'Collateral Damage' movie review 'shallow'

Martin Luther King once said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter." It is for that very reason that I am writing this letter in response to the unfair and blatantly shallow interpretation/review of "Collateral Damage."

On Feb. 11 in the Wildcat, Mark Betancourt gave the movie "Collateral Damage," an E-, a rating that will live in infamy. Throughout the review, Mr. Betancourt belittled a movie that has provided Americans with hope and optimism during our troubled times. Mr. Betancourt, shame on you. "Just another Arnie movie"? Do me a favor and get rid of your snorkel, get some scuba gear and go deeper. A wise man goes beyond the explosions, scantily clad women, horrible dialogue and nonexistent plots and sees the true message that lies behind the movie. Was "Kindergarten Cop" merely about a cop teaching toddlers? I think not. Was Mr. Freeze merely a villain with a "cool" weapon? Or was he a villain whose treacherous quality was a mere reflection of the status of his heart? And what about "Predator," if that movie got any deeper, we would all have the "bends." Let us not forget, perhaps the most eloquent of all Arnie masterpieces, "Jingle All The Way," a riveting story of American capitalism combined with the monetary exploitation of Christmas and how those elements impact the average man trying to get his child a toy that will light up his eyes on Christmas morning.

And now we have "Collateral Damage." Sure, at surface level, it appears, to be a typical "get revenge on the mean terrorist guy who made it personal by killing your family, but before doing so, make sure you kill a lot of goofs with machine guns in really cool ways."

However, upon further inspection, we see a man not fighting solely for revenge, but an American, a patriot, saying, "Enough is enough." We see a firefighter refusing to accept the desensitization of human life and the rampant violence that has entered our borders. But above all else, we simply see a fellow human; a human longing for a world where peace is possible; a world where understanding replaces ignorance; a world where love overcomes the hatred that has consumed our souls.

Meanwhile, as George Dub uses Sept. 11 as a tool to pass his proposals and Rudy Giuliani rakes in the profits of his new book, it is clear that America is in need of a new hero, and Gordy (Arnie's character) has provided us with that. So, Arnie, on behalf of all Americans, I want to thank you. And for you, Mr. Betancourt, let us only hope that your "meany-face" review doesn't prevent Arnie from touching our hearts again with "Collateral Damage."

Ben Huston
undeclared freshman

Iran should not be considered an "enemy"

I am writing to the Wildcat because I oppose our negative policy toward Iran, and I want to inform the university of several things. There are several things our government has done to Iran that explain Iranian dislike for the United States. In 1953, a democratically elected socialist government led by a Dr. Mussadegh moved to nationalize Iranian oil fields.

The oil interests didn't want to see this happen and, under pressure from them, the CIA arranged a coup that overthrew Mussadegh. In 1979, Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein, took advantage of the chaos following the Islamic Revolution and invaded Iran, attempting to take the Shat al Arab waterway. In revenge for the taking of our embassy in 1979, our country allied itself with Iraq, even though it was the aggressor. In the mid-'80s, Saddam Hussein's Iraq began using chemical weapons on the young Iranians defending their country. To my knowledge, our government didn't make a peep in protest and continued to support Iraq. I have spoken with a few Iranian students, and the effects of these weapons are terrible. We never complained about Iraq's chemical weapons until we ourselves were threatened by them. In the mid- '80s the USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian airliner, killing several hundred people, and to my knowledge, the families of these victims have not been compensated. Furthermore, our country has something like $17 billion in frozen Iranian assets.

Our opposition to Iran is founded on fears that it supports terrorism. Undoubtedly, there are elements and pockets within the Iranian government that may support terrorist groups. But that doesn't apply to the entire nation, nor the entire government. Iran is a fledgling democracy, and though its government still has authoritarian elements, it is moving in the direction of democracy. Our antagonism with Iran strengthens the hands of hardliners and gives them the opportunity to move against the reformers.

Enmity with Iran is pointless and against our interests. If we but leave Iran alone for a while, help strengthen their economy, this will strengthen the hand of reformers such as President Khatami. Iran will then continue in the direction it is going now and evolve into a democratic republic. If we continue to needlessly antagonize Iran because of the actions of rogue elements in their government, then we will unite that nation against us, and we will have more enemies than we can handle, and this war will be more costly in human lives than it needs to be. Al-Qaida is quite enough of an enemy without creating more. Please send letters to President Bush (www.whitehouse.gov), Sec. of State Powell (www.state.gov), Sen. John McCain, and Rep. John Kyl expressing concern or opposition to President Bush's mistaken policy.

Jerry Cabalo
department of chemical engineering