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12/6/04 • Vol. 129, No. 42
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12/6/04 • Vol. 129, No. 42 |
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Letters to the EditorConcerning the opinion article written by Nathan Hathaway on November 17th (“Insurgents willing to kill own for terrorism”): Hathaway concludes that the moral of this story is: “Don’t try to help Iraqis, it might get you killed”. Here, we see quite a twist on reality, for it is the American military that kills in order to “help”. About 100,000 Iraqi civilians—half of them women and children—have died in Iraq since the invasion, mostly as a result of air strikes by coalition forces, according to the first reliable study of the death toll from Iraqi and US public health experts (The Guardian, Oct. 29, 2004). How can Hathaway conclude that the U.S. military is doing its best to “help” when they have sent more than 100,000 innocent human beings to their graves? The American military has killed an equivalent of about 33 times the number of people who were killed at the Twin Towers on September 11. Now we may come to know why many refer to the American government as a terrorist organization. Later in the article we see a very disturbing display of mentality. This is demonstrated by the writer’s usage of terminology to refer to the Iraqi people. In some sentences he refers to them as “insurgents”, in others as “Iraqis”, in others as “terrorists,” and finally he shamefully concludes that they are “animals.” This grand generalization of a whole people as animals is sickening and striking, for this is the exact kind of mentality that leads to the torture that was performed by “helping soldiers” at Abu Graihb, and the execution of Iraqis as we have come to see in recent video footage that shows an American soldier apparently executing a wounded Iraqi. This mentality of categorizing human beings as animals offers us a harsh glimpse of the twisted reality that the American government has created to justify its actions in Iraq. –Eric Wilderson
On Wednesday, The Collegian included an editorial from the Los Angeles Times, the editorial took shots at the War on Drugs (“Courts behind the times on pot use”). These attacks are nothing new, and there have been numerous mistakes made in the War on Drugs. This, however, is not one of those mistakes. The Supreme Court has shown some concern with allowing medical marijuana users to grow their own grass, and the potheads are smoking hot about it. . . No pun intended. Here is what doesn’t make sense: We all know that marijuana smokers are not the most driven folks, but too sluggish to go get free bud? I’ve known potheads who wouldn’t get off the couch if the house were on fire, but to get free weed they’d run 100 miles uphill, in the snow, barefoot on glass, and so on. Too lazy to get free herb, that’s just absurd. Rather than go and pick up their Mary Jane, these folks want to just grow it their own home or their parent’s basement or their buddy’s guest room they’re living in until they get back on their feet to wherever. I agree with the Supreme Court on this one, and these types of decisions should not be rushed. All options should be considered. As long as there is a steady supply of Cheetos and Playstation 2 continues releasing more games, dopers can wait to grow their own Wacky Tobacky. –Tal Eslick |
