4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 5, 2003 OP/ED 4F £ b 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE 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. GeoroU'as 1 sJ\J~e Zoo ~ tl~~n d~acs _ 4" for A eS4o te. nuY.s~. L~Park o 45S le-( 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