1996_09 The Daily Collegian September 1996

              THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Wednesday, September 4,1996
Opinion
Telephone: (209) 278-5732
U.S. attack on
Iraq should be
evaluated
By Andrea Meyer
Special to The Daily Collegian
The Kurdish controlled city of
Irbil in Northern Iraq was invaded
by Saddam Hussein's ground forces
at dawn, Aug. 29.
American forces are on the alert,
prepared to defend the Kurds
against any further attack that in any
way violates the United Nation's
no-fly zone placed on the Kurdish
enclave in northern Iraq. The num¬
ber of military and civilian casual¬
ties is undetermined. Saddam
Hussein has not launched this large
of an attaclc since 1991.
Sounds rather grim, doesn't it?
But why should we care? Do we
Americans worry about the Kurds
in northern Iraq? How does it af¬
fect our daily lives other than hear¬
ing it on the news or a rise in gaso¬
line prices? Unless our troops are
sent into Iraq, the situation touches
us little.
America steps in all over the
world where United Nations inter¬
ests are jeopardized by armed con¬
flict. Sometimes the military aid
works for the best and conflicts are
avoided. Other times, such as in
the Vietnam War, the conflict re¬
mains despite the U.S. efforts. Now
the U.S. is on friendly terms with
Vietnam. Was that conflict worth
the terrible price it exacted?
Pain and death follow any armed
conflict Saddam Hussein launched
his elite Republican guard at the
Kurds in northern Iraq and we are
poised for response. But what will
it cost? What is the reason for our
jeopardizing the lives of any ser¬
viceman or woman?
Are we as a country trying to end
conflict in the world, to protect the
afflicted? Perhaps.
We know that Operation Desert
Storm was practically pointless.
Saddam Hussein is still in power
and now killing off Kurds. He
promises through the Iraqi newspa¬
pers that the people of Iraq are ready
to provide*an example reminiscent
of the Vietnam complex to theTJ.S.
or*any of its Western allies, should
they try to interfere on behalf of the
Kurds.
There is so much pain follow¬
ing weapons and warfare — even
if it is merely intellectual pain.
The intellectual pain felt in the
vicinity of Fresno or other cities
where people wonder whether or
not fighting or war is justified. This
pain is far removed from the hor¬
ror and bleeding found on the
battlefield.
Women are no longer exempt
from the danger. A high school
friend was transferred to Germany
in her position as an army helicop¬
ter mechanic. Unexpectedly, she
was then sent to Bosnia.
. As a result of current technol¬
ogy, our computers virtually con¬
nect us to the whole world through
the World Wide Web. Computers
connect the world through informa¬
tion. Our actions connect us to the
world through their consequences.
The answer is not simple. We
keep improving upon the accuracy
and lethal powers of guns and other
weapons, yet killing is not the an¬
swer to the world's problems.
The United States threatens
Saddam Hussein because he is in¬
fringing upon the human rights of
the Kurds in northern Iraq. Our
dependence on oil thrusts this .mili¬
tary manouver into the headlines. \,
Yet the United Nations had just
agreed to buy Iraqi oil in order for
the country to buy food, and medi¬
cal supplies. The situation is in¬
nately touchy. v.
Questions flood the mind: What
is for the best of the whole world?
Who is going to be saved and who
crushed? And will the loss of lives
be worth the terrible price of pain
ten, twenty, one hundred years from
now?
Vietnam was mammoth com¬
pared to this hint of conflict, but
Vietnam was fought over an ideal:
democracy vs. communism. The
U.S. involvement in northern Iraq
is protecting the Kurds' human
rights. The ideal of human rights
for all is as mammoth as the ideal
of democracy. Ideals are the glue
that humans bind together. Tyrants
rise and fall, but humans and their
dreams cannot be extinguished by
pain and death.
PILL'S    M0V!Nr> TO
THE   RI6-HT  AM IN
HE LL   BE   BACK
AFTER  THE
ELECTION
^ 7     T
(Mfy%M^^
Letter to the Editor
Clinton's '93 tax hike was
necessary to boost the economy
Dear Editor:
Mr. Walter attacks Clinton's
credibility |Aug. 29J with re¬
spect to his statement for "an
America in which middle class
incomes, not middle class taxes,
are going up."
He claims that since "real
wages for median workers have
dropped 2.5 percent under Clin¬
ton," and that since "the aver¬
age American family now pays
38.2 percent of its income in
taxes — the highest percentage
in peacetime history." therefore.
"The opposite [of Clinton's
statement] happened."
Perhaps Mr. Walter mentions the
median — instead of the average
— working wage because it would
not support his point. But Mr.
Walter's next statistic is an average
and is worthy of some reflection:
Why did Clinton increase taxes in
'93? Clinton did so as a necessary
step to boost the economy.
Mr. Walter lauds Dole's help
with the Economic Recovery Act -
a piece of legislation that is evi¬
dence of the rape of the national
treasury — and ignores the fact that
after Bush, the economy was in vir¬
tual recession. Furthermore, "de¬
fense Democrats.' so-called con¬
servatives, and other militarists
in public office have driven up
the national debt to over $3 tril¬
lion - later justifying this as pay-
ing\he price for winning the cold
war. with the debt reaching $5
trillion. Clinton had no choice
but to jump start the economy
lusing tax money. Fortunately, he
did so equitably — the 1993 tax
ike hit America's wealthiest the
hardest. As a mater of fact, Clin¬
ton kept his campaign promise
of helping the middle class.
Paul Jackson
Student
hi
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