*1
4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 27, 2003
OP/ED
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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
I've been all the way
through this desert from
Basra to here and I ain't
seen one shopping mall
or fast food restaurant.
These people got
nothing."
- Sgt. Michael Sprague, part
of a Marine Reconnaisance unit on
the road to Baghdad, as reported
Tuesday by The Guardian of London
And we will prevail
with God on our
side. Good night,
and God bless
America.
God is good. God is
great. With his help
we will defeat these
American dogs.
iKR\
L
rt.--_....
JOEL HOARD AND SCOTT SERILLA STicK FiciUEs ARE AwESOME
USA
......
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... ... .. ... ... . . .. . .. ... . . . . . . .. . .
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IF I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT
BUTLER SCREWING UP MY
NCAA BRACKET, WHAT MAKES
YOU IDIOTS THINK I WOULD
TAKE SIDES IN YOUR WAR?
Just worrying about just war
ZAC PESKOWITZ THE LoWER FREQUENCIES
he problem with Iraq before the critical ground engagement against military or strategic objectives even
just war theory began. Compare the war in Iraq to NATO's with relatively few numbers or systems." That
is that it's no campaign in Kosovo. For 11 weeks, allied is brutal language and the first word that leaps
good until a war has forces launched air strikes against military and to my mind after reading it - Dresden.
already started. political facilities in Serbia. The images of B-2 But there are incontrovertible signs that this
On its face, it is deli- bombers leaving Missouri's Whiteman Air war is radically different than the one envi-
ciously simple. Merely Force Base, dropping bombs in Kosovo and sioned by Ullman and Wade. Instead of
insert a few variables, returning to Missouri was the essential memo- unleashing a pummeling series of bombing
[ ' such as the moral inten- ry of a war defined by detachment. runs against Iraq before the ground troops
tions of the intervener While these strategies minimized the risk entered the country, last Wednesday night's
and degree of suffering to U.S. forces, the results are less rosy when failed decapitation strike against Saddam was
inflicted upon aggrieved parties, and you have we examine the effects of limited aerial war- the only prelude to the ground invasion. Just a
- voila! - instant moral calculus. Everyone fare on civilians. After the liberation of few hours after the F-l17A stealth fighters
from the pope to former presidents can join in. Kuwait, President George H.W. Bush encour- attacked Saddam's complex, conventional
Unfortunately, once you take a closer look aged Iraqis to rebel against Saddam Hussein ground troops poured into Iraq. Once inside
at the theory you realize that it is useless and the results were disastrous. When U.S. aid Iraqi borders they were given unusually restric-
unless you know how the war is actually con- in the form of ground troops did not material- tive rules of engagement, which mandated that
ducted. You need to know the tactics and the ize, Saddam ruthlessly snuffed out approxi- coalition troops could not fire at Iraqi soldiers
methods and the intentions of soldiers and mately 30,000 Iraqis. In Kosovo, the start of unless fired upon.
officers. You need to tally up the ramifica- the NATO air campaign led to Slobodan Some commentators have argued that
tions and examine the intricacies of combat. Milosevic's forces' slaughters of reprisal these setbacks prove that the United States
Just war theory may be fruitful ground for against thousands of Albanian Kosovars. was guilty of the supreme sin of overconfi-
pontification in the buildup to war, but it is an Without ground troops in Kosovo, NATO was dence. But this argument fails to understand
impotent tool for reaching anything approach- unable to prevent the escalation of the geno- that a deliberately risky strategy has been cho-
ing a definitive moral judgment. cide. The result in both cases was intolerable sen to minimize the deaths of Iraqi civilians.
This lesson in mind, I have been discour- civilian deaths and destruction. You can dismiss the Bush administration's
aged to see the Iraq debate stuck in a bizarre As the buildup to war in Iraq progressed, intentions as a cynical method for garnering
equilibrium. With coalition tanks massed in we expected a bombardment of "shock and public support, but it is impossible to deny
the red zone surrounding Baghdad you awe" that would dramatically exceed the scale that the chosen tactics have unequivocally
would guess that the chattering classes of both Kosovo and the Persian Gulf War. reduced the destruction of war.
would have shifted from arguing the sub- (One joke currently circulating around campus: That's not to say that tragedies won't occur
tleties of jus ad bello to the nuances of jus in "What's the German word for 'shock and in this conflict. According to Iraqi officials, an
bello. But this shift is in an embryonic state. awe'?" "Blitzkrieg.") The architects of the strat- errant coalition strike killed 14 Iraqi civilians.
A large set of the punditry and politicians agem, Harlan Ullman and James Wade, wrote And the sickening images of the bombing's vic-
remain fixated on the diplomatic failures, in their 1996 book "Shock and Awe: Achiev- tims should prevent anyone from believing that
while the most revealing developments have ing Rapid Dominance" that "the intent here is this is an antiseptic conflict. These loses are
taken place on the field of combat. to impose a regime of Shock and Awe through never acceptable. But, right now, the war's tac-
The Bush administration's tactics have delivery of instant, nearly incomprehensible tics pass muster asjust.
been incredibly unorthodox. Compare Gulf levels of massive destruction directed at influ-
War II to its predecessor. From Jan. 17 to Feb. encing society writ large, meaning its leader- Peskowitz can be reached
24, 1991 a storm of missiles rained down on ship and public, rather than targeting directly atzpeskowi@umich.edu.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
0
Business staff's suspension of
,Nazi-esque' ads not censorship
TO THE DAILY:
I rarely ever send a letter to the Daily but I
cannot allow such hypocrisy to go unnoticed.
It outrages me to see Rick Dorfinan claim-
ing that the recent suspension of the campus-
truth ads was an act of "censorship" (Daily
business staffs decision to suspend ads is censor-
ship, 03/26/03)in light of his lawsuit against
various student groups for holding a campus
conference on divestment from Israel. His
attempt to block the conference by pushing
funding bodies to withhold money, filing
claims with national Jewish agencies, and even
going to court is symptomatic of his desperate
attempts to shut everyone else that disagrees
with him. Unfortunately, he is blinded by his
biases and ignorance that impede him from
making rationale conclusions.
The campustruth.org ads are very represen-
tative of Nazi propaganda that often painted the.
world in good versus bad terms. In essence, the
ads depict a historical conflict spanning
decades, even centuries, by claiming that all
Israelis are good and all Palestinians are evil by
associating Israelis with Olympic athletes, can-
dlelight vigils and more, while juxtaposing such
a serene image with a heading stating that all
"Palestinians support" followed by a picture of
a suicide bomber, a gunmen and more.
While these are all legitimate photographs,
the implicit and explicit assumptions/conclu-
sions are Nazi-esque. Any 2-year old would say
that not all Israelis are good and not all Pales-
tinians are bad, but people like Dorfman would
definitely disagree ... I guess I'll call my
lawyer now in anticipation of Dorfman's pend-
ing lawsuit against my letter to the editor.
KENAN MOSSA-BASHA
Business School senior
Muslim Students Association president
Campustruth ads tell it like it
is; sometimes truth hurts
To THE DAILY:
In my four years here at the University, I
have never felt so compelled to write a letter to
the editor as I do right now. In regards to the
article, Campus truth.org ads spark controversy
(03/24/03), I must express my extreme disap-
pointment with the Daily's decision to pull the
ads. It's not even an issue of free speech; it's an
Israel is excluded on many Palestinian maps?
Well it's time to open the eyes of Palestinians
and non-Palestinians alike, because let's face it...
sometimes the truth hurts.
TARA BLAKESLEE
LSA senior
Tuition increases, cuts to
federal scholarships should
not go unnoticed
To THE DAILY:
Our University has the highest tuition in the
state and it is projected to increase by double-
digit figures next year. While our state faces a
monumental budget crisis, the federal govern-
ment has proposed multiple cuts that will make
the burden students face today even heavier.
Aid programs affected include Supple-
mental Grants, Perkins loans, Federal Work-
Study and the Leveraging Educational
Assistance Partnership program, which
offers need-based aid. Lagging behind infla-
tion, the maximum Pell Grant award would
be frozen at its 2003 amount.
If you or anyone you know receives aid
from these programs, you will be directly
affected by these cuts. Student interests are
often underrepresented in Washington. It is
therefore our obligation to communicate with
Congress on our own behalf.
All students should feel comfortable con-
tacting their representatives to state their con-
cerns. Indeed, it is a civic responsibility that
should not be taken for granted.
During discussions of diversity on cam-
pus, economic diversity is often ignored.
Weakening financial aid packages will limit
that type of diversity, which is just as impor-
tant as racial or ethnic diversity.
Federal financial aid must be kept adequate
to keep our doors open to all qualified students.
MARY FITZPATRICK
LSA sophomore
Outreach coordinator, Students for PIRGIM
CAROLYN HWANG
LSA sophomore
Chair, Students for PIRGIM
More research needed about
genetic modification of food
To THE DAILY:
In response to an increase in the commer-
altered. If no laws are implemented concerning
the packaging and labeling of GMOs, then in the
future any fish one eats could potentially contain
genes from another organism. As a consumer,
wouldn't you like to know what you're eating
and where it came from? The effects these
organisms could have on consumers are still
widely unknown. Our group is currently in the
middle of a letter-writing campaign in support of
further research on this topic. We want to know
the effects these fish might have on consumers,
as well as the environment.
We believe a method of identification
should be implemented if and when these fish
are available to consumers. One goal of genet-
ic engineering is to allow for greater food
availability and affordability, but should this
benefit come with a cost to our health and the
environment? It is the responsibility of the
consumers to voice their opinions. If you want
your opinion heard, look for us on the Diag
and sign a petition in support of further
research in this field of science.
JENNIFER BIRCH
LEWIS MELFI
RUPAL SHAH
LSA seniors
ASHLEY SCHEURER
LSA sophomore
Daily misses the real story
concerning panel discussion
To THE DAILY:
I was one of the organizers of the peace
forum at the School of Social Work on Monday,
March 24. I am writing to let you know that I
am very disappointed that the Michigan Daily
would print an article without checking the facts.
The article I am referring to is, Students support-
ing Bush stage sit-in protest (03/25/03).
The organizers from Social Welfare Action
Alliance were all available for comment at the
event, yet the reporter did not approach any of
us. It seems that the reporter did not attend the
peace forum, otherwise she would have found
out that the forum we had was open and every-
one was invited. Apparently she only attended
the counter protest outside the forum. Had she
bothered to walk 10 feet and go inside the
school of social work, she could have talked
with one of the many people in attendance
about the true nature of the peace forum.
ALLEGRA BAIDER
School of Social Work
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THE BOONDOCKS
AARON .cGRUDER