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 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