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Discussion blasts war in Iraq
By Amanda Degen
Published:
Thursday, March 20, 2003
Media Credit: Jason Risberg
With approximately six hours left on President Bush�s deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq, a group of mostly faculty members who were opposed to a possible war with Iraq discussed what a war would mean for both people in the U.S. and in the Middle East. From right to left, Prof. Lalita Subrahmanyan, Prof. Manijeh Daneshpour and Prof. Julie Andrzejewski.
With the then unknown beginning of the battle between U.S. and Iraqi forces mere hours away, a discussion to share feelings and beliefs about the war was held in the College of Education lounge Wednesday at 1 p.m.
A group of about 15 faculty members and students gathered together yesterday, although the topics discussed came mainly from a group of six faculty and staff members; Jesse Benjamin, Polly Kellog, Sneh Kalie, Julie Andrzejewski and Manijeh Daneshpour.
Topics covered the war, imperialism and globalization, the effects of war on children, safe travel and a variety of political and social issues involving countries such as Iraq, Bangladesh, North Korea and China and countries in Africa.
"Saddam offered to hand power over to his son and in the next few years provide a platform for a democratic election, as well as providing increased access to Iraq's oil supply and yet Bush turned down this offer. Why?" asked Benjamin. "It's all about different forms of global domination, especially U.S. domination. Bush is using this extremist form of domination to control other countries. He has no pretense to world laws, and he's brazen, rude and does whatever he wants."
Many of those involved in the discussion were from various parts of the world. Each talked about how the war and the U.S. played effects on themselves and their own families.
"As a new American, I gave up citizenship in one country to gain it in another for the purposes of participating in society, because I felt it was not fair to live in a country and not participate," Daneshpour said. "My citizenship came through fifteen days before 9-11, and I've discovered that democracy here is still weak. I could go on the street and scream aloud and people in my former country would ignore me.
"I thought in America that would all be different, but I've discovered the same thing. People still don't listen."
Focus was heavy on education, not only in the university system, but also at high school and elementary levels. Social studies books and history books are inaccurate, and those who control what is written in them hold more power than ever realized, because they are the first items to be censored. The American people have been bombarded by 'United We Stand' just a little too much, they said.
"It's a lot like Bowling For Columbine and we definitely need to stop with all the fear business," Kellog said. "I talk to my students about how crazy it all was in the 1950s: having to duck and cover, and everyone building bomb shelters. We can't think when we're afraid; we haven't even had a real debate over the war yet. The establishment is split deeply on war, including the state department and the military. I've been checking the Euro press, and it's not about weapons or Hussein or any of that. It's all about the oil."
Oil and power were frequent issues in the discussion. With the Middle East containing millions of dollars in oil and local gas prices on the rise, many saw close ties between that and the war. There were also accusations that the U.S. always involves force and military might as the government's method for working through international relations.
It was mentioned that the United States is also the only country to have ever used nuclear weapons on other countries, at a time when it wasn't really necessary, but to "experiment."
"This nation has the most destructive weapons, three times of that compared to the rest of the world and we're the only country to use them, based on racist intentions," Benjamin said. "But we use that 'we care about people' stance to justify our actions, which is just clever manipulation and sly propaganda. (Sept. 11) has just provided justification for everything, and it's just clever language to convince the public of our unending goodness and that America is the best."
Although no solution was found to solve the complexity of the approaching war, a greater understanding and awareness was reached by all of those who attended.
"I just think of the international peace movement held on February 15, when 30 million people partook in a spontaneous uprising, and that gives me hope," Kellog said.
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