The Daily Tar HeelMonday, February 25, 19911 1
)ifffferiog odMois expressed on. coelict in the Persian Gel
Jf 11 XL
Saddam Hussein's actions justify gulf war
ar is a horrible, nasty, brutal
event, but it is not the worst evil
to blight the face of the earth.
Sometimes it may be used to prevent an
even greater evil. Although I have lis
tened to arguments stating that all wars
are wrong, I find this proposition to be
extremely doubtful.
It would be fruitless to say that all
wars throughout history shouldn't have
been fought because such a statement
could not be proven true. Once a war is
waged, it cannot be determined how the
course of history would have been al
tered if other methods had been used to
resolve conflicts. One could only guess.
This is true not just in the case of war,
but in any event that affects a person's
life. One cannot know what might have
been, so every decision made needs to
be the best possible one with the infor
mation available. Many times, a person
will choose wrongly, and this experience
will contribute to future decisions.
Many wars were undoubtedly wrong,
but some wars were undoubtedly cor
rect. Once it is fought, a war's lessons
are learned and applied to the next
conflict. In the case of the war in the
gulf, I believe that the United States is
justified in participating based on a
number of reasons.
Saddam Hussein is a dictator. If he
were a perfect being, this would not be
a problem. Being a man, however,
Hussein does not manage an ideal au
tocracy. As it so happens, Hussein seems
to be a more vile man than the average
fallen human. While I cannot see into
his soul, by investigating Hussein's
actions, I can know him "by his fruits."
His "fruits" include attempting to pro
vide his country with nuclear weapons
(by purchase and theft); spending mil
lions of dollars of public money on
monuments to himself; gassing a
population of Kurdish men, women and
children; executing several hundred
Moslem clergymen; fomenting a war
with Iran over some waterfront territory
and losing over 100,000 men in the
process; and more recently, invading
W
Illogical protests hinder needed war efforts
Since August, one theme has pre
dominated our lives: war. War is
always a troubling and controver
sial event, and with loved ones in harm's
way, we should be troubled.
Many opinions have been expressed
since the war's outbreak. Although
freedom of expression is our constitu- '
tional right, I've seen and heard protest
ers encouraging military disobedience
and promoting racial distinction. Such
statements are illogical.
One such incident appeared on the
news last month. A man explained why
he left his military unit: "I joined the
service to get an education, not to fight."
At a protest rally in Atlanta, Ga., a
captain proudly advertised she was ,
AWOL. And war protesters at a Wash
ington, D.C. peace march carried plac
ards reading "disobey and resist."
I don't understand these incidents
leMieoce
The Residence Hall Association
would like to address the recent
concerns raised by various indi
viduals on campus regarding the Feb.
15 RHA endorsement. As the two
highest ranking officers in RHA, we
feel obligated to clarify the many mis
conceptions that have been fostered
since the endorsement process took
place. We too are greatly disturbed by
the recent events that have occurred
pertaining to the endorsement, particu
larly the accusations of racism and un
ethical behavior being directed at our
organization.
We acknowledge that the timing of
the endorsement was wrong and that it
cast a questionable shadow on the pro
cess. The endorsement itself, however,
was not a mistake. The rumors indicate
that people believe it was an act of an
organization desperate to ensure that a
particular candidate would win. the
election. This assumes that we knew
what the outcome would be before the
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Gene
Godbolo
Guest Writer
Kuwait, a fellow Arab country that
helped finance Iraq's war against Iran.
Iraq owed Kuwait over $10 billion
and couldn't recoup its war losses be-
cause of low oil prices. Iraq also accused
Kuwait of removing oil from a field the
countries shared. In addition to pointing
out that Kuwait was artificially created
from Iraqi territory by the British after
the first world war, these reasons were
given for the invasion. Later, Hussein
claimed that he had invaded for the sake
of the Palestinians, and he refused to
withdraw despite the nearly worldwide
condemnation of the invasion.
As he has already shown he is willing
to face the death of millions of his own
people for a minor goal, continuing the
sanctions against him would have been
ineffective. Neither Hussein nor those
around him would have gone hungry.
The Republican Guard, Iraqi's best
troops, would also have suffered little
from the sanctions. The burden of them
would have fallen on the average citizen.
The U.S. is faced with a man against
which no other Arab leader can stand
without risking the popular overthrow
of the government. The primary prob
lem is Hussein's desire to be an Arab
emperor, and he has already shown he
will use any means necessary to achieve
his aim. If he attains nuclear capability,
he will position himself to use it. A
nuclear showdown between Iraq and
Israel would be a possibility. Shouldn't
the United States risk its military people
to avoid millions of civilians perishing
later in a holocaust? We should either
deal with Hussein's ambitions now or
shirk responsibility and deal later with
a nuclear-weapon-equipped Iraq.
I am a Christian, and I think there
have been just and unjust wars. But this
Richard R.
Share, Jr.
Guest Writer
arid why people want to openly display
their dishonor. This nation's military is
based on the voluntary enlistment of its
citizens. We join or don't join based on
what we want. If you don't want to be a
soldier, then don't join the military (this
concept can be independently formu
lated, no batteries required). The mili
tary is synonymous with weapons, war
and death. Who could not know these
things upon enlistment? The military is
also synonymous with life, freedom and
peace. Without our military, the liber
ties we enjoy would not exist. The self-
Hall Aggociattloe hwd mdomtmmt was
Gret Diffendal
Aundrea Creech
Guest Writers
governing board even voted. This is not
true, though, as all of the governors had
a close working relationship with the
three candidates and, with a few excep
tions, had made no public statement
regarding their feelings .about who
should win the election.
The endorsement was, however, the
act of a governing body that felt the
issues had been sorely misrepresented
throughout the campaign and saw a
need to refocus and make an endorse
ment solely on the basis of the candi
dates' qualifications, experience and
leadership abilities. It is known that I,
Gret Diffendal, struggled with the issue
of endorsing throughout the semester
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I Family
Elite
Republican.
I Station n
war is just. I don't welcome war. I have
two friends, a U.S. Marine lieutenant
and a U.S. Army lieutenant, who may
die. My father, a reservist, may be called
to go. Innocent men and women have
died and will die because one man
controls a country so absolutely. But
only war can force him to capitulate to
the demands of justice.
Gene Godbolo is a graduate student
in biochemistry.
serving . and indiscriminate individual
who enlists to serve his own end is a
shameful soul indeed.
In the news recently, a protester
claimed "her people (African-Americans)
were unfairly over-represented"
in the gulf forces. But our military
personnel (and citizens too) should be
Americans firsthand African-Americans
and whites second. It's hard to
believe the government would purposely
recruit and deploy a black majority; and
together with the voluntary nature of
military enlistment, this refutes the
protester's discriminatory statement.
The war in the gulf is not easy, but we
must get through it. Disobedience, re
sistance and racial discrimination won't
make it any easier.
Richard R. Share, Jr. is a graduate in
biology.
and had not allowed it to occur prior to
Feb. 1 1 because of my personal feel
ings that it was inappropriate. Effec
tive leadership dictated, however, that
I could not continue to reject the wishes
of my governing board simply because
I disagreed. My role as president is to
. be responsive to their desircr and needs
and not dictatorial in the decision
making processes of the organization.
The original motion voted on by the
governing board was whether or not to
endorse. When this motion passed, the
mandate from the board to me was
made clear.
There are numerous assumptions that
have been made that we feel are unfair
and illogical. First, that our endorse
ment was racist. The basis for this
argument is non-existent. If RHA had
demonstrated an unwillingness to ad
dress minority concerns throughout the
year or had ignored the minority voice
on campus, there might be some evi
dence for this claim. This has not been
Baby Milk Mask.
Elite
Republican
Guard.
U.S. fighting an
The U.S. dismissal of both the Iraqi
and Soviet peace plans seems to
reveal fundamental contradictions
in the prosecution of Operation Desert
Storm. President George Bush's abrupt
dismissal of the proposals brings up two
key questions: first, why is the president
responding on behalf of a U.N. resolu
tion; and second, is the aim of this war
to simply free Kuwait, or does Presi
dent Bush intend to punish Saddam
Hussein into unconditional surrender at
U.S. desire for
There are lots of nasty dictators all
around the world. Many of them
receive American financial and
military aid. Some, like General
Pinochet of Chile, were only able to
come to power because the CIA helped
assassinate the democratically elected ;
leader of Chile. General Pinochet
slaughtered thousands of his own people
who dared to express opinions that were
different from his own. Instead of at
tacking him, our government treated
him with friendship.
Guatemala is another country where
dictators have killed a lot of people. In
4954, Guatemala had a democratically
elected government that cared about the
needs of its people. In a country where
a few families and companies owned all
the best land, President Arbenz tried to
get the government to buy land at its tax
value so that it could be redistributed
the case. The behavior of the governing
board this year reflects a sincere con
cern in relation to the numerous minority
issues we have needed to address this
year. To simply disregard the work of
the past year because the white candi
dates were endorsed seems ludicrous.
Second, the accusations that we are
an elitist, North Campus-focused, white
organization are also based in miscon
ceptions of the RHA. Over half the
governing board is from South Campus,
including three of the five appointed
executive staff members. Although the -number
of minorities on the board is
low, it is a higher percentage than that of
the minority population at UNC. We
have attempted to work closely with the
executive assistant for minority affairs
FearaMttoe deserves resDecti
Editor's note: The following letter
was signed by ten employees of the
UNC division of purchasing and stores.
Ws
are writing, not in defense of,
'but in support of our director,
Mr. Frank Fearrington, a most
caring, encouraging and employee
conscious man who has given the past
42 or so years of his life to this University
and to the smooth management of its
operations. Mr. Fearrington has always
gone beyond simply fulfilling his
management obligations to actively seek
ways to benefit not only the members of
his own department, but those campus
wide as well.
It is with regret that we prepare for
his retirement. Mr. Fearrington is a part
of this department that will truly be hard
to replace, if not for his skills and su
perior knowledge and understanding of
the purchasing scheme, then certainly
for his support of and dedication to his
staff. We know that it is certainly his
turn for rewar&and relief of the day-today
hassles of a job so closely tied to
public relations, but we certainly are
going to feel his absence Feb. 28 when
he retires.
Mr. Fearrington is at the point in his
career when he should be commended,
praised and rewarded for his efforts and
loyalty to this institution. It is ironic that
unjust war for
Andrew
Gooding
Guest Writer
the cost of Arab and American lives?
If this war is being fought by a mul
tinational force to enforce a U.N. reso
lution, then why is President Bush and
not the security council rejecting the
peace proposals? President Bush's re
sponse to each proposal makes the claim
that this is a multinational effort a lie.
The security council has not met for
most of the period since the passage of
the resolution last August. On Feb. 15,
they met behind closed doors for the
first time in almost 20 years, and at that
meeting, the United States vetoed
considering any conditional proposal.
The question remains: is this war being
fought for U.S. interests with the U.N.
resolution used only as a handy excuse?
The second problem raised by Bush's
rejection is that the Iraqi forces are in a
double bind. As long as they remain
under what some have called the heaviest
bombardment in history, it is impossible
for them to leave Kuwait. In the Feb. 1 5
briefing by Pentagon spokesman Pete
Williams, he said that for the bombing
to stop, Iraq must "start with action, not
words," and "a statement alone is not
enough." The bombing will not stop
until the Iraqi army has left Kuwait, yet
while the bombing continues, the Iraqis
cannot leave. When asked by a reporter
what would happen if the Iraqi soldiers
left the protection of their bunkers,
perhaps under cover of a white flag, and
started walking toward the Iraqi border,
Williams replied that they would be
killed, as they might be repositioning
for an offensive. When asked repeatedly
how the Iraqi forces were supposed to
leave Kuwait when they could neither
declare their intentions to leave, nor
leave without being killed, Williams
replied: "I'm not going to give a check
oil motivates military action
LisaM.
Peterson
Guest Writer
among the landless masses. Because we
considered him to be a socialist and,
therefore, "a threat to us," he was
overthrown by the United States and
replaced by a military dictator. Today,
as a result of the murders of thousands
of civilians carried out by the military,
Guatemala has a huge orphan popula
tion. An edition of the TV weekly "Prime
Time" on ABC showed how the mili
tary in Guatemala is pursuing a strategy
of dealing with its large orphan popu
lation by killing them in the streets. A
lot of the weapons these soldiers use are
and organizations such as the Black
Student Movement to ensure that we
were always mindful of and represented
those concerns. Not until recently have
these opinions been brought to our at
tention. They are not based in fact and
have no strength on the basis of the
recent endorsement alone.
The RHA governing board has done
many wonderful things this year, in
cluding the work accomplished in the
area of minority concerns. No one can
take that away from the board. We are
proud to have served the residents with
this year's board and know beyond a
shadow of a doubt that their endorse
ment was based solely on qualifications
and not race. Anyone who knows us
personally should know that we would
Guest Writers
he has been bombarded now with
criticism of what, until a year ago, was
considered by all to be a job well done.
It is definitely a tragic flaw in human
nature that causes us to "jump on the
bandwagon" in an instant to promote
those things that can destroy another
human being's sense of humor, enjoy
ment and will.
We feel it is time that someone stands
up to give Mr. Fearrington the recog
nition he deserves for past, present and
what could have been many future ac
complishments in the work of the pur
chasing department and in the Univer
sity as a whole. We appreciate the things
he has done for this department: his
support for all staff members under his
management and encouragement to all
employees to "go the extra mile" in all
we do in our service organization.
The idea that we are all customer
service representatives has always been
in the forefront of Mr. Fearrington's
management style. He has never lost
sight of one of the major goals of the
department: to fulfill the needs of the
University in the most appropriate,
friendly and complete way possible. He
has trained each of us in things that
own interests
list," but that an unconditional with-,
drawal "will be obvious when it hap-
pens."
In a war where nothing has been'
obvious, whether it is the extent kif
damage to Iraqi forces or which bomV
shelters house civilians and which house
military command centers, how "obvi
ous" will the withdrawal be, and how
likely is it that the Iraqi forces will leave
the protection of their dugouts when .
they have already been told they will be
killed if they do? How can the Iraqi";
army withdraw under these circurfv-
stances when they won't be taken 'at
their word long enough to end the war?
The result is that Iraq cannot withdraw
from Kuwait. Ironically, it is the United
States that is blocking Iraq from com
plying with the U.N. resolution.
We need to ask ourselves and Presi
dent Bush why we are fighting this war.
If it is being fought to liberate Kuwait,
why do we make it so difficult for Iraq
to comply with the U.N. resolution? At
the start of the war, Bush said his quarrel
was with Hussein, and not with the Iraqi,
people. Yet who is dying but Iraqi sol-.;
diers and civilians? By prolonging this,
war, and refusing to talk about peace,"
will we destroy Iraq and Kuwait in" -order
to save them from Hussein?
Lastly, how many of our own sal-;
diers will die? The Pentagon spokes;,
man said figuring out how Iraq should
withdraw from Kuwait is "their prob;
lem," but when the latest estimate is for
in rrr a : a: : .a. J
war, it becomes our problem as well. If.
we are to be a shining example of the,;
possibilities of peace and justice for the
world, we must strive for a peaceful
settlement. As Gandhi said. War is the
law of the jungle." Are we enforcing
international law or only the old refrain,;
"Might makes right?" We should stOp,;
acting like animals and start thinking.'
like human beings. We must end the '
war before it is too late.
Andrew Gooding is a graduate in
gifts courtesy of U.S. taxpayer dollars
So what makes Saddam Hussein so
call our friends? I think the answer is.
oil. I do not support the war, and I wish
we would at least admit it is about oil
and stop pretending to be the knights fn,
shining armor that have come to rescue
freedom and democracy in a region of
the world where kings and emirs still,
hold sway. Currently, our actions are;
too hypocritical to swallow. '
Secondary reasons for this war in
clude the povernment's need to distract
O- " 7 -
attention from our serious domestic
difficulties and to justify the waste of
$300 billion a year on the military while
education and most social programs go
down the drain. .
Lisa M. Peterson is a graduate , in,
microbiology and immunology. -
jestiiaMe
not allow any such attitude to prevail
within RHA.
the issue; we do understand your point!
But understand also that people are hit-,
ting the nail on the head when they
claim the endorsement process ap- '
peared" unethical and racist. The key
word is appearance; none of this is fact.
We are willing to discuss this issue with e
anyone who wants further clarification,
or input. Please call the RHA office at
01 lOfll nrA nrt fnr aittiar rf no '
Gretchen R. Diffendal, a senior po
litical sciencespeech communications
major, is RHA president. Aundrea D.
Creech, a senior biology major, is RHA '
secretary.
cannot be gained from an employee
handbook or trainer's manual. His
knowledge of different computer soft
ware and hardware has been a help ip.
each of us at one time or another. His
understanding of the legalities of con
tractual agreements is something we
can definitely not replace. His listening
ear to problems or complaints and ha
strong desire for cohesiveness within
the department will surely be missed by
aii.
Mr. Fearrington is simply a well
rounded manager, helper and friend to"
all those willing to work with him and
for him. It is no secret due to recetit
newspaper coverage and word of mouth,
that purchasing has had its share of
problems and that some employees jn
this office do not feel as we do. HoV-,
ever, to those who work against hiiti,
Mr. Fearrington has attempted to r0-
spond in the same helpful way and.
shows no hostility toward any
employee's requests. This is certainly a
commendable trait and is not common
in most people. , :
Among his other fine traits, Mr;
Fearrington is a most humble and giv
ing person, and we are certainly sad to.
see him go, though we know that he
deserves the reward of retirement greatly,
and will benefit from it.