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Show "In many cases, servitude is not an instance of duress on the part of the master, but a temptation for the servile." Indro Montanelli 71 Monday, Sept. 11,2006 797-1762 statesman@cc.usu.edu www.utahstatesman.com Utah Statesman Registrar's Office a necessary evil IRAQ IRAQ IRAQ At the beginning and end of every semester a long, inching line zig zags its way out of the Registrar's Office, down tne hall and out towards the Sunburst Lounge. Any student who wants to add or drop a class, pay a fee, order a transcript, file a leave of absence, or graduate on time has felt the dread of filing like a herd of cattle along that daunting line only to reach jr --, the front anabe told he or she is U U r VIGW in t n e wron Staff Editor in Chief Elizabeth Lawyer News Editor Di Lewis Assistant News Editor NTOST CRISIS AMPEAST CR615 MIPEAST CRISIS MIDEAST,,. g office or could do' whatever was needed online. It's rjpe o f students g Well, get over it. Students all across the country have the same issues. And what's more, though some of what needs to be done at the Registrar's office is time-sensitive, and creates congestion at certain times of the year, most of the time there are only two or three people waiting to be helped. By not waiting until the last minute a lot of time can be saved. Surely the Registrar's Office is doing its best. In fact, read the front page of today's paper to find out what changes the new Registrar is making to chop line lengths. Some students speak about the Registrar's Office as though everyone tnere only wants to make things difficult and see how slowly they can make the lines move as an office competition. They must actually be as pleased to see the crowds of students as the students are to be in the crowds. The Registrar's office is a necessary evil to college life. It's actually a convenience to have one office that serves so many functions. Instead of scampering around to the class scheduling office, the fee payment office, the transcript office, the leave of absence office, and the graduate-on-time office, we can head over to the handy-dandy Registrar's Office and get it all done there. A bit of confusion may ensue, because there's also the Financial Aid and Admissions Offices, among others, and lines can be a pain, but we're certainly relieved it is the way it is. Fifth anniversary and no end in sight As the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, approaches, President Bush has offered the country a partisan but sometimes revealing review of the war that began with the attacks on New York and Washington. For the most part, he has belligerently defended ^ ^ — his strategy and M ^ f M methods; he has l l C H I was al-Qaida and the allied Taliban regime in Afghanistan; later he defined an "axis of evil" that lumped together Communist North Korea, Iran and the secular Iraqi dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. Now he perceives both al-Qaida and Iran, as well as affiliates like the Lebanese Hezbollah demanded that [OttierVoiceS movement, as colCongress immedilectively making up ately approve his controversial " a worldwide network of radischemes for the detention and cals that use terror." trial of foreign terrorists, once One problem with this view again using vital questions of is that it acknowledges but national security as a campaign skates over the enormous difwedge issue. But the president ferences between Sunni terrorhas also signaled subtle shifts ist networks and Iran. In Iraq, of course in the way his admin- al-Qaida is literally at war witn istration understands the war proxies of Iran, which in turn is and in the way it proposes to a sworn enemy of the Taliban. fight it. Bush asserts that "the Shia and Sunni extremists represent difBush has refined his description of the enemy: Now he ferent faces of the same threat"; says "the war on terror" is "the in fact the Iranian regime does decisive ideological struggle of not threaten, as does al-Qaida, the 21st century," pitting free to launch devastating attacks nations against a "totalitar- on the American homeland. Its ian" version of Islam. Tacitly interests are more nationalist acknowledging that some of the and regional than ideological ad hoc measures he adopted in and global. There is a wide secret after Sept. 11 are unsus- gap inside the regime between like President tainable, he nas also sought extremists to reshape them and put them Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and on a more solid legal footing. moderates like former president With little more than two years Mohammed Khatami, who on left in office, aides say, Bush is Thursday delivered a speech at trying to lay the foundation for Washington National Cathedral a long struggle that he believes calling for dialogue between the West and the Islamic world. is "only in its opening stages." We think Bush is mostly right about the stakes of the threat posed by Islamic extremism, d we've ' welcomed l d some off and hisadjustments,suchashissteps to bring g all U.S. militaryy operap tions back into conforrnance with the Geneva Conventions. But two major aspects of the president's speeches are troubling: his characterization of the Islamic threat as " a single movement"" including both i l d i b h all Qaida and Iran; ana his insistence that the United States reserve the right to violate international humanitarian laws. In the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11 Bush's declared enemy Features Editor Emma Tippetts Assistant Features Editor Holly Adams Sports Editor Seth Hawkins Assistant Sports Editor Samuel Hislop VOU'RE WKTCWN6 THE SHOW-WMIffl SWU NETWRK Follow the ripples Ripples - have you ever thought much about them? I nave to admit, I have spent a lot of time contemplating the effects of pebbles. For some odd reason, a small object dropped into a body of water has fascinated me for years. If you take the smallest of pebbles and toss it haphazardly into a pond, you see countless repercussions. One thing I love about nature is its perfect reflection of human society. I dare you to take any action and follow its effect all the way to the end. There is nothing that is isolated. Regardless of what Paul Simon says, no one is an island. Think about it just for a second - is there anything you can do that doesn't affect someone else? Everything and everyone is interconnected. I guess this is the basis for choosing to live a life that doesn't harm others. The air in my face as I ride my bicycle reminds me everyday of a few things. First, I ride'a bicycle. Second, I do it because it feels like the right thing to do. I ride my bicycle because it harms no one and has no negative ripples. This is my stone I have chosen to toss into the pond of American life. Now, I just ride its wake. Soon, I ride my bike to Chile to hopefully push others to do the same. Ride bikes, I mean. My trip is the culmination of years of ripples flowing over and around me. I was raised in the United States. My idea of Lukas Brinkerhoff Bicycle Diaries lukas@mooseknuckieralhonce.org an alternative mode of transportation was a four-wheeler that enabled me to take alternative routes. I was blessed or cursed, depending on your view, with curiosity and the inability to allow things to just be. Watching people, tneir actions and the accompanying consequences, I noticed a few things. Stomachs had grown. The blue sky, I knew as a kid, had become hazy and blurry in my photographs. Children and puppies cried a lot. Tracing these ripples back to their pebbles didn't take me long. At the end of each ripple was a pollutant-spewing coffin of bad decisions. Realizing that cars are bad for me and my environment helped motivate me to pedal my own way through life. It also motivates me to write so that others can read and feel similar ripples flow around them. In my desperate search for a better tomorrow, I feel obligated to toss pebbles in the direction of those who I hope will be best affected by them. I guess you could call me a missionary of sorts, spreading the good word of harmless living. Now that you have read my carefully packaged pebble, its ripple has affected you in some way. Regardless of your opinion about bicycles or the environment, if you read this you have in some way thought about both things. Many who have seen my ripple tell me I'm crazy. That is fine by me. They still saw my ripple. Lukas Brinkerhoff is a junior majoring in journalism. His column documents his bicycle trek to Santiago, Chile. U.S. prepared for self-defense WASHINGTON - Surprise is what intel- are devoting resources to increased human ligence is intended to prevent, but on Sept. 11, intelligence collection on targets of primary 2001, our nation was surprised, and the results concern. One important indicator of effectivewere tragic. Now the fifth anniversary of those ness: We and our partners have captured or horrific events raises anew the question: Is our killed a majority of the al-Qaida leadership nation's intelligence community better pre- involved in planning and directing the Sept. 11 pared to keep America safe? The answer is yes. attacks. U.S. intelligence has made major advances Second, we know that intelligence does since that Sept. 11. little good if those who need it don't see it. First and foremost, we better understand, Over the past five years we have made great progress in breaking down informaand are aligned to meet, the threat tion "stovepipes." The results are of transnational terror. Although I lf|£W tangible. our enemy is constantly changing and remains deadly, our collectors Without good intelligence in and analysts are carefully tracking the right hands, coalition forces in the evolution of al-Qaida and its ideological Iraq could not nave located and killed Abu allies. Today, we have several times as many Musab al-Zarqawi, whose bloody attacks took " a l l source" analysts - those who look at all so many Iraqi and coalition lives. More recently, types of intelligence - focusing on the terrorist threat as were in place on Sept. 11. And as we build up analytic insight and expertise, we also > INTELLIGENCE see page 9 Diversions Editor Steve Shinney Copy Editor Lindsay Kite Photo Editor Jamie Crane Assistant Photo Editor Tyler Larsen Editorial Board Elizabeth Lawyer Lindsay Kite Sammy Hislop Di Lewis Seth Hawkins Steve Shinney Emma Tippets About letters • Letters should be limited to 350 words. • All letters may be shortened, edited or rejected for reasons of good taste, redundancy or volume of similar letters. • Letters must be topic oriented. They may not be directed toward individuals. Any letter directed to a specific individual may be edited or not printed. • No anonymous letters will be published. Writers must sign all letters and include a phone number or e-mail address as well as a student identification number (none of which is published). Letters will not be printed without this verification. • Letters representing groups — or more than one individual — must have a singular representative clearly stated, with all necessary identification information. • Writers must wait 21 days before submitting successive letters — no exceptions. • Letters can be hand delivered or mailed to The Statesman in the TSC, Room 105, or can be emailed to statesman@cc.usu.edu or click on www.utahstatesman.com for more letter guidelines and a box to sumbit letters. Online poll How many football games do you usually go to each season? • All of them The danger is that Bush's flawed definitions will lead to flawed strategy. While the threat h Iran I i nuclear l that willl acquire weapons must be confronted - as should the nuclear threat from North Korea - Tehran's Islamic doctrine has not proved a major danger to the world, or even the region, over the last quarter-century. Bush rightly said that " i t is foolish to think that y you can negotiate g with" al-Qaida. But as the State Department's recent diplomacy reflects, negotiation - or longterm containment- may be the • As many as possible. • A few, with friends. • None. Visit us on the Web at www.utahstatesman.com to cast your vote. Check out these links on www.utahstatesman.com: • FIFTH ANNIVERSARY see page 9 Question Of t h e W e e k : Arie Kirk • • • • • • • Archives Dining Guide COMING! Comics Activities and events Classifieds Wedding/Engagements Slide shows & Video Should credit card companies be allowed to solicit on college mritea letter to the; editor~statesman@ccUsu.edu |