Use of radioactive weapons is reason for hatred of U.S.

Two of the letters in Wednesday's Wildcat mentioned the use of weapons equipped with depleted uranium by the U.S. military. In one letter, the writer seemed to doubt that this is true. I think it is extremely important for all Americans to realize that the United States definitely has used these weapons in at least one conflict.

My father lives in Greece, where many of the vegetables are radioactive (and therefore inedible) as a result of the U.S. military's use of depleted uranium in Bosnia. A friend of my father is from Bulgaria, where cancer rates are skyrocketing for the same reason. The radiation from these weapons travels far beyond where the weapons themselves are used. [Read article]

Alright. It's official. We are going to war with Iraq. On Monday, Georgie's speech made it clear that the administration has found it in the "best interest of national security" to order American soldiers to be deployed to the Middle East. Internationally, the American war on Iraq is gaining momentum. That means a lot of us who missed out on Desert Storm and Vietnam are going to witness the messy imprecision of a full-scale war in the very near future. What does that mean to you? Do you think aggression against Iraq is a necessary task? Have you been provided enough reasons to believe that war is justified? Here is what some UA students circulating in the Integrated Learning Center had to say: [Read article]

The U.S. government began a program following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 designed to protect and promote the general well-being and welfare of the citizens who live here. Part of this program is trials of immigrants who have stayed in the United States past the limit of their visa or other conditions.

Many of these people are also suspected of aiding and abetting terrorists, or conspiring to commit terrorist acts themselves. The controversial part of these trials is that they are held in "secret," meaning that the public and the media are kept out of them. There are currently hundreds of people who are going through these trials. [Read article]

Considering the high risk of transmiting HIV, should sexually active gay men be allowed to donate blood?

Our need for blood too great to exclude healthy gay men

First off, let's discuss what is not at issue here ÷ gay rights or prejudice. I gave blood a few months ago and had to face the same blistering interrogation as anyone ("You aren't such scum that you're using this as a free AIDS test, are you? Would you please put back everything you stole while I was out of the room," etc.), but I realized that these were merely means to keep us safe from the transmission of blood-borne pathogens and not brash effrontery about my possible intravenous drug usage and other such lifestyle choices. [Read article]