Sept. 20, 2001
Opinions
Page 3
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Violence does
not end with
violence
Cameron Dejong
Columnist
Over the past week I have had
the opportunity to speak with
friends and family members about
the horrific tragedy that took place
in our country on Sept, 11. I was
initially on the bandwagon of “total
military retaliation.” After allowing
my head to cool and after consulting
many sources I have reached the
conclusion that we should not use
military force against Afghanistan
or any other country in the world.
I believe I can justify my
conclusion by taking a look at our
foreign policy throughout the
twentieth century. Many would argue
that our military mishaps began with
our involvement in World War I.
Those who believe it was a mishap
would aigue that helping Germany
led to the empowerment of Adolf
Hitler. This eventually led to Wbrld
II, a war that was preceded by
the murder of millions of innocent
civilians, but also a war that took
many lives of Americans.
entered Vietnam in a very
controversial manner. Ho Chi Minh
originally wanted a government
based on the principles of some of
America’s founding documents.
France decided to attempt to
continue its occupation of Vietnam
and the United States quickly
jumped on the side of the French.
This helped promote the
formation of communism in the
North Metnam territory. The United
States propped up a crooked leader
in the south that helped lead to the
demise of South Metnam, as well
as eventually to the America’s
chances of victory in Metnam.
In the 1980s, the United States
CIA helped train a man by the name
of Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden
was able to lead the Afghans through
a very bloody war with the Soviet
Union. Our foreign policy also
helped prop up leaders such as
Slobodan Milosevic in Yugoslavia
and Saddam Hussein in Iraq,
supporting and providing military
assistance to Iraq in its war with Iran.
Chris TVemlett
College of Arts and Sciences
Zayed University
Dubai, UAE
I walked into my classroom this
morning, and found a room full of
scared, worried young women.
Classes have only barely started
for this semester, so my students
didn’t know me that well yet. As
soon as I came in, they asked, “Are
you from America?” When I said
yes, they asked if I had friends or
family in Washington or New
York. I told them I had friends in
Washington, but they were all
right. I said I’d been awake until 3
a.m. to make sure everyone was
safe.
And then we just sat and talked.
Forget the lesson plans, and get
ting into the meat of the semester.
Today wasn’t a day for teaching.
The quiz, the editing and the re
search guidelines just didn’t mat
ter today.
Being a teacher, part of my job
is to help my students make sense
of the world. Since my students are
university age, that stage where
one minute they are mature young
adults and the next minute chil
dren, I’m here to guide them as
they sort out thek worlds for them
selves, along with teaching the
subject matter in my class descrip
tion, of course.
How can I help them make
sense of this when I can’t make
sense of it myself? I’m in just as
much shock as they are. I want
someone to say it’s all right, just like
they do. Nothing in this is straight
forward.
All the emotions are complex,
relief that my own family and
friends are safe combined with
worry for those whose aren’t, or re
main missing.
The most striking emotional
cocktail of this for me is the reas
surance and heartbreak at how des
perately my students want this not
to have been done by Arabs.
You see, I teach in the Middle
East. All those young women who
are my students are Arabs. Mus
lims. I’ve seen and heard people in
the United States saying “Damn
Arabs,” or “Damn Muslims” or
“Damn Middle Easterners”. I’ve
heard that, and worse.
To some of you, Arabs may be
nameless and faceless, considered
suspicious or dangerous and easy
to blame. To me, Arabs are my stu
dents and their families. Arabs are
as diverse a group as any other.
Hating them all would be like hat
ing all Europeans for the atrocities
in Kosovo or Serbia. Let me make
them less faceless for you.
My students are young women.
Like university students anywhere,
they’re worried about grades and
exams, about course requirements
and majors, and, of course, about
juggling their classwork with their
social lives.
They have dreams and plans,
about their careers, about marriage
and family, about places they’d like
to travel to. They may dress differ
ently than a group of women the
same age in the US, but underneath
the shay la and abaya, they’re not
very different at all.
Today, they’re in shock. They’re
worried about war. They’re con
cerned about their relatives who
are in the United States. They re
member the Gulf War, and they’re
afraid this will be so much worse.
Our university is near an airport.
Normally, they just ignore the
planes as they take off and land.
Either they pause until the sound
has died down, or try to talk over
it. Today, they flinched. I’ve never
seen the planes make them nervous
before.
They’re horrified by the attacks
on the United States. While they are
angry that the United States ap
pears to support Israel, they can
not accept what has happened. My
students do not celebrate this, nor
do they take it lightly. They say it
is harram, forbidden by religion.
The deaths of so many innocents
can never be acceptable. Not for
any reason.
My students are still learning
English. They had to struggle
sometimes to express themselves.
They know how to talk about
classes and majors. They know the
vocabulary for the lives of univer
sity students. They don’t have the
words for the deaths of innocents.
I find it tragic that they had to learn
the word “innocent” under such
appalling circumstances.
I can no more make sense of
this for you, or for myself, than I
could for my students. All I can do
is pray for the victims and pray for
peace.
While it is an embarrassment to
our foreign policy to have put such
dictatorial leaders in office in
various countries throughout the
world, our main folly has quite
simply been our military presence
in over 100 countries around the
world while providing little or no
defense for our own people.
The 1990s have been humiliating
for the United States. Our foreign
presence in the Middle East to help
enforce embargoes in Iraq has
starved and killed over a million
innocent Iraqis. Our embargoes and
restrictions on Cuba, a country
which we appear to be modeling our
education and health care systems
after, have led to many deaths of
people trying to escape because
there is nothing in their home
country for them to live for. Our
bombing of baby food factories and
pharmaceutical plants has led to
deaths of innocent civilians in
countries such as Sudan.
Our policy of intervention has
killed millions of innocent people.
While this will never ever justify the
taking of thousands of American
lives by a terrorist group, we must
realize that this foreign policy is the
reason for these attacks. Wfe were not
/
attacked because we are the freest
nation/in the world. were not
attacked because of our country’s
religious makeup. were attacked
because we have spent too much
time meddling in the affairs of
foreign countries. Just ask those
countries who laugh at what has
happened in New York and
Washington. They would
collectively say that if the United
States would mind its own business,
no attacks of this kind would occur.
It is my belief that if we bring
our troops home off of the majority
of the foreign soil they currently
reside on and put our emphasis on
defending our own territory,
terrorist groups would have no
reason to come after innocent
Americans. If you don’t believe
that neutral nations with strong
national defenses based in their
own territory work, just ask
Switzerland. Any country that
steps in their boundaries with
malicious acts on their mind will
be greeted with a citizenry that
knows how to use a gun.
The “When Will We Learn”
series by Harry Browne is available
on the web at http://www.
harrybrowne.org Harry makes a
strong argument through a series of
columns that military retaliation can
not work in any case, especially the
situation we are in now.
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