4A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 19, 2001
OP/ED
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GEOFFREY GAGNON
Editor in Chief
MICHAEL GRASS
NICHOLAS WOOMER
Editorial Page Editors
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's
editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not
necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
NOTABLE
QUOTABLE
Ironically, instead of
ensuring that the students
understand the unique con-
tributions of America in
Western Civilization -
the civilization under
attack - universities are
rushing to add courses on
Islamic and Asian cultures."
- From the November report by the
American Council of Trustees and Alumni
entitled "Defending Civilization: How our
universities are failing America and what can
be done about it. "The report indicted figures
such as Noam Chomsky, Rev. Jesse Jackson
and Daily columnist David Horn.
UoI
o e COLLGEsiMrNs
fD IL 44MPU
The Northern Alliance wags the dog
JOHANNA HANINK PARLANCE OF OUR TIMES
T he first thing on members of the Northern Alliance to be on Afghanistan, oppressed by Taliban rule, when I
every Afghani their best. behavior all the time. After all, look can remember back to my ninth grade politics
man's mind since what they've done for us. class and discussions of the United States'
"The Liberation of Kabul" But somehow we fail to see that we are installation of that very regime. Are we fighting
(as the networks have so fools if we think that what they have done, they on behalf of the men and women buried
catchily named it) is his have done for us. beneath the rubble of New York, or are we
newly shaven face. We've got lots of dirty work to do in fighting for the beards to be shaved and the
Or at least this is what Afghanistan and Mr. Bush and his Brain bust veils to come off? Whatever it is, we need to
the media outlets which on have contracted it out. Plain and simple. get our story straight.
Nov. 13 ran footage or Between the Northern Alliance and the United In a few years we will forget, not what bin
photos of crowded barbershops in Kabul and Nations, we've sold ourselves to the lowest bid- Laden and his cronies have done to us, but
Taliqan - and that's nearly all of them - der when we thought that we were buying the what we have returned to the children of
seem to suggest. cheapest way out. Afghanistan. And then I don't doubt that the
That day The New York Times ran a front- The Northern Alliance is happy to take our people of Afghanistan, temporary pawns in the
page article, "In fallen Taliban city, a busy, money and our backing and happy to feign game of U.S. hegemony, will be just as badly
busy barber." The Times reported, "Men agreement with polite nods when Bush offers off in spite of their "liberation." Just as badly
tossed their turbans into the gutters. Families his cursory caveats. Bush then turns around and off as the people of Bosnia and Rwanda and
dug up their long-hidden television sets. promises us with a clean conscience that our Iraq still are. We fight our battles, make our
Restaurants blared music. Cigarettes flared and commanders are making sure that theirs point and move on.
young men talked of growing their hair long." "respect the human rights of the people that But in the meantime we can't go on pre-
Once again, it seems, the United States has they're liberating." In reality, I don't think that tending that the people of Afghanistan now call
come in and made it all better. we care so much about the human rights of the us their brothers and sisters. To be sure, as
Wrong. Taliban. And I feel pretty confident that the Thomas Friedman wrote in his Nov. 13 col-
We have not made it all better. And whether Northern Alliance cares even less. umn, titled "In Pakistan, it's Jihad 101" (and
we take the credit for the so-called liberation of Apologists for the actions of our new-found while he writes of Pakistan I run with the
any city in Afghanistan depends on the hour friends in Afghanistan are quick to scream that assumption that Pashtun sentiment seethes sim-
and the channel and the context. When women we have to look at the violence and the war in ilarly on the other side of that oh-so-meaningful
stand outside and for the first time in two years relative terms. And in some ways, they are Durand Line) "This is not a neighborhood
see the world through unveiled eyes - and for right. Thousands of our missing still lie under where we should linger. This is not Mr.
the first time in two years the people who love the smoldering ruins on the southern tip of Rogers' neighborhood."
those women can watch their eyes smile and Manhattan, in the neighborhood that may be For the head of Osama bin Laden and for
laugh and cry, well, God bless America. forever renamed "Ground Zero". Both enemies America's face, the United States has written
But when Taliban men are brained with inevitably suffer the casualties of war. the Northern Alliance a blank check. And we
rifle butts or Taliban soldiers-in-training, many But America needs to look at the long term, can be sure that it will be cashed.
of them children, are locked a hundred deep in at the bets we're making now - and making in
tiny windowless rooms, that's the Northern arguable haste. We can't turn around and cry Johanna Hanink can be reached via e-mail at
Alliance for you. And hey, we can't expect the out in disgust the sob stories of the people of jhanink@umich.edu.
V LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Cont to Daily A'ghanistan. Muslims do not need Berkowitz or during the game, perhaps next time they should
,.rythe Daily to put words in their mouths when think twice about sticking us on the goal line
article, m ost M uslims they are the exact opposite of what they are say- behind a big red fence. And so, on behalf of all
mg. students m Madison this weekend, I would like
oppose bom bing AAZAz HAQ to say that the Wisconsin athletic department
LSA freshman can kiss my ass. Some schools just don't know
how to lose.
TO THE DAILY: IDAN LANGBERG
Jeremy Berkowitz's article "Ramadan takes - Engineering sophomore
on new significance as war rages" in Nov. W isconsin security
15th's Daily misrepresents the feelings of hara s d su e t
American Muslims towards the slaughter of harassed students
Afghanis by the United States ("Ramadan takes d ight thOs tri
on new significance as war rages"). Berkowitz TO THE DAILY:
would have us believe that most Muslims are I'm writing this because I think it should be
rallying behind the flag and brainlessly cheering known the atrocities that Michigan students at
on the most powerful and richest nation in histo- Saturday's football game in Madison faced. Exercise your right to an
ry as it ravages one of the poorest. Countless Michigan students were forcefully
Even the anti-war quote in Berkowitz's arti- dragged out of the bleachers - and a few taken OpR- Oe.
cle implies that.Muslims want the U.S. to stop down to the ground and handcuffed - and then A ly to be a columnist on
the bombing only during Ramadan, and that is tossed out of the stadium.
only so the "the United States would get more Were they fighting or being violent? No. the taily s Editorma .
respect from the rest of the world." There is not Were they taunting anyone? Not anymore than. .....
even the slightest hint of Muslims' true feelings, we were being taunted ourselves. These stu- .
that the terrorizing of a whole population and dents were tossed out of the game ... for simply Ea
the destruction of their country's infrastructure standing up. The Wisconsin security claimed E Joh Hnink
on the pretext of "hunting down" a select few we were "disrupting the flow of the game" by ag a t
individuals is inexcusable, no matter how much standing up to support our team. Who the hell Jh nlnkuic h tree
the media assures us to the contrary. doesn't stand up at a football game? This rulea p4
In Berkowitz's reality, the majority of Mus- became even more baffling when we could all
lims "recognize the need for America's ac(tions5" turn around and see numerous Wisconsin fans chrctr (including spacea) eac
and support the bombing. This is simply not on their feet and going unharassed by the securi-
true. Most Muslims strongly oppose the bomb- ty officers. Not to mention across the way it was
ing of Afghanistan because it is morally abhor- easy to spot the entire Wisconsin student section T° bily
rent. There is never any justification for killing on their feet. 6sLike lavig. personat trainer,
civilians anywhere, be it in New York or If Wisconsin was so against us standing up Imi\US the stn u the
V VIEWPOINT
A challenge to the community
10
V IN PASSING.
AMERICA NEEDS A REAL ECONOMIC
STIMULUS FOR REAL PEOPLE
With GDP contracting and unemployment
climbing, both Democrats and Republicans in
Congress realize economic stimulus is needed.
Last month House Republicans narrowly passed
(216-214) a $100 billion plan that consisted
largely of corporate tax relief. Recently, Senate
Democrats unveiled an $87 billion plan that, in
addition to corporate tax cuts, would include:
Tax rebates for those who didn't qualify earlier,
unemployment benefits, health insurance, and
agricultural aid.
President Bush initially praised Congress for
taking action but has since become very stern. In
a rather contentious meeting, he warned mem-
bers of both parties that he would veto any plan
that spent beyond the already agreed $40 billion.
By favoring a plan that's loaded with corpo-
rate tax relief, and by setting a rather stingy limit
on its cost, Bush casts serious doubt on his true
intentions. Only a small aspect of his version
would actually stimulate spending now - when
it's most needed. It seems he wants to lock in
permanent tax cuts for the wealthy first and
boost the economy second.
Congressmen from both parties have ques-
tioned whether Bush's stingy spending cap
would make any package too weak to be useful.
If Bush had his way, the final package passed
into law would primarily benefit businesses and
wealthy Americans; any spill over or trickle-
down effects would be too small to stimulate
spending. Unless Bush changes his tone, he
seems to be just an opportunist trying to gratify
those members of high-society who helped him
into office.
- Howard Chung
In Passing views are those ofindividual
members of the Daily's editorial board, and do
not necessarily represent the opinion of'
The Michigan Daily.
BY MARC HUSTVEDT
People sometimes ask me, "Why do you
keep doing it?" They wonder why choose to
work for something that seems to always have
another incident or bad publicity scarring the
image of a great community. It's even made me
stop and ask myself this same question from
time to time. But then I catch myself, and realize
that I knew all along why I'm here. Greek Life
at the University has its challenges, and it's the
fact that Greeks are fighting constantly to
address them that keeps me going. I love that. In
times of crisis, we are able to see opportunity.
We as a Greek Community face such an oppor-
tunity right now.
house, but rather in safer, third-party vendors.
There is no question that our social environ-
ment could be safer. It's not that third-party
vendors are already used, but they are seen as
"special" events, and not the norm. Large
associated costs and a relatively small pool of
vendors open to hosting Greek functions have
long been the obstacles. But the idea of tread-
ing water, waiting to see if the idea of moving
the parties out of the fraternity houses can
work, is ridiculous. Now's the time we need to
back up our claim that Michigan is home to
the "leaders and best" and get out there an
make the effort to make this work.
I'll be the first to admit that this won't be
easy. This is an effort that is going to take the
awaited eager recruits. Realizing the idiocy and
danger of this, Greek leaders moved to a dry
rush program, facing strong resistance from fra-
ternity men scared of such a change. "How are
we going to get anyone in the door?" Enforced
by a newly created Rush Infractions Committee,
the recruitment week (rush) became an alcohol-
free period. Today, Greeks do not even think
twice about supplying alcohol at rush, and to my
knowledge, the RIC have not seen any viola-
tions of this policy in my three years on IFC.
The norm can in fact be changed, even in the
face of tough resistance.
I am asking for help. I am very proud of our
Greeks, but not too proud to say that we need
help in this. It's going to take a team of Greeks,