Friday September 28, 2001

Palestinians are disgusted by attack

Much has been made of pictures of Palestinian children celebrating in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11. Without getting into the debate of whether the pictures were recent or archival, I suggest that those who make the blanket assumption and implication that this is how all Palestinians reacted take a look at the following website: http://coo.stonekitty.net/thankyou/index.html.

One can only wonder why such photos of Palestinians aren't as freely disseminated in the media as those of selected militant youths and the idiots who encourage them. As an Arab-American and a Catholic, I'm as disgusted as anyone about the heinous terrorist attacks in NYC and Washington, and it should be obvious to any reasonable person that the majority of people everywhere feel the same way - even the Palestinians.

Ray Rafidi

UA alum, near-Eastern studies, M.A., 1988

Dissent is necessary in times of crisis

Dissent is never more important than in times of crisis. That the United States has apparently renounced democracy and freedom in practice (not in rhetoric, as we are still the caretakers of liberty) is as disturbing as the relative ease of the terrorists' operations. Like any good business, the media has completely thrown in its lot with the government line.

They produce only soliloquies on the virtues that Stalin, Mao and Hitler stressed beyond all others - unity, the fatherland and your trust in the infinite wisdom of the state. What unity means in this case, is no critical thought, as some poll demonstrated, Americans are perfectly content to allow Bush, (a man who coincidentally garnered less than 25 percent of the country's votes and yet says he defends democracy) to do anything he saw as "necessary." It is equally disturbing to hear military and intelligence officials talk about having the "belly to do what must be done," as if killing civilians can be justified on the mere fact that it is "us" doing it.

They can't kill civilians. We can because we defend freedom. Case in point. And with barely a murmur, Congress destroyed my hopes that there is a chance for common sense to shine through in this country. With great fanfare, Attorney General John Ashcroft delineated his "reasoning" for the "anti-terrorist" legislation, which includes the government's right to read your e-mail and hold non-citizens for questioning indefinitely, among other very "minor" manners.

The opposition to the bill of course had its chance as it does in a democracy, except of course ALL cameras were removed from the hearings thereby eliminating the chance to see and hear dissent voiced (C-SPAN you ask? They were banished as well). Incredibly, some guy at MSNBC posted the event, yet MSNBC later deleted all reference to the whole incident. You did not hear about this because it is not in the Congress, and by extension, America's "interests" for you to hear anything un-American. Or by the same token, hear any real, substantial criticism of any government policy.

Orwell warned a long time ago that doublespeak was not an exclusive trait of purely shameless totalitarianism, but happened in any situation where power is concentrated, and that includes the United States of America.

Carlos Chiquete

physics and astronomy sophomore

This situation is more than "black and white"

In "We must protect our nation" (Wednesday), Eric Jensen tries to point out that terrorists won't listen to reason or negotiate like the pacifists would expect them to, if given the chance. But this is a strawman argument. No pacifist organization I know of takes this position. No one is advocating negotiating or reasoning with Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, or any Islamic terrorist.

Can you think of a more ridiculous scenario? On the contrary, all pacifist organizations I know of have condemned the attack and called for justice. Many have proposed reasonable means to prevent an escalation of terrorism here and abroad. But just because pacifists advocate a non-belligerent resolution to this conflict doesn't mean that they think negotiating with suicidal terrorists is at all reasonable.

I suspect this erroneous perspective was the result of seeing the current situation in black and white terms. This is not a black and white issue. Please use your head in these precarious times.

Patrick Bolger

second language acquisition and teaching graduate student