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Show Views &Opill i -Free Speech Monday, Oct. 31, 2011 Page 11 Zone Opinions on this page (columns, letters unless otherwise identified are not from Utah Statesman staff, but from a wide variety of members of the campus community who have strong opinions, just like you do! This is an open forum. Want to write something? Contact: statesman@aggiemailusu.edu Utah State Universit • Lo • an. Utah • www.utahstatesman.com OurVi ew Abo ut US Editor in Chief Same Howl, more room to breathe Catherine Meidell Copy Editor D. Whitney Smith News Editor I n our minds, there aren't many redeeming qualities about the Howl. We've never been impressed by girls who dress in lingerie and guys who use Halloween as an excuse to wear their nude-colored briefs in public. Annually, the TSC transforms from academic institution into a quagmire of body odor, grinding and freshman girls' high-pitched squeals. There are usually so many people who attend the event it takes one hour just to get inside, and then once you are inside, it takes another hour to travel from one end of the hall to the other. Although many seniors share a feeling of ambivalence toward this, our last Howl experiences, some of us decided to create spooky ensembles anyway and brave the halls for the last time. Let us start of by saying it took approximately five minutes to get inside, another five to get our wrist bands fastened and off we went. For those who may have waited longer, it seemed they hardly noticed, because men breathing fire stood between the two lines. Yes, everyone, there were two lines. We aren't sure why this brainy trick was not implemented before. ASUSU Executive Council members handed out petitions, which students were urged to complete, petitioning higher education budget cuts in this year's legislative session. In exchange for filling out a petition, each individual received a can of soda. Brilliant. It's safe to guess thousands of those surveys were completed. Who doesn't want a caffeine- or sugar-laced can of pop to begin a long night of jumping up and down? We ventured upstairs waiting for the heat plague, but didn't find it. Instead, we reached the top of the stairs as a man on stilts with face paint and a top hat sauntered past. A woman with a boa constrictor wrapped around her waist, neck and arm stood in the middle of the hall. Breakdancers performed a few feet from her, and we could see all of these things while standing in one place. To our amazement, we could breathe and move. There were pockets of empty space all over the place. Perhaps, the Howl wasn't so popular this year? Wrong. Apparently the Fieldhouse was the place to be. This is where the biggest annoyance came. People were moving from the TSC to the Fieldhouse like mules. We stood in a small hallway for 10 minutes trying to get there, before a few event facilitators jammed their way into the crowd and began directing traffic. The dance party in the Fieldhouse was complete with acrobats and colorful, billowy pieces of material that resembled a circus tent. DJ Marcus Wing — whom we've heard spin one too many times — blared his typical beats, but once again we could move, and because the doors were left open, the air was breathable and cool. The Cartel concert was equally comfortable, and spectators could leave the TSC feeling as comfortable as they did entering. The Howl is not our style, but this year, we can truthfully say it was a major logistical improvement. We found ourselves able to enjoy the entertainment, without the lingering anxiety of suffocation and finding our way through a thick of sweating bodies and accompanying vapor cloud. Calling all USU graduate students It is a fact — graduate school is difficult. Most of us can identify with being overwhelmed, confused and unsure about many things relating to university policies during graduate school. Luckily, the Graduate Student Senate at Utah State University aims to alleviate concerns that grad students have regarding university-related topics, such as grants, health insurance, traveling for conferences and other activities. The senate's overarching theme is enhancing the overall experience of graduate students attending USU. On this theme, currently, GSS is achieving the following goals: being the go-to resource for graduate-related USU and community information; serving as the voice for graduate students; providing financial support for graduate students; establishing the GSS as a repository of information on USU seminars; providing meaningful lectures and networking opportunities; continuing to build the Intermountain Graduate Research Symposium and drawing participants from across the Western U.S. In order to better serve the unique needs of graduate students, GSS offers several unique grants and awards. See CONCERNS, Page 11 Rob Jepson Assistant News Editor Megan Allen NIMMIZIP Features Editor Kellyn Neumann Assistant Features Editor Allee Evesen Sports Editor Tavin Stucki Assistant Sports Editor Tyler Huskinson Should we send troops in Iraq home? AColumn Divided Two students take two angles on one political issue President George W. Bush landed on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in his best flight suit May 1, 2003, declaring "Mission Accomplished" and an end to the Iraq War, less than two months after it began. After almost 115,000 American, Iraqi and coalition deaths, $4 trillion in final costs — according to the Christian Science Monitor — and 8 1/2 years later, President Barack Obama last week declared an official end to the war with all American troops pulling out by Dec. 31. "with their heads held high, proud of their success." He will spin the pullout as a political victory for himself and a fulfillment of his earlier campaign promises for his upcoming election. But for the last three years his campaign promises of "change" have amounted to more of the same Bush doctrines and policies that turned the U.S. into an aggressor and tarnished our human rights record. Obama, being the Nobel Peace Prize winner he is, deserves neither credit nor applause for his role in ending the conflict, as it would have continued unabated had the Iraqi government refused to give in to White House pressure and grant American soldiers immunity from war-crime prosecution. Essentially, we are being kicked out. Iraqis, tired of the violence and frustrated by the lack of progress, now view Americans more as occupiers than liberators. However, the American military's presence in the Middle East is far from over, as the administration plans on keeping large numbers of American forces in neighboring Kuwait and Bahrain. In addition, thousands of corpo- From the right Web Editor Editorial Board MIKE BURNHAM See RIGHT, Page 12 You're avtOry about current economic conditions, but your Foals Seem vaOue and ckinOiin - Assistant Photo Editor Carl R. Wilson Steve Kent The strategy behind our initial invasion of Iraq was known as "Shock and Awe." The basic idea was we would overwhelm and break the will of the opposition with our vastly superior air power, and then march in with the minimum amount of troops possible to take Baghdad. It appeared to work wonderfully; U.S. troops were virtually uninhibited in their capture of the Iraqi capital city. In the next several months, however, we began to realize what a mistake it was to rely so heavily on our Air Force. The lack of boots on the ground made it impossible to secure the borders of Iraq, and insurgents began pouring into the country. We were also unable to handle the domestic threats from Saddam Hussein's loyalists, Shiite fundamentalists and northern Kurds. For the past eight years the issue in Iraq has been the same. We have never had enough boots on the ground. To be fair this error goes partially beyond the commander in chief and is largely due to U.S. military culture and the mercenary rather than a draft recruitment style. Now that President Barack Obama ordered a follow through with the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, blame can no longer be placed on the military or the president; it falls on us. Let me be clear, I am not opposed to withdrawing troops from Iraq. The time for U.S. military operations in that country is coming to a close. The Iraqi government voted for our withdrawal, but should we completely wash our hands See LEFT, Page 12 Photo Editor Ani Mirzakhanyan Catherine Meidell Rob Jepson Kellyn Neumann Tavin Stucki Ani Mirzakhanyan D. Whitney Smith Steve Kent About letters • Letters should be limited to 400 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 e-mailed to statesman@aggiemail.usu.edu , or click on www.utahstatesman.com for more letter guidelines and a box to submit letters. |