4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 20, 2003
OP/ED
RIz igmeui
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
May God bless
our country and all
who defend her."
- President Bush,
in last night's address to the nation.
JOEL HOARD & SCOTT SERILLA STICK FIGURES ARE AWESOME
In the East Wing..-
George, are you still
<SIGH> awake? It's almost 11!
Oh, I'm just thinkin'
about the war...
Honey, you need to
get some steep.
U
I know, but... But what?
I know you're excited, but
It's just gonna you need to rest. Try
be so cool! counting barrels of oil.
Farewell the brink
JOHN HONKALA Too EARLY IN THE SUN
was all set to write history. Post-Sept. 11 now becomes post- plest of all the operations the United States
this column about war, and Saddam Osama. Today also sets a must now undertake in Iraq over the next
the rise again of dangerous and awful precedent. Saddam's decade. Billions and billions of U.S. dollars
the celebration of removal will be welcomed, but along with it must now be earmarked toward Iraq. Without
macho in this country will come a radical departure from U.S. for- it - and without U.S. aid to the region - his-
until I opened up the eign policy. The United States could never tory will record that Bush's military victory
latest edition of The really claim to be a non-aggressor, but it still destabilized the region rather than create the
Nation and found Vil- has managed to get away with doing so foundation for lasting democracy.
1 ~lage Voice executive because we have never actually declared war In making its final justification for
editor Richard Gold- on the countries in which we've intervened. waging war, the Bush administration
stein's piece on just that topic. It's better Now that we have so brazenly ignored the invoked the moral imperatives of war in
researched and more compelling than any- will of the rest of the world in order to Iraq. This should not surprise us. When
thing I would have hacked out, so it's just as launch a pre-emptive strike on Iraq we can rational debate undermines the president's
well that I didn't write it. Plus, President no longer make such a claim. We have ends, he bisects the debate cleanly into dis-
Bush made it difficult to write about any- ignored even Ronald Reagan, who 20 years tinct categories, good versus evil, and cir-
thing other than Iraq when he delivered his ago told the nation, "The defense policy of cumvents the discussion. But here very few
ultimatum to Saddam Hussein on Monday. the United States is based on a simple war actors are simply good or evil; most
As you read this, war is likely being premise: The United States does not start are somewhere in between. Today, we are
waged on Iraq. Stories will emerge soon of fights. We will never be an aggressor." not righteous warriors, Christian soldiers,
errant missiles and civilian casualties. Later, A year and a half ago, Bush counseled saviors. We are aggressors. The moral
accounts of contaminated rivers and annihi- Americans that we must be patient, that a imperative is not ours.
lated water treatment facilities will trickle war on terror(ism) would be protracted. Oftentimes, during times of crisis, it is the
out of Iraq and we will learn of the thousands Those warnings are conspicuously absent personal stories that most affect us. Here is
of people who will die as a direct result of today. We are not being tempered for years one: The closest friend I have is in Germany
the U.S.-led bombing campaign. We will of involvement in Iraq, nor are we being right now doing missionary work. During the
hear the threats of terrorists with convictions warned that a bungled operation in Iraq 10 months she's been there, anti-American
steeled by war. could mean the deaths of thousands and sentiment around the world has had me
Today, CNN and Fox News correspon- thousands of people across the world and a latently worried about her safety. Now, as
dents will solemnly or breathlessly - crisis situation that will fester for years to war's repercussions loom, I am frightened
depending on whether they are sitting at a come in a volatile Middle East. for her well being. By acting unilaterally,
desk or in front of a digital camera - tell Victory seems so certain that people are with utter disregard for the will of the rest of
us how incredibly smoothly the war is taking bets as to when the war will be over. the world, Bush has turned Americans
going. They will be calling today Judgment Meanwhile, the administration has neglected abroad into vulnerable targets. We must hold
Day or the Moment of Truth, and it will be to define what a "victory" would entail and him accountable for any harm that might
both of these and much more. The judg- how it will be achieved. And this for a very befall them.
ment and the truth, however, may not be simple yet significant reason: leaving "victo-
what they envision them to be. ry" so vague allows the administration to Honkala can be reached at
Today, we usher in a new era in world declare as proof of its success in Iraq the sim- jhonkala@umich.edu.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
0
0
9
-1
Support of U.S. troops not
compatible with debate over
justness of war in Iraq
To THE DAILY:
As our brave young men and women
prepare for battle in the Middle East, anti-
war protesters should take a hard look into
the mirror before running their mouths.
Whether they like it or not, we as citizens
of the United States are linked with those
250,000 troops right now - we are a part
of them and thus we should support them
and pray for them. The time for debate is
over and the time for unity is now. It is
true, recent diplomatic posturing will re-
shape the global order for decades and
everyone should feel some anxiety about
the position we are about to take.
For those who do not support the presi-
dent, their position should be afforded
respect and equal time. Once the outcome
of this conflict has become apparent, only
then is it appropriate to challenge our
country's position. But in the meantime,
think about the young children who have a
parent residing in one of the most hostile
regions of the world. In the real world
(outside Ann Arbor's coffee shops and
ivory towers), our relatives, friends and
next-door neighbors have been called to
duty to lay their lives on the line - and
we should do everything to support them.
Scorr M. BEHNAN
School of Dentistry
By invading Iraq, threat of
terrorism is increased
TO THE DAILY:
The Department of Homeland Security
raised the nation's terrorist threat level
from Elevated (Yellow) to High (Orange)
risk of terrorist attack. Homeland Securi-
ty Secretary Tom Ridge explains, "the
intelligence community believes that ter-
rorists will attempt multiple attacks
against United States and coalition tar-
gets worldwide in the event of a U.S.-led
military campaign against Saddam Hus-
sein." Notice Ridge said "will" attack
instead of "may" attack.
I ask, who is truly to blame for these
potential terrorist attacks? Obviously the
claim that we should attack Iraq to
increase our security, but I see the oppo-
site arising. If terrorists attack after we
invade, I personally will blame Bush and
his administration for making the United
States a more dangerous place to live,
especially considering Ridge's insight.
SCOTr SCHLIMMER
LSAjunior
'U' librarians deserve better
compensation, elimination of
stereotypes and discrimination
TO THE DAILY:
I have recently been apprised of the ongo-
ing negotiations between the residence hall
librarians, represented by the Graduate
Employees Organization, and the University.
While I am pleased to note that the Universi-
ty has agreed not to contest the right of the
RHLs to organize in their collective interest,
I am disturbed by the University's reluctance
to treat RHLs on par with graduate student
instructors with respect to salaries and terms
of employment.
As a teacher and scholar on the issue of
women and information technology, I
often pose the question: Are librarians
paid poorly because they are mostly
women (in the case of the RHLs, all are
women), or is it because of a broader
social unease based in ugly stereotypes of
librarians? Whatever the source, RHLs are
being offered a compensation package sig-
nificantly inferior to their equally-quali-
fied peers who carry the stereotypically
less feminized and higher-status label of
GSI. What is more, ResComp employees,
because they enjoy a patina of techno-
savviness, also enjoy better compensation
than that proposed for RHLs.
By any usual measure of qualifications
and responsibilities, RHLs should be com-
pensated in a manner equal to their peers,
affirming the University's long and laudable
support for the notion of equal pay for equal
work. I doubt the University would advocate
that women of equal qualifications to their
male peers be paid less, but that seems to be
the case at this moment.
In addition, there has been considerable
talk of late not only about removing the
on-site residential character of RHLs - a
move that would undermine a proud half-
century of support for living and learning
trite when Katherine Hepburn was in her
thirties does a major disservice to users of
information resources.
As we at the School of Information
have demonstrated by our uncontested
success in refashioning the meaning and
training of information professionals, box-
ing librarians into old roles is a dead-end
strategy. The best future for information
will come from treating librarians as infor-
mation professionals, as well as by inte-
grating librarianship and computer-based
information access.
If we are to get beyond the boy-toy
stereotype of computing and the steel-
haired WASP stereotype of the librarian,
we have to recognize the informative char-
acter of contemporary librarianship. We
have done that in the School of Informa-
tion and I would hope the University
would do that with the RHLs. That would
not only mean progress in terms of gender
equity, it would also better serve the stu-
dent-users to whose quality education we
are all committed.
ROBERT FROST
Associate professor
School of Information
Logistical problems spelldcoom
for Taco Belt in the Union
TO THE DAILY:
Some of the ideas that the University
Party has been supporting have been good
ideas. But one of its main selling points
- bringing Taco Bell to campus - is a
poor reason to vote for their party. It has
implicitly and explicitly during its cam-
paign stated its intention to bring a Taco
Bell to the Michigan Union. Space allo-
cation for a vendor like Taco Bell does
not come up in the Union until April 30,
2006 when Mrs. Fields's contract runs
out. But Mrs. Fields does have a renewal
clause in it in which we may choose to
bump up that date to April 30, 2008.
Though it is possible one of the MUG
food shops would leave prior to their con-
tract ending, this is highly unlikely. So,
yes, Taco Bell in the Union is a possibili-
ty, but not anytime soon. One might won-
der what the Michigan Union Board of
Representatives has done in the past to
get Taco Bell in the Union. Last time
space was available for a vendor like
01
0I
Trw BOONDOCKS
RO c R DER4C(A iM~
i
I