Lindh trial should be taken seriously

I would just like to say that I found Mariam Durrani's "Let's move on?" Issue of the Week editorial to be offensive as well as idiotic. Her belief that the John Walker issue is blown out of proportion is a slap in the face to anyone that has either lost a loved one during the Sept. 11 attacks or any soldier fighting in Afghanistan. To just about every American, the John Walker Lindh case is a big deal.

Ms. Durrani claimed that he was a confused, mislead and possibly brainwashed youth that was duped by an evil agent. If she had done any research, she would have known that at the age of 16, John Walker Lindh frequented daily Islamic extremist Web sites and chatrooms, where he willingly absorbed the hateful views he harbors today. He strongly approved of the bombing of the USS Cole in 1998 and upon his own accord left the United States to study an extremist style of Islam abroad. Durrani stated "Skinny ol' John Walker Lindh is a kid who tried to explore outside of his world but met the wrong people · everyone is guilty because it is only human." First off, don't portray him a frail little kid; he was a devout member of a ruthless faction bent on killing Americans. Secondly, what John Walker Lindh did was not a case of traveling abroad and getting caught up with so bad men. He didn't get caught smoking weed underneath the Eiffel Tower in Paris; he joined a bunch of militant sick bastards that killed over thousands of Americans.

In close, Ms. Durrani owes anyone affected by the terrorist acts an apology. I don't think anyone else thinks we should "move on with our lives and onto more important topics."

Evan Lohse
political science senior

Walker is a schizophrenic, needs psychiatry and new drugs

John Walker Lindh is just plain schizophrenic. The wild eyes, the disoriented speech, the break at age 16, the religious obsessions - it's all too clear what is "physically" wrong with the man. He's not "evil" - he has what we now know is a very serious genetically controlled brain disorder. Punishment is not in order (what's done is done and cannot be undone). Actually, he needs psychiatry and the new drugs, such as Olanzapine. See the Sept. 25 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences for more on how serious schizophrenia really is.

Tatiana Covington
physics senior

Wildcat should select its foreign events news more carefully

As a Muslim and Iranian, I understand and accept that I have a sort of sympathy and bias for the struggle of the Palestinian people. But as an open minded individual, I try to understand how so many Americans can turn a blind eye to the suffering of the Palestinian people and support their government's backing Israel's dehumanizing assault on the Palestinian people.

I am very interested in foreign events, and every day I pick up the Wildcat, and I flip straight to the second page with the foreign events. I usually know what the articles will be because I read the news on the Internet in the morning. I understand that there is limited space for foreign events in the Wildcat, but I find it very disturbing the news that the Wildcat chooses to show and the news that the Wildcat decides is not important enough to show.

All too often, I see articles about suicide bombings and terrorist activities by the Hamas, Islamic Jihad or some other Palestinian groups, but rarely do I see an article that mentions the thousands of Palestinian people, many of whom are children, who have been killed by Israel's powerful army.

This cannot possibly be because it happens less, since about five times as many Palestinians have been killed in this conflict.

I have an incredible amount of respect for the American people. I do not think that the American people are close-minded. But I do not hold the same opinion of the American government or the American media.

I have come to the conclusion that Americans do not turn a blind eye to the Palestinian suffering; they simply are not shown. I do not think that one group of people is more important than another. I do not think it is right for any group to achieve its goals by killing innocent people. But I see both sides in the conflict doing just this, and I see one side represented as "innocent" and the other as "terrorists."

I am simply interested in seeing both sides represented fairly, so that the American people understand what is really going on. The fact that I cannot even find that fair representation in the Wildcat is very frustrating for me, as I am sure it is for other Muslims.

I would ask the Wildcat to more carefully choose what news is "important enough" to show the students at the University of Arizona.

Armand Navabi
computer science junior

Unfair to openly criticize hallmates

This is a response to Ms. Lindstrom's letter yesterday. Perhaps you have forgotten that everyone in the dorm lives side by side.

Your choice to chastise your hallmates and praise the RAs reminds everyone of their residence hall neighbors overly concerned with everyone else's business.

The University of Arizona harbors many diverse students who do different things with their lives.

It's unfair to openly criticize those living an alternate lifestyle than you, especially those next door. Perhaps you should think about your words more carefully before writing creatively.

Reillot E Weston
pre-nursing junior

Dale column not racist

I would like to explain something to Jesus Jimenez about his letter yesterday titled, "No Human is Illegal." Just because you cannot refute the real facts that surround the issue of illegal immigration does not make Dale's column racist.

Humans are termed "illegal" when they fail to go through the immigration process that so many law-abiding foreigners go through every year. I am well aware of the economic problems Mexico faces, but that is no reason for the United States to have to open its borders like a floodgate.

If these individuals do not respect immigration laws, what makes you think they will respect all of the other laws in the United States? Dale's facts about the ratio of illegal immigrants in prisons (e.g. California) is right on target · go online and see for yourself.

For those that want to come to this country to work legally, President Bush and many on Capitol Hill are creating a guest worker program. This will allow Mexicans to work in the United States but still live in Mexico. Finally, put away the race card, Mr. Jimenez.

There is no reason why we should not expect foreigners from any country to go through the legal immigration process. It is not racist, it is just common sense.

Charles A. Peterson
history sophomore

Students should become more active at the university

In response to Ms. Mahoney's letter in Wednesday's Wildcat, let me be the first to say that I wholeheartedly agree with her that the large majority of the student body is apathetic to events and activities on campus. This is not a new trend. School spirit is down nationwide and the University of Arizona is no exception.

I would love it if students cheered their school on in more than just basketball and football. How exciting would Homecoming be if most undergraduates showed up for the bonfire and Mall events that are always so prevalent?

The fact of the matter is that there is only a small percentage of students who are able to attend these events and actually share their love for this great school. Some are too busy with work, their academics or just plain don't care.

In perusing ASUA's Web site, it is my interpretation that ASUA's intention and goal is to be a service to the student that does care and is willing to take part in events and activities planned on campus. It is my understanding that Better Than Ezra, or whatever band is to play at UA, is paid a flat rate up front by ASUA, whether one person buys a ticket or 35,000. I believe that ASUA merely goes through the motions of initiating their events. As far as I know, one banner and one newspaper article is the extent to which ASUA advertised CatKraze 2002.

Compared with UAB's Sugar Ray concert, which is advertised on various listservs and daily ads in the Wildcat, I don't believe that ASUA did all that they could have done. When ASUA elections are in full force, there is a banner from every tree and a sign at every corner as candidates sell themselves.

ASUA places such importance on these advertisements that last year there was a debate when a candidate had violated these rules and was no longer allowed to run. If ASUA is not going to put forth the effort into attracting students to its events, they should not be surprised when the student response is less than ideal.

I am in full agreement with you, Ms. Mahoney, that we, as UA students, are integral parts of the community. As students, we need to take active roles in all our endeavors and give ourselves back to this wonderful learning institution and city.

Let ASUA be a conduit through which the student body can facilitate action and become motivated and productive. In the meantime, ASUA should serve the students it can, rather than alienating them.

William Paul Miller
hydrological engineering junior

'Enlightened' man says Hopi residents 'saved by God'

This letter is in response to the article published in Monday's Wildcat by Marc Viscardi titled "Hopi 'substance-free' in name only." I don't know if you realize it, Mr. Viscardi, but there is a very good reason that our number of reported drug infractions is so high, and it doesn't necessarily imply that the commitment of our residents isn't there. In most dorms, at least in the ones where I lived before becoming enlightened, alcohol is consumed, cigarettes are smoked, and drugs are taken on a more or less consistent basis. No one seems to care about this in the least, let alone report it. In our dorm, however, the caring people, and the truly enlightened, view it as our moral duty to point out these problems and ferret out the violators, so that they can no longer be a harm to themselves, or, more importantly, a corrupting influence on the rest of our dorm society. This, of course, raises the amount of reported drug violations when compared with other dorms.

Furthermore, I'd like to point out, we are forced to manufacture drug violations that aren't there as a means of squelching other, more devastating, offenses; offenses in which the university refuses to punish on their own merit, but in which all enlightened people know are morally wrong.

Homosexuality, for example, is an offense that our dorm (as well as the entire university) refuses to deny admittance based upon.

This means that we, the residents of Hopi, even though we are enlightened and saved by God, are forced to deal with a lower form of people, and to be personally corrupted by them, simply because of some misunderstanding in our anti-discrimination laws. Homosexuality is not classified by our government as a choice, and we, therefore, are forced to associate with homosexuals as if they were ordinary God-fearing people. Incidentally, I might add, the same is true with people practicing evil religions, such as Moslems, who just killed 4,210 innocent people, 3,671 of them Christian. Other dorms let this slide, allowing homosexuals and murderers into their walls, because they are brainwashed by the liberal media into thinking that it's okay or none of their business, but we have to be responsible to a higher power. We are God's police, and the number of reported violations only verifies that we are doing our job well. Mr. Viscardi's article has accomplished nothing other than to undermine our progress.

Bruce Edmunds
political science senior