The Brand (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 90, No. 6, Ed. 1, Tuesday, February 4, 2003 Page: 1 of 12
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News Iraq: Why We Must Go p. 2
Editorial The Shape of a
Leader's Heart p. 5
Sports New Girls Coach p. 7
Entertainment Theatre
Prepares for "Murder" p. 12
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HSU
Calendar
of Events
Murder by
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Feb 5) for HSU
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BASKETBALL!
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Bush: Taking Care of Business
With the escalating situation in
Iraq we Americans must ask ourselves
if the decisions of President Bush are in
the best interest of the United States.
Could it be possible that President
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Photo courtesy Cnn.com
Bush could still be making the same
"knee jerk" emotional reactions that
shortly followed September 11th?
By linking a presumed second
war with Iraq with the war on terrorism
President Bush has attempted to justify
an invasion of Iraq on the basis that
American interests and their safety
could be affected.
Yet President Bush's own
words raise the specter that personal
vengeance not sound public policy is
at least a substantial motivation for this
war "There's no doubt he Saddam
Hussein can't stand us. After all this is
a guy that tried to kill my dad"
(Cnn.com).
The loss of American prestige
and long-term effetiveness in the inter-
national community will also be an
undesired result of an invasion.
"Given the questionable ration-
ale for an invasion coupled with the
negligent manner in which we dealt
with UN processes President Bush will
never completely lose his image as the
Lone Ranger hell-bent on pursuing a
unilateralist course in foreign policy"
declares Alexis Semendinger of the
National Journal.
Instead of superficially
enveloping an invasion of Iraq in the
flag of post-September 11 patriotism
President Bush his cabinet and our
Congressional leaders should be
answering some serious questions;
unfortunately most of these have gone
unanswered.
What long-term interests of the
United States would really be served by
invading Iraq?
How many more lives will be
lost and how much more will the war
cost given alteration of our military
plans that will be required in light of the
limited cooperation of other countries in
the region?
Will its impact effect our eco-
nomic recovery? Is the cost justified?
Will the glow of victory and
hence superficial knee-jerk public
support for President Bush's war fade
and ultimately disappear as we are
forced to "occupy" Iraq for months or
even possibly years in order to "stabi-
lize" or "Americanize it"?
What if that occupation results
in American soldiers suffering contin-
ued casualties because they would be
sitting ducks for sniper and guerilla
attacks as in Somalia and Lebanon?
Won't an invasion add further fuel to
the firestorm of hatred that the United
States faces in the Arab world thereby
endangering the stability of our so-
called allies and their non-democratic
regimes? Will not an invasion and
occupation give emotional and political
fuel to terrorists and fundamentalists?
Are we prepared to regularly deal with
suicide bombers and other terrorist
acts on our own soil?
Let us put our egos aside and
seriously question whether democratic
principles are simply inconsistent with
the cultural religious and political fabric
of the Arab world since the stark reali-
ty is that even our closest Arab "allies"
shudder in fear that they too will be
pressured to introduce broad reforms
in their countries.
What about Iraq? Other than
having the prospective presence of an
American occupying force causes us
to seriously think that it can go from a
typical regional dictatorship to a
democracy that can serve as a model
for other Arab countries? In the Arab
world the ironic track record is that the
introduction of democratic reforms has
primarily strengthened the hand of
Islamic fundamentalists and others
who we believe to be extremists and
the targets of our war on terrorism.
After first going through the
United Nations which may have even-
tually supported the United States
President Bush is willing to do it on his
Photo courtesy Cnn.com
own. This obviously makes it appear as
though the US is so used to getting
what it wants that it no longer even
cares if it operates with the sanction of
the United Nations an organization
which we essentially created.
As Alton Frye a senior fellow
at the Council on Foreign Relations has
observed: "That's where the risk lies
and it would clearly be seen asa hypo-
critical act in the sense that we had
gone through a United Nations
process which we quickly abandoned"
(National Journal 11162002).
Continued on p. 2
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The Brand (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 90, No. 6, Ed. 1, Tuesday, February 4, 2003, newspaper, February 4, 2003; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth97718/m1/1/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hardin-Simmons University Library.