Monday September 24, 2001

No one should live in fear

I am dismayed by the increasing number of Islamic students who feel they need to withdraw and return home for their personal safety. The world is watching to see how we treat the Muslims among us. Do we really believe in the freedoms we espouse? Are they really for everyone, or only for those who look like us? Are we going to act like the infidels the fanatics accuse us of being?

No one, I repeat, no one, should live in fear among us. I have a suggestion for how we can support our Muslim brothers and sisters here at the UA. When the Nazis targeted Jews by requiring them to wear yellow stars, the entire city turned out wearing yellow stars so the Nazis did not know whom to attack. If we all wore turbans and headscarves, even for a day, to symbolically support the Muslims among us, it would go a long way towards overcoming evil with good! This is a serious suggestion. What do you think?

Mary Bell

non-degree seeking student

We cannot limit freedoms for security

There will always be people who hate Americans. If we kill them, more will transpire. If we jail their leaders, new leaders will emerge. I say end the vicious cycle by not retaliating.

We seem to be so caught up on winning "the new war" that we're losing touch with what our country stands for. That is, personal freedom for its citizens.

House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt said: "We're going to have to change the balance between freedom and security." If we invite police to regulate our freedom by limiting our speech and our travel, it appears that we are simply helping the terrorists win anyway.

Eric Heinecke

UA alumnus

Armstrong column sounds like old saw

While visiting Tucson and when skirting the university's campus, I picked up the Thursday copy of the Daily Wildcat with particular interest in what you young folk had to say about the recent terrorist attacks. After reading the Issue of the Week: "Should We Go to War?" I felt the need to respond to Mr. Armstrong's statement "...death of the young in the hands of the old."

Perhaps I misread his sentiment. If I did, he as a creative writer must take the blame, for this sounded like the old saw that young men fight old men's wars. If this was his meaning, he should remember that old men were once young and they fought wars, such as the American Revolution, the Civil War and World War II. These were wars where the old men, many of whom had participated in preceding wars, were unable to resolve issues-which even Mr. Armstrong would agree-justified the sacrifice of the young.

Irvin Herman

Oakland, Calif.

Terrorists interested in world domination

The attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was not by American-hating terrorists. They are fanatics bent only on world control. They have killed many more Muslims in Afghanistan before the attack on the World Trade Center than were killed in that attack. The day before the attack, they assassinated Ahmad Shah Masood, a popular Afghanistan Muslim leader.

Look at all the countries that are not particularly friendly to us jumping in to help including Iran. They understand fanatics, bent on world domination better than we do.

Henry Richards

Chandler

Faith in God is our nation's best defense. In this ever-increasing violent world in which we live, how do we establish a balance between maintaining our national security, and also maintaining the individual rights of our citizens? The paper barrier that sets us apart from most every other government is the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.

There is only so much we can do in the natural to ensure the safety of our citizens, and certainly we need to do everything we can, within the scope of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, to make sure that happens.

That being said, it would seem to me that the most outspoken human rights advocacy organizations, called the American Civil Liberties Union, has done more harm to our national defense then anyone else, with their consistent efforts to remove all knowledge of God from our schools, and from our society. In this time of national crisis, what words of hope and encouragement do we hear coming from these secular humanist organizations? The answer is obviously none! They have no hope to offer us because there is no long-term

hope for our country outside of our faith in God!

This nation, which was founded upon Godly principles, by people of faith, is now faced with a so-called politically accepted doctrine of Secularism, which denies the existence of God and has thumbed its nose in God's face. This spirit of terrorism didn't just appear last week, but has been evident in our country for quite some time, just look at all the mass killings that have taken place within our schools over the last few years. How about the over 40 million babies that have been murdered, in our country, through abortion?

How many of us have even stopped to consider, for a moment, that the most terrorized segment of our society today is one that is least able to defend itself, and can be found among all the unwanted children inside the womb of their own mothers. The overriding crisis which our nation is facing today, which will have a direct bearing on our ability to survive, is whether or not our nation is willing to acknowledge God and return to our spiritual roots.

Skip Barland

Silverado, Calif.

Wildcat should not encourage irresponsibility

The university has a responsibility to the community to be a "good neighbor." By allowing the views of this irresponsible child to be aired in the Daily Wildcat you are as guilty of being a "bad neighbor" as he is, as you are obviously encouraging other irresponsible people to act in the same fashion.

Why not publish an article glorifying the virtues of bank robbers, as I am sure they can also justify their activities (if they have banks they should expect to be robbed). Obviously, Cory left home too early as he has not yet learned any manners and has no sense of decency or community responsibility. As a long-term resident of a university neighborhood I demand that people act in a decent manner with respect for neighbors. Any time the peace is disturbed, you can count on the fact that someone will call the police and request that the perpetrators be red-tagged. Unfortunately, because of people and articles like this, we as neighbors of the university are forced to adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward this type of behavior.

If Cory succeeds in life and actually ends up with a career, family and house, I would love to see his reaction to having his peace and well-being disturbed on a regular basis. I realize that this was an editorial letter for which the Wildcat has no direct responsiblity for content. However the neighborhoods surrounding the university would certainly appreciate a policy of not encouraging these irresponsible children.

R.L. Schlanger

Tucsonan

Freedom will reign again

As the days turn to weeks and the sorrow turns to anger, I feel compelled to express my thoughts on this moment in history. In the past weeks, we have heard our national anthem played at Buckingham Palace in London, we have seen the citizens of the world flock to our embassies in countless nations to join in our mourning, and we have seen school children in China stop in prayer over our fallen countrymen.

Over $400 million has been donated by Americans around the country, rich and poor alike. Our sports heroes are putting aside their egos and donating lump sums of their salaries. On Thursday night, a Philadelphia Flyers hockey game promptly ended when the crowd demands to hear their president speak. Everywhere you turn, the Stars and Stripes fly boldly ahead. And even here at the UA, where students are usually dressed in T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops, students are now adorned with the symbols of the love and pride of our nation. Jointly, students and faculty alike have already donated thousands of dollars to the relief efforts in New York City and Washington, D.C.

With these acts in mind, I challenge you, my fellow Wildcats and Americans, to live your lives in a way that our fallen heroes will not have died in vain but with honor and dignity. As our fellow students and Americans go bravely into battle, may your justice be infinite and may you come home soon.

As I see our "supposed" apathetic generation come together as a nation, I have never been more proud of my fellow man, my fellow Wildcats and my fellow Americans. Freedom will reign again - God bless America.

Kelly Hillman

political science senior

America must be patriotic

I have read, with increasing disgust and revulsion, the callow ramblings submitted since the attacks on the United States, and have listened to the inane "commentary" of the media. Hello, people, this is not a "tragedy," this is not a "disaster," this is an act of war...wake up and smell the charred flesh.

For those who cower in corners, willing to sacrifice "some" freedom for safety, read Ben Franklin on the subject. For those who rejoiced as our military was gutted for "entitlement" programs, and looked down their noses at those "rough men" who chose to serve, read George Orwell on that subject.

For those who doubt this country and its freedoms are not worth the cost of their precious little lives, go elsewhere - anywhere - and bear the contempt of over two centuries of your betters.

Over three decades ago, for eight weeks, a chorus of 96 voices recited: "I am a United States Marine Corps Recruit. I serve in the forces that guard my country and its way of life. I am prepared to give my life in its defense." Not anxious, not eager, but if necessary, prepared. As a sergeant of Marines in combat, I made decisions that determined whether other men lived or died. Knowing this, they did not question, they did not hesitate, they went. And yes, some of them did die. Honorably, and for a cause in which they believed.

Obviously, the blood has thinned in succeeding generations. Courage, integrity and patriotism have become politically incorrect in this land of plenty. Perhaps your generation deserves to lose the blessings that once ennobled this land -but not on my watch.

The terrorists, at least by their lights, died honorably. They had the courage of their convictions, and had the will to fight and die for them. I pity an America without the will or moral fiber to do the same.

J.D. Schechter

public administration sophomore