqi
television. Human lives are involved
here. We can’t forget that.
i was uuepiy uisiurocu wnen con
gress effectively put the lives of a
generation in the hands of a single
man. I was even more disturbed be
cause the man was George “I am not
a wimp” Bush, the same fellow who
made the words “liberal,” “compro
mise” and “peace” un-American.
Saddam Hussein did a great injustice
to the people of Kuwait, but throwing
young Americans at him without giving
sanctions enough time to work was
not the way to go.
Many people here on the home
front can’t accept the fact that people
can support our troops, yet protest the
war. I don’t want my friend to die; in
fact, I don’t want anybody to die.
Nevertheless, I accept the situation
and hope they return quickly, and
with their lives intact.
It is important that we support our
troops, but who would want a war? I
am not a “hippie peace fag” as some
one has so eloquently classified those
who arc against war, but war is some
thing to be avoided, especially if there
are other ways to deal with a problem.
War protests remind us that peace is
the ideal, and war is not something to
be desired or strived for. In my opin
ion, President Bush seemed a little
too eager for a fight.
I do indeed hope the war is over in
a few weeks as all the “true Ameri
cans” predict. I also hope that war
protest helps to bring about peace. By
the way, they are WAR protests and
not PEACE protests as I have heard
many people say. I’ll probably be
labeled as unpatriotic by many who
read this, but I hope that Old Glory
isn’t replaced by an oil barrel as the
symbol of the United States of Amer
ica.
Keith Richter
junior
anthropology
Public ignoring
Israel’s theft
of Jordan’s land
Wc have crossed the Rubicon. We
are now committed in Kuwait. What
concerns us is not the fact that we are
attempting to halt a ruthless tyrant.
What concerns us is the national
myopia we seem to exhibit. In this
initial post-invasion euphoria, so many
seem to have donned their red, white
and blue blinders. We have focussed
our national hate on one man.
Has this made our nation forget
another case in recent history of one
Middle East country invading another’s
homeland, claiming it as rightfully
theirs, claiming that it always had
been theirs? I am speaking of Israel’s
thievery of the Palestinians’ home
land. And interesting enough, both
Israel, and now Iraq, performed their
land grabs in the name of the respec
tive Gods. Wc have seen fit to sit on
the sidelines in the one instance and
drop bombs in the other.
Wc would also ask that we Ameri
cans remove the blinders long enough
to consider another case of world
condemnation of a country for in
fringing on the sovereign rights of
another. I am speaking of the mining
and naval blockade of Nicaraguan
harbors. How many of us remember
the world court’s condemnation of
our actions? How many of us remem
ber how we ignored this mandate?
The main difference between Iraq’s
actions and our own actions in this
instance is the fact that we had the N
military power to ignore the mandate
with impunity.
We could go on listing similar
cases throughout much of our recent
history. The point has been made,
however. We must clean up our own
house. We must be consistent in our
policies or we have no moral right to
point the finger at another less power
ful country doing the same thing.
Until such a consistency is maintained,
another Saddam Hussein shall cer
tainly arise if for no other reason than
that he is following our example.
Do not misinterpret what we have
written. Although we firmly believe
we have no business in Saudi Arabia,
we are now committed there, none
theless. As such, my wife and I sup
port the effort to get this ugly busi
ness over w ith as little pain as pos
sible and get our men and women
back home. We pray our son will be
among them.
Robert and Joanne Panther
Lincoln
Hitler analogy
getting old,
remains invalid
It seems that just about everybody
who writes in favor of this war cannot
seem to restrain himself from com
paring the war to World War II. Sad
dam Hussein is almost invariably called
“another Hitler,” while those of us
who oppose the war are cast as latter
day Neville Chamberlains. Whileone
can certainly find parallels between
the gulf war and World War II, one
can find them between it and the
Vietnam War, and probably, in fact,
just about any war that has ever been
fought since the beginning of history. *
I would like to point out some of the
more obvious differences before people
start imagining that the United Stales
is saving the world from fascism by
its actions in the Persian Gulf.
First and foremost, aside from the
fact that Germany’s principal ally,
Japan, had made a massive attack on
U.S. territory, Germany declared war
on the United States first. Congress
declared war on Germany only after
ward. Iraqi forces, on the other hand,
were clearly in a defensive posture
when U.S. bombers attacked their
country on the early morning of Jan.
17.
Secondly, Iraq had histoncal claims,
however weak, to the territory of
Kuwait. In the World War II com
parison, Kuwait would be equivalent
to the Sudetenland. Even Churchill,
to say nothing of Roosevelt, did not
advocate the use of military force to
restore the Sudetenland to Czecho
slovakia immediately after it was
“annexed” by Germany. He merely
said English politicians should wake
up and quit treating Hitler like a
trustworthy neighbor, and should, in
addition, start preparing for the possi
bility of war against a very aggressive
despot It is Saudi Arabia or Israel,
countries of far greater strategic
importance and with far more ties to
the United States than Kuwait, which
should have been our Poland.
Finally, Saddam, no more than
Khomeini or Khaddafy,cannotcredi
bly be compared to Hitler simply
because he lacks the grand philoso
phy. which Hiller had in fascism,
which had potential appeal to Euro
pean peoples. While people like to
forget or, more likely, ignore jt, one
major reason why Hitlci drove through
so much of Europe so easily was that
many intellectuals in the countries he
conquered were already convinced
that fascism was the way of the fu
ture, and openly collaborated with
him. Even in the United States, while
not so numerous, the Nazis were not
without sympathizers. Many people
feared that if Hitler defeated all of
Europe, while Japan dominated Asia,
that the United States would fall into
his hands like an overripe apple.
Now, can anyone make such a
case for Saddam Hussein? I have yet
to hear of any sympathizers of his
outside of Jordan, although this is
sure to change with each U.S. bomb
ing mission over Baghdad.
President Bush’s over-eagerness
to attack Iraq is not going to make
friends, either among Arab nations or
among our “allies” who are already
tired of U.S. demands for financial
assistance in the operation. Animos
ity toward the United States only will
increase with every day that this war
continues. It is time to cut our losses
and bring the troops home.
Chas Baylor
junior
arts and sciences
Both men, women
need education
about abortion
Before I begin my complaint, I’d
like to make one point clear. Abor
tion has been a highly publicized is
sue lately, and I am not intent on
stressing either position: pro-choice
or pro-life. Instead, I would like to
direct attention toward the sexual
stereotyping that occurs when deal
ing with the issue.
My roommate and 1 were walking
toward the Nebraska Union on
Wednesday afternoon and noticed three
men handing out pamphlets. We were
thinking to ourselves, “Oh no, what
next?” One of the men approached us
and made the following comment:
“Ladies, you could use these. Here’s
one for each of you.”
We took one look at them and
became furious; not because of their
content, but because of the man’s
action. His intent was good, but his
choice of words was bad. The pam
phlets showed pictures of an eight
week-old fetus and of an 18-week-old
unborn baby. They listed facts re
garding fetus growth and supported a
pro-life stance.
The audacity of this man was in
credible. In my opinion, people are
I
free to express their ideas in any manner j
they choose as long as they don’t i
offend others. But saying that “us J
ladies” could use “these pamphlets” |
offends me.
Granted, it is a woman’s decision |
since the fetus is growing inside of i
her body. However, when a man {
implies that I need to be educated on !
abortion, it makes me want to face i
him and reply; “You are equally re- j
sponsible for creating a life.” In other i
words, a man just as much as a woman j
could use the information in these J
pamphlets.
Lori Frederick \
sophomore 11
accounting L
Spray painting
motivates switch
in political bent
“War is stupid” but spray painting
sidewalks is a stroke of genius. There
is nothing like a protester to turn a
moderate into a conservative.
Time Wilwerding
sophomore
chemical engineering
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