Newspapers / St. Andrews University Student … / Nov. 10, 2003, edition 1 / Page 3
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The Lance Lance News 3 WAR on IRAQ an Editorial by Gilbert Abrham Editor’s note: The following article was submitted at the begirming of the year, with the understanding that there would be a pro-war perspec tive as a rebuttal. However, the other author on whom we counted, Ryan Schultz, was called into service and was unable to write for us. The Lance strives to provide a fair and just outlet for all opinions, there fore, if there is anyone out there who reads this and feels they can offer a different perspective, by all means, send us your submissions!! Thank you. When President George W Bush Junior announced shortly after September 11 that the United States was on a “crusade”, we lis tened. When President Bush said that we were entering Iraq for “weapons of mass destruction,” we listened. When President Bush said that the United States would attack Iraq alone if need be, we lis tened. Since major combat has ceased in Iraq there have been more deaths in the post Iraq libera tion than during major combat. When will U.S citizens stop listen ing and act? The executive branch of a nation should play chess with their fcwign policy^ their politics, and their money; I believe the Bush administration is playing checkers, using poor strategy and bad tactics. The reason people were against the war in Iraq was not because we wanted to liberate Iraq, not because we believed there were weapons of mass destruction, not because we wanted to avenge the martyrs of September 11, it is because anyone with foresight, with vision, anyone who can see a foreshadowing of events or has looked at the patterns of history and how they painfully repeat themselves van tell that the deaths of US soldiers and Iraqis in the post-Iraq siege was going to be overwhelmingly greater in the reconstruction of the nation than its liberation. WE now live in an age of instant gratification, quick fixes, “bang bang” get on with it, but this is an attitude that the peo ple of the world and the United States are privileged to have, not their leadership. I am a supporter of our United States troops, service peo ple, and civilians. The deaths that have occurred are not in vain at all! Let us all really stop and look what is going on around us, not at the picture or the facade that has been painted to shield us, but what lies at the core of all this. America is the land of the brave, a nation of immigrants, hard working people with ingenuity and pride. America can defeat or topple any nation; it has more economic power than most nations combined, and influ ences the whole world and all peo ple of every race, ethnicity, and creed. Everyone wants to be a part of what goes on in America. With all that said, with great power comes responsibility, and with that responsibility there should also be wisdom and a sense of allegiance to something greater than just America. We are citizens of the earth; all of us, every man bom in America including the president of the US can trace his or her lineage back to another continent. We are all people, human beings, and the lines drawn in the sand by colo nization, war-lording, migration, and territory, combined with the pride we associate with any piece of land we owe allegiance to (patri otism) separates us. Do you know what is in the patriot act? The US government has the right to seize you from the land that you are standing on, remove you from it for as long as they like without informing any one, place you in a military tribu nal, sentence you to life imprison ment or execution. That is uncon stitutional, but it is also a result of 9-11. I am not taking anything away from the tragedy or the sanc tity of 9-11 when I say that it has been used, by the far right wing conservatives of the government, as a scapegoat. This tragedy, instead, could have been used as a tool to bring people together, to unite, to broaden the US view on the rest of the world. The media frenzy that took place after 9-11 did not capture what to me should have been the clear focal point after this tragedy, humanity. Instead it ivas t»een bitter rage and anger aimed at the Middle East. All of the 9-11 assailants were from Saudi Arabia. The US did not attack Saudi Arabia. Instead we attacked Iraq. Why? For obvious reasons. They were easy to topple, the siege on Iraq was easy, and it was an over whelming victory with few causal ities. Sadden Hussein is a horrible man, a tyrant, and a murderer, but what is evident and apparent is that his tactics within his country kept two quarreling groups from one another’s throats, the Shia Muslims and the Sunni Kurds. Now with his hand of tyranny lifted there are two war-lording factions that were never allowed to surface while Saddam was in power. The US is well equipped to destroy and con quer, but they are ill equipped for peace keeping and mediating. The US cannot use Saddam’s tactics and the US soldiers do not speak the language and cannot differentiate between ene mies and allies. The military is a sit ting duck with great peril on its heels. The reason people were against this war was because of its potential to turn into another Vietnam, a military in a nation with no real game plan with enemies and allies who all look and act the same where civilians are indecisive and prone to influence from either side and want peace and liberation more than anything else, but the nation that is there to help them is destroying them. Why would anyone put a nation in this predicament? The US strategy in the past when dealing with nations that are potential threats is that of a strangling engagement where funds and supplies are cut off from the nation as well as allies until the nation implodes and dies, hence Russia. This was the plan that was place for Iraq, ibd Bu^ Adminlstration^has decidr ed to operatic differently from the pre vious administrations. Bush likes to use cliche south ern statements, so I will as well, here is an ol’ southern expression “if it ain't broke don’t fix it.” The US foreign Policy was probably the best it had ever been in the Clinton administra tion, not to say that Clinton was a bet ter President or he did not have any flaws (because he did), but rather that the American Foreign Policy was an improving and progressive policy, it is now weltering. The US should not have gone to war without weighing the potential for disaster and success more carefully. Now Pandora’s Box is open in Mideast Asia and it will be a long time before it can be closed again. Andrews Theatre presents Luanda’s Uisit starring the students of St. Andrews College Play Dates NOVEMBER 13, 14, 15 @ 7:30pm $6 for general public for students only
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