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Show mion The College Times A6 MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2008 The Executive Branch: Now! Bush's H O M E L A N D SECURITY ADVISORY SYSYTEM ;.' v - S ' • •.. •- " ' - : " •*•• ' " ' ' . • • lawful intelligence program," or in other words, a program that enjoys freedom from Congressional and JudiIn the latest spate of Bush's execu- ciary interruption. And when he refers tive decisions, he has vetoed thj^bill to "all lawful actions," he is really saythat would make specific torture^rac- ing whatever the government has aptices, including waterboarding, illegal. proved as legitimate means. Right now, thanks to Bush, "lawful Ignore all the evidence that such tactics are known by our own military action" includes forcing suspects into to provide very little, if any, useful simulated drowning experiences, stripinformation and generates even more ping prisoners naked, forcing prisonfalse information that has to be inves- ers to perform or to mimic sexual acts, burning, freezing and beating pristigated. - • v. Ignore that Senator Jay Rockefell- oners, and staging their mock execuer, chairperson of the Senate Intelli- tions. But what about protecting Amerigence Committee, has noted that the CIA's use of such enhanced interroga-:. cans from attack? That sounds good, tion techniques has produced little to doesn't it? Upon closer inspection we helped stop domestic and international see what the implication of the U.S. being under attack really means. terrorist attacks. First, many, if not most, of our enIgnore that at the same time Bush said such interrogation techniques emies in the world are our enemies behave helped thwart plans against a Ma- cause of actions we have taken against rine camp in Djibouti and the U.S. con- them in the past - actions that served sulate in Karachi, Pakistan, and plots our interests at their expense, such to fly passenger planes into a Los An-, as in Iran. We were responsible for geles building or London's Heathrow the assassination of Mossadeq, their Airport. Why doesn't the Senate Intel- democratically elected socialist leader, ligence Committee know about these in the early 1950s when he moved to things? And should we believe Bush, nationalize Iran's oil. We installed our who lied about al-Qaeda and WMD man, the Shah of Iran - a dictator very in Iraq? And finally, ignore the reality much like Saddam Hussein - who terthat using such tactics makes our trav- rorized his country for 30 years. We eling abroad as Americans all the more haver'brought much of the American dangerous since we can be used as tar- hatred upon ourselves. gets for retaliation. Second, we have by far more miliIn Bush's words, "I cannot sign into tary power than any other country in law a bill that would prevent me, and the world, especially in numbers of future presidents, from authorizing the nuclear warheads and high-tech weapCIA to conduct a separate, lawful in- onry. How are we threatened if our telligence program, and from taking military is vastly superior? all lawful actions necessary to protect Third, the foreign policy fiasco of Americans from attack." the last 60 years should have taught us Notice that he says "a separate, to study our history better. Remember Carmell Hoopes-Clark CIA t o x o n d u c f j f ( f / g > . program: "Lawn?l action" is whatever fHegov/-:{:J ernment has a p ^ v e ' a as IpigiHma^e meqnV; ; Patriot AGJ:"Boriejage is freedom" We blindly go with what th'e government Jells'us II Pay no attention tojhe m a n behind the curtain: go shopping, seexTmovie, or get a bite to eat to eat, That's when Wal-mart rolls back prices. Everything's fine on the home Front: Don't ask us to get involved in the world's problems. .••..„ Leprecli Nobody has actually seen it or comprehended it. It's like a Fourth dimension of space, theoretically it exists, but no one has ever been there. Opinson witter t in our country's first wars how we completely annihilated King George when we were under attack by England? We were outnumbered, had fewer and much less sophisticated armament, no military discipline to speak of, had a continual influx of inexperienced men, and an exorbitant desertion rate. How could we ha.ve won? Leaving the hand of God out of it, we used guerilla war tactics. We baited and ran. We attacked at night. We hid and shot. In hindsight, we can see how we moved from being scrappy guerilla fighters to a world super-power through the threat of nuclear armament. But we have failed to recognize guerilla warfare as a technique that, short of total genocide, is fairly unstoppable. Just look at Korea, Laos, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Guerilla warfare was unstoppable for King George, and it is impossible for us to fight too..Not when we have become the heavy, bureaucratic, occupational force asserting its authority on other nations. Is this why we can't "win" in Iraq? And because of our inability to win against guerilla fighters, Bush has made torture a legal part of our war tactics. And he's done this to "keep Americans from terrorist attack." It seems that, in fact, the person we are under attack from is Bush himself. By vetoing the CIA Bill, Bush has made being an American in the World more dangerous. Arguably, Americans-, are now more susceptible to attack than they were before Bush took office. It now requires more of our tax money and more governmental effort to keep us safe from the very situations our government has created. Not even genocide can breach our bubble of complacency Merinda Pearce Opinions writer The general population of the United States is in an eternal state of complacency. As the United States re-asserted attention on global issues in the 1930s, there was much resistance to shedding the comfort of isolationism. Since that time, America has been a powerhouse in the affairs of the rest of the world. Despite the capability to influence world issues, an incongruity remains which plagues America; the U.S. government exerts its dominance and ideology into affairs of the rest of the world, while its citizenry remains content in its bubble of complacency. From the early 1930s to the end of World War II, reports of violence against European Jews surfaced. America failed to do what was necessary to halt the coming Holocaust, despite the warning signs. Instead, we displayed our indifference and turned away refugees, hiding behind isolationism and the quota system. One of the most famous victims of the Holocaust was Anne Frank, whose father tried to escape the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, but due to the quota system was denied access to a new life in the States. Again in 1939, 900 Jewish refugees sailing aboard the St. Louis tried to escape to Havana, Cuba, only to be denied at the gates of freedom. The New York Times reported, "Yet all the 900 asked was a temporary haven. Before they sailed, virtually all of them had registered under the quota provisions of various nations, including our "own. Time would have made them eligible to enter. But there seems to be no help for them now. The SU Louis will soon be home with her cargo of despair." These people were sent back to Europe to face a fate assigned by the Nazis. More recently in 1994, the United States and other world powers ignored yet another genocide until it was again too late, this time in Rwanda. A reported 800,000 people were killed in only 100 horrific days. Regardless of the publicized information regarding the atrocities, the United States did nothing to stop it until it was all but over. In 1998 President Clinton responded to the incident. He said, "Genocide can occur anywhere. It is not an African phenomenon. We must have global vigilance. And never again must we be shy in the face of the evidence." However, the memories of Americans and the rest ofthe international community are short. Today in Darfur, the western-most province of Sudan, where the raping of women and children, the castration of men, and the genocide is highly publicized and documented, the United States and the world remains at arms length. Countries such as the United States donate monetary and limited political support, which has proven to be inadequate. The White House has reported that since the outbreak of violence in Darfur, the United States has provided nearly $2.5 billion in humanitarian and peacekeeping assistance to that region. In 2007, the United States provided more than 67 percent of the World Food Progamme's food aid to Sudan, serving more than 6 million people throughout Sudan and eastern Chad. But what good are food supplies when they are high-jacked or diverted after arriving in Sudan, and how will additional food protect them against raging bands of state-sponsored militia groups, as well as government forces who have systematically destroyed hundreds of villages and tortured and killed hundreds of thousands of men, women and children? The general creed of the United States in this situation seems to be, "Poor Sudanese people who have nothing to offer the United States ~ sucks to be you; but here, let me give you a blanket and some food to help." Like the spoiled rich kid of the world, we'll throw just enough money your way, so we don't feel too bad for the redheaded stepchildren of the world. In reality, monetary aid, UN resolutions and minor media exposure is not going to be enough to halt this latest act of genocide. What the world refuses to acknowledge is that aid, policies and peace talks will not deter a group of people who are willing and able to systematically kill and torture millions of people, just because they are of a different background or religion. People who are willing to commit such atrocities, as have been witnessed in Darfur, will only stop if they themselves are stopped by force. But to apply such force means sending in an effective military presence to the region, However, the United States remains preoccupied with the fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, and continues to do what it does best; remain complacent about immediate life-threatening situations that do not directly affect America. As an American citizen who likes to think of herself and her country as a moral beacon to the rest of the world, I am saddened we can tolerate such unnecessary atrocities and crimes to continue unabated. To quote Edmund Burke, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Courtesy of unltedtofeedthefamily.org Armad loldiere walk pail a decaying corpta in Darfur, Sudan. The Janjawaad began attacki on Darfur in 2003. in the last five years over 2 million civiliam have been displaced and mora than 200,000 have been killed ai a result of the conflict. National ingratitude Thomas Rackliffe Opinions writer The self-absorbed population of ingrates in this country is growing at a rate that can only be described as pants-soilingly horrific. In a land where we've all been given so much, these perpetually dissatisfied whiners insist on a sort of masochistic nitpicking that seems as contagious as it is putrid. Though most people are content with the bounteous blessings we all enjoy, for some, God's gifts are never enough. The only satisfactory explanation is that these carping critics of American culture have yet to be acquainted with some of our country's magnanimously manufactured pharmaceutical pick-me-ups, but to not know the name of even one antidepressant would require that these abominably sad individuals never even watch TV - a proposition even more treacherous than their unrelenting tendency towards the depressing. You know the type: everybody'U be hanging out, just having a good time, when one of these mood terrorists will start off on some miserably boring rant they've been bottle-fed by the liberal media - half-informed tripe about whatever third-world injustice most recently came into vogue. What's more distressing than their infantile need to conform to the dic- tates of political fashion, though, is their zealous sincerity. These people honestly believe that their soul-crushing crusade is a positive thing. The next time you're confronted with one of these painful reminders that even First World countries are plagued with third-rate citizens, simply let them know that you won't stand for their ingratitude. Explain to them that you appreciate the sacrifices of our less fortunate counterparts from around the globe - that you won't belittle the suffering of the child laborers and other "exploited" workers who slave away to let you enjoy your famously deserved American standard of living; if they've endured so much just to knock a few dollars off the price tag of your mattress, why disrespect that generosity by losing sleep over their awful lives? Sure, there are places out there that have it rough, and you can acknowledge that. But they have it rough for a reason: so we can have it easy. Why focus on the negative? If you aren't happy, all these sacrifices are vain. So the next time someone gives you guff about shopping at Wal-Mart or eating out of season food, you look them in the face and give it to them straight: "Yes, the Third World sucks - so that my life doesn't. There's nothing we can do to make their lives any better, but we can make ours better by ignoring theirs." |