4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 5, 2003
OP/ED
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SINCE 1890
LOUIE MEIZLISH
Editor in Chief
AUBREY HENRETTY
ZAC PESKOWITZ
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
'This is the
ultimate display of
insensitivity."
- LSA senior Paul Khoury, on Friday's
Senior Edition of the Daily, as quoted
in yesterday's Detroit News.
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SAM BUTLER ThE SOAPBOX
True confessions of a reluctant warrior
JESS PISKOR.TIs SPACE NOT FOR SALE
want to be opposed in fervor. War back then with Iraq would the very last option.
to this war. I really have been unjustifiable. We had no evi- As soon as countries acquire weapons of
do. I find the dence. The inspectors hadn't looked around. mass destruction, things change forever.
rhetoric coming out of The Bush administration's push to attack Look to North Korea. By all accounts, the
the Bush administration Iraq could be explained as a quest for oil or bellicosity flowing out of the peninsula is
to be very troubling. Its personal revenge. For a year, that was the only given weight because of its nuclear
cavalier attitude toward real reason for the gallop to war. arsenal. North Korea can blackmail South
death and military oper- But then the Bush administration got Korea and through Seoul, the United States.
ations is disturbing, to lucky. Purely through coincidence, other Its people are starving; its humanitarian
say the least. reasons for war have presented themselves. record is horrifying. There should be no
I don't trust the Bush administration. If The weapons inspectors have hinted that denying that the more countries that possess
its domestic agenda is any guide, our coun- Iraq has been less than forthcoming. Today, nuclear weapons, the greater the likelihood
try's leadership is disconnected from the Secretary of State Colin Powell is to deliver they will be used.
real needs of its citizens. It is a policy made a one-hour speech where he is expected to The Bush administration is dangerous.
up of half-truths and misguided ideas with reveal new, more damning evidence. The case isn't established yet for attacking
laughable "compassion" but ample "conser- If we end up finding proper justification Iraq. Bush seems to think he needs to act
vatism" that will end up depriving Ameri- for going to war, Bush and his advisors will slowly and overwhelmingly build up our
cans of jobs, financial security, freedom and be seen as visionaries. "After all," people reasons for attacking. He cites reasons the
opportunity. will say, "they saw the threat long before public can quickly dismiss as foolish pro-
As much as I tend to disagree with , the rest of the world." But they didn't. They paganda. Reasons like, "We want to install
everything Bush proposes, I am not 100 rashly chose Iraq as an enemy for different a democracy so the Iraqi people can live
percent against war with Iraq. It would be reasons than seen now. We should go to war freely" or "Hussein may have harbored an
a bad thing if Saddam Hussein developed against Iraq if Iraq violates its agreements, al-Qaida terrorist" or "In 1988 Hussein
weapons of mass destruction. That fact not because, as we were incorrectly saying a used chemical weapons on his own peo-
should be indisputable. It would also be a year ago, they have links to al-Qaida. ple" are dumb, somewhat contrived rea-
bad thing if Hussein (and other world I don't agree with Bush's insistence that sons for war.
leaders for that matter) are allowed to vio- we will attack alone if necessary. If we The real reason we should go to war is if
late past treaties and agreements without can't convince a majority of our allies, our - and only if - the weapons inspectors
punishment. case is too weak to justify war. We need to find evidence of non-compliance with Hus-
I can imagine scenarios, not too far move slowly and with international support. sein's promise to disarm and peaceful
removed from the present, in which war There should be no denying the popular means are exhausted. If that happens, the
with Iraq could be justified. If Hussein is opposition to war, both here and abroad, case for war will make itself. Until then, we
found to have lied and hidden weapons of that has done much to slow the rush to war. all need to heed the words of French Presi-
mass destruction and if he refuses to dis- While many of the protesters would like to dent Jacques Chirac, who said yesterday,
arm peacefully, then military action can be halt the war entirely, they should be lauded "There is still much to be done in the way
justified. for creating strong pressure on the United of disarmament by peaceful means, (but) we
Much of the reason I am wary of this States to give the weapons inspectors time have to disarm Iraq (and) this has to be
war is that it seems to have been coming and to secure the cooperation of other undertaken within the Security Council of
since day one. Days after Sept. 11, Defense countries through the United Nations. If in the United Nations."
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others were the end, they don't halt the war, their con-
chomping at the bit to attack Iraq. Since tinued protest can still be a success if the Piskor can be reached
then, the push to attack has only increased United States and its allies use war only as atjpiskor@umich.edu.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Former President Duderstadt
clarifies comments on 'U'
affirmative action policy
To THE DAILY:
I would like to clarify some remarks
attributed to me in a story in Tuesday's
Daily (Duderstadt criticizes current diversity
plan, 02/04/03).
Although I would like to see the day
when we do not need to consider race in
order to enroll a diverse study body, I do
not believe that day has arrived. The Uni-
versity's use of race as one factor in
admissions is still essential to achieving
diversity. The current admissions systems
for the College of Literature, Science and
the Arts and the Law School were mod-
eled after the U.S. Supreme Court's Bakke
decision, and I firmly believe they are fair
and legal under the Constitution.
Over the years, the University has con-
tinued to evaluate its admissions processes
and to adjust them as necessary. But some
essential features have remained the same:
the consideration of each student as a
whole person and all the qualities that stu-
dents would bring to our campus. That
process has resulted year after year in an
outstanding group of students being admit-
ted to the University. While I suggested in
my interview that large schools like the
University should make additional invest-
ments in their admissions and outreach
activities, this will certainly not replace
the need to continue to include race as one
element in admissions if we are to achieve
our diversity objectives.
As I noted to the Daily reporter, this
conclusion seems confirmed by the experi-
ence of Texas and California, where per-
centage admissions plans do not appear
successful in attaining adequate minority
enrollments in selective institutions.'Fur-
thermore, I do not believe that such per-
centage plans would work in Michigan, a
state with quite different demographics
and K-12 educational systems.
The achievement of diversity requires
many efforts beyond admissions policy,
including outreach to schools with sub-
stantial minority enrollments, strong
financial aid programs, academic support
programs and a campus culture that under-
ethnicities, and not lose ground in creating
the kind of diverse academic environment
that has made the University great.
JAMES J. DUDERSTADT
University president emeritus
Pizza House brawl proves 'U'
athletes possess 'G et Out of
Jail Free' cards
TO THE DAILY:
Let me run a scenario by you. A group
of guys in a local restaurant get into a late
night altercation that spills into local street,
resulting in damaging of property and
authorities being called. Upon arrival of
authorities, pepper spray needed to break
up the altercation resulting in numerous
arrests. Right? Well, unless you're a proud
member or alumnus of the good ole Maize
and Blue football team (A2 brawl sends
Pittsburgh Steeler to ER, 02/04/03), in which
case these rules do not apply.
Is anyone else getting sick of the double
standard that has been increasingly evident in
recent years that we pay to our athletes? Why
weren't people arrested for their actions? And
please do not waste our time by saying the
"city attorney's office could issue warrants for
the individuals" involved in this squabble. It
was the responding officers' job to retain
order and make arrests. So let me get this
straight, Ann Arbor police officers do not
have the power to take people in to custody
for disorderly conduct, destruction of proper-
ty, and various assaults? Does the community
as a whole really think it is doing these foot-
ball players a service by letting them walk
away from this incident without any repercus-
sions for their actions? What is to happen
years from now when their playing days are a
distant memory, and they believe they can get
away with behaving like this in a normal soci-
ety out of the "lime light?"
I can not claim that I was there or know
the extent of the fight, but it was obviously
serious enough to warrant the use of force
to contain. To allow certain individuals to
return back into the restaurant to get a glass
of milk, this absolutely amused me to no
end. Did they give them cookies, too, for
exemplary behavior? Then to let them drive
home ... boy, I hope at the very least that
Reader offers to douse burning
effigies of Daily editors
TO THE DAILY:
I heartily applaud the Daily's willingness to
quote an anonymous female Pizza House
employee as having remarked that "... some
guys started getting confrontational and postur-
ing in that macho-guy kind of way" (Az brawl
sends Pittsburgh Steeler to ER, 02/04/03). In the
interest of evenhandedness, I hope and trust
that the Daily will, on some future occasion,
make reference to a group of women "giggling,
preening and obsessing about their weight in
that adorable and typically feminine way."
If and when the Daily does, I shall personal-
ly be standing by with a bucket of water with
which to douse the smoking remains when
your effigies are burned in the Diag.
AARON FRANKLIN
LSA senior
Li"tak's lecture, suggestions
deny Palesti ian rights
TO THE DAILY:
In his lecture Monday night, Prof. Meir Lit-
vak offered a number of solutions in which
peace could be achieved in Israel/Palestine (Tel
Aviv prof discusses fate of Israel, 02/04/03). Dis-
turbingly, all of his suggestions denigrate the
Palestinians, denying them the benefit of natural
human rights and equality to their, in effect,
Israeli masters.
Among them, he suggests building an
Apartheid wall, separating the Palestinians from
Israelis, and their homeland. This would contin-
ue the Israeli trend of religious exclusion and
deny millions of Palestinians their natural right
to return to their homes. Another solution he
offers is to "continue the present situation and
wait for a miracle." The present situation is one
in which Israel is illegally and brutally enforcing
a military dictatorship over 3.6 million Palestini-
ans in the West Bank and Gaza, and subjecting
another 1 million to institutionalized racism
while they tokenize simply their presence as
fifth-class citizens to claim righteousness.
What Israel's apologists must someday
come to terms with is that the only way true
peace can be achieved is through justice and
equality. Palestinians must be granted their nat-
ural rights to return to their homes, and live in
tA ,.O N N4(2(;DER