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Show OPINION Monday Alaska’s fragile ecology is imperiled because of humanego ANCHORAGE — Manyand varied are the wonders, the splendors and the peculiarities of the ‘Other Great State.’ salmon market is in a disastrous state, in large part because of salmon-farming in Canada and South America. Do yourself and Alaska a favor, and insist on buyingonly wild Alaska salmon.It is so0000 much better than those pale, flabby, chemical-laden farm fishies, Unfortunately, salmon mittee is worth an estimated $3 billion a year to the state. One ofthe oddest tween its politics and its reality. Alaska is an implacably conservative state, albeit with a lovely libertarian lilt. Conse- quently, the right-wing radio talk show hosts bash government unmerciful- are extraordinarily sensitive to temperature variations. Global warming, as the scientists predicted, is those who think. The state is also dependenton salmon, and therein lies some bad news. The incalculable. Thetrees are getting new diseases, king/Chinook salmon are dy- by 5.4 degrees in three still full of people who think global warmingis a commieplot or there is no ing off in the Yukon. Andthestate is mineforthestate. Great shoals of tourists tameas anything, don’t even shy away when you touch them — wander about like muskox, spending money on everything from moose-kitsch to superb, internationalhotels. Unfortunately, the industry is vertically integrated and owned by out-of-state cruise lines. global warming,orif there is, it will just improve the climate. Classic case of ists, bus them hither and yon, put them part of Alaska. The ecolo- denial. gists and conservationists are desperately worried. Seventeen percent of Alaskans are native people, who havelived in this ‘The sea is rising, the salmon runs are getting earlier, and in the permafrost, difficult and delicate environment for up at their own hotels and take them on their own packaged tours, and most Alaskans never see a penny ofthe mon: ey. In many ways, Alaska is a classic colony, exploited for its natural re- Motty Ivins individualists who can take care of growth of parasites in herring, a 10degree warming in the Yukon River, all of this has a combined impact that is subsidize mining and givetax breaks to oil and gas companies for exploration. Cronyism and favors for special interest groups have become the hallmarks of state government. Gov. Frank Murkowski even appointed his own daughter to the U.S. Senate, a staggering example of nepotism. Any summervisitor to Alaska would assume that tourism must be a gold in winter. This has dramatically affected every FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM themselves and don’t need no goldern govamint. Thatthe state is painfully dependent on governmentis clear only to between freezing and melting. How much plantreflects and absorbs the sun,the reflection off snow cover, the affecting Alaska first and worst. Alaska has warmed decades, and by8 degrees ly, and Alaskans wander around under the impression that they are all rugged and haveto be killed because they keep moving south. The temperature variations may sound minor and even welcome in a state that can still haul off and get 80below on any given winter day, but there is only one degree of difference the oceans and the geology, the changes are unambiguous and demonstrable. Barkbeetles are attacking more forests, parasites are attacking wildlife. The polar bear is an unlikely canary in the mines, but the largest predators on earth are becoming dangerously skinny thousands ofyears. Subsistence or subsistence slightly mixed with the money economy is still the most common way of life in rural Alaska. Even the berries picked by native women, critical ‘The cruise companies bring the tour. sources by huge corporations from the Lower 48. Forty percent ofthe world’s remaining temperate rainforest is in southeast Alaska andonly .02 percent source of vitamin C, are becoming ofthe earth's surface is temperate rain- scarcer. The response of Alaska’s Re- forest. Alaska Republicans seem deter- publican right is to slash and burn, mined to cut it all down as rapidly as possible 70 percent of the old growth has alreadybeen not just cut but clear- cut. It makes no economic sense; the timber marketis so depressed, they're losing money on every tree they cut. They get $1.75 a tree for 150-year-old timber, according to conservationists around the state. It is so easyto fall in love with this glorious place, and most of the people are as enchanting as the wildlife — friendly, hospitable, helpful, tough and resilient. ‘The struggle in Alaska is ultimately between the short-timers and the longtermers, both in terms of length of residence and offoresight. The military and the oil and gas industry account for mostof the population growth, and are both notoriously conservative and tran- sient. You get some dentist from Anchorage whowants to fly out to the bush and to shoot a moose forhis living-room wall and doesn’t care whetherthe native subsistence culture is affected or not. Alaska still has the mentality that everyone shouldhavea right to do pretty much whatever he or she wants, regardless of the fragility of the ecology. Such a beautiful, magical place deserves much, muchbetter. Creators Syndicate, Inc. KillingSaddam and family lymightjust stiffenresistance in Iraq The United States government will steadily: U.S. forces rarely report at- the median divider of the highway and almost certainly pay out $30 million to tacks unless American soldiers are ac- the person who fingered Saddam Hus- tually killed or injured, but there are ster himself — would end the resistance, but it is detonated by remote control. The highway is lined by shops and soft-drink stands and overlooked by hundreds of people day and night. Many presumably saw the guerillas dig up the median, bury the bomb andretire to wait for an American convoy, but nobody betrayed them. Reporters who arrived at the deeply unlikely. Nobody scene after the explosion said most of really liked Saddam, not even his fellow Baathists. Like Stalin and the Rus- the onlookers were pleased by thesol- dier’s death. Khan Dariis within the “Sunnitri- dications that many of the current guerilla attacks are coming from formerly repressed Sunni Islamist groups now freed to act by Saddam's fall. It is a great irony that these are precisely the groups in Iraq that would be sian Communists, Saddam seized control of a party that contained many genuineidealists, killed quite angle” north and west from Baghdad that benefited greatly under Baathist most likely to make commoncause with America’s great enemy, al-Qaida, but rule. It was the birthplace ofthe first they are not the greatest threat to the U.S. position in Iraq. The current gue- sein’s two sons fordeath.Is it getting its money’s worth? Paul Bremer, the U.S. diplomat who effectively rules Iraq, de- now overa dozenincidents a day. It would be nice for the occupiers if just killing off Saddam's bloodline — and eventually the mon- clared that the American action satisfied “the real desires of the Iraqi people to be rid once andforall of Saddam, his sons and his odious regime.” Dozens of coalition briefers and spin- ners hammered home the message that Uday and Qusay’s deaths will dishearten the “regime remnants” whom they blame for the growing guerilla re- sistance to the American Gwynne DYER SYNDICATED COLUMNIST occupation. The number of American soldiers killed by Iraqi guerillas since President Bush announced the end of “major a lot of them, and turned the Baath Party into a mere instrument of his own personal power. But there are still plenty of Arab nationalists left in Iraq, and quite a few religious zealots, too. None of them likes being occupied by Americans. over a third of the total killed in the war itself. It would exceed thattotal before the end of this year evenat the current Consider the American soldier who died in an attack on a U.S. convoy passing through Khan Darionly hoursafter the deaths of Saddam's sons in Mosul. loss rate, but in fact the rate is going up The bomb that killed him was buried in combat operations” on 1 May is now 2p oF LOree Fri - Sun, August 1 - 3 BU Romane South Towne Expo Center BERS from KNRS anc or even Saddam's own, would damp down theresistance. Indeed, proving that the old regime is gone for good by killing Saddam and rilla war is a bearable burden; what would turn it into a nightmare for the United States is a decision by some major element of Iraq's Shia majority to begin open resistance to the occupation forces as well. ey strong sympathy that exists between the Shias of Iraq and of Iran, which Washington perceives as its greatest enemy in the region. The other is the near-certainty that handing power to the Shia wouldignite a kind ofcivil war between the Sunni Arabs ofthe center and the Shia Arabs of the south. On the other hand, a Sunni-Shia conflict would atleast divert the efforts of the Sunni guerillas who are currently piaguing the occupationforces. Divide and rule is still a good imperialprinciple. There was no real American plan on the wayintothis mess; therestill isn't pretty soon, or Bush's cheay going to look pretty Pyrrhic. resistance in Iraq would be mainly nonviolent. It could nevertheless be very effective, provoking coalition soldiers into using force against unarmed dependent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries. Gwynne Dyeris a London-based in- Donatethat Car! Don’t trade it! Volunteers of America, Utah helps those most in need through seven community enhancement programs. By donating your car, you show a commitment to strengthening our community. Yourdonation is tax deductible to the d nioined come0%, 966-9366 PCF but the Bush administration is unwillingto do thatfor two reasons.Oneis the Giventhe successful precedent of the one now. But there hadbetter be one i FINAL TES pene toe ae $79°° civilians and closing the roads that carry supplies from the Gulf ports to the occupation troops in central and northern Iraq. Killing Saddam wouldn't do a single thing to shrink this possibility. The only thing that will shrink it is handingIraq overtoits Shia majority, Shia-led revolution against the shah in Iran, there is a good chance that Shia uipment *Assisted Living & Planning *Investment Opportunities pation but fear Saddam's return. Besides,it is doubtful whetherthe secular nationalists of the Baath still dominate the resistance even now. There are in- AIR DUCT CLEANING /* We vacuum and brush for the best possible results coumootovel_ Thasted, Vacadjony Recoention Iraqi rebeltokill a British officer in 1920 in an earlier uprising against a foreign occupation, and it is only five miles from Fallujah, where U.S. troops killed 16 demonstrators in the early days of the occupation. It is not, in other words, a typical Iraqi town. But it is not nearly as atypical as the coalition’s leaders hope and claim, and it is highly improbable that Uday and Qusay’s deaths, his family might evenstiffen the resistance,as it would simplify the choices of manypeoplein Iraq who hate the occu- maximum extent of the law, and we'll even pick it up for free. 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