xt769p2w6m1b https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt769p2w6m1b/data/mets.xml The Kentucky Kernel Kentucky -- Lexington The Kentucky Kernel 1991-02-21 Earlier Titles: Idea of University of Kentucky, The State College Cadet newspapers  English   Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. The Kentucky Kernel  The Kentucky Kernel, February 21, 1991 text The Kentucky Kernel, February 21, 1991 1991 1991-02-21 2020 true xt769p2w6m1b section xt769p2w6m1b  

By KIP BOWMAR
Senior Staff Writer

Night and day. That’s how people
might view a double-bill presenta-
tion of civil-rights activist Dr.
Kwame Toure (formerly Stokely
Carmichael) and rap artist KRSOne
of Boogie Down Productions.

One is a renowned civil rights and
black-power advocate. The other is

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civil-rights activist to give presentation

on the cutting edge of the explosive
power of rap music.

Despite those apparent differenc-
es. they will appear together tonight
in a program in the Student Center
Ballroom at 7:30.

"I think the pairing is unique,”
said Chester Grundy. director of mi-
nority student affairs. “Toure has
been a big figure in the black politi-
cal movement for 25 years or so and

Student leaders
to fight health bill

By MARY MADDEN
Assistant News Editor

Student Government Association
President Sean Lohman announced
plans at last
night's SGA
Senate meeting
to file an injunc-
tion stopping im-
plementation of
a law requiring
all Kentucky col-
lege students to
carry health in-
surance.

“(The law) is
going to cause a LOHMAN
financial burden on many students,"
he told the senators. “So, 1 went to
the Board of Student Body Presi-
dents — of which I am the chair-
man — and they gave me the au-
thority to hire an attorney to
research this matter."

Lohman said the attorney told
him that the bill is unconstitutional
for two reasons:

He feels it is a breach of
freedom of religion because the
state is demanding that students
that attend (religious) institutions to
have health insurance, as well as (a
breach of) equal protection under
the law. It is a violation of that be-
cause they are sectioning students
out as a class of society and making
us as a class have to pay health in-
surance, while they are not making
anybody else (pay).

“We have a very strong argu-
ment. And this past Saturday at the
Board of Student Body Presidents
meeting, they gave me the authority
to file for an injunction . Hope-
fully, something will be filed by the
end of this week.”

In the meeting. which lasted more
than three hours, the senate:

-Passed a bill allocating $1,200 to
the International and Minority Con-
cerns committee to help pay for ex-
penses of an Indian Classical Dance
Recital.

-Passed a bill allocating $950 to
the College of Agriculture's Block
and Bridle Club to help pay the ex-
penses of attending the club‘s na-
tional convention in Houston, Tex-
as.
-Passed a bill allocating $550 to
the Kentucky Academy of Students
of Pharmacy to help pay the expens-
es of attending the American Phar-
maceutical Association annual
meeting.

-Passed a bill allocating $350 to
the UK Percussion Society to pay
clinician fees for the 1991 Kentucky
Day of Percussion.

~Passed a bill allocating $250 to
Student in Free Enterprise to pay
for the printing of entry forms for
the group’s five-kilometer road
race.

~Passed a bill allocating $142 to
pay for advertisement of Beta Alpha

See SGA. P age 2

I would say KRS-One represents a
voice of black contemporary youth
thinking and political thought with
what's happening in the street.”

And, according to Grundy, the
contrast between Toure and KRS-
One represent not differences but
the continuous diversity of the mod-
ern black political movement.

“If you look at the content of rap
music, it's essentially the same

message in the black-pride move
ment,” Grundy said. "And that is of
needing to be involved in the issues
of the community. having a sense
of self, seeing yourself as having
the ability to affect change, but to
know that change starts with your-
self.”

The event is sponsored by the
Student Activities Board in cooper-
ation with the Office of Minority

Student Affairs, the Student Gov-
ernment Association, the Black Stu-
dent Union and the Chancellor’s of-
fice.

Most aren't sure what the the
presentations will include.

“I'm not sure what's going to
happen," said Frank Walker, direc-
tor of the Martin Luther King Cultu—
ral Center. “(l’m) anxious to see if
he (Toure) is as strong as he was in

the ’60s”

Toure was involved in the begin-
ning of the Black Panther party and
the Black Power movement as well
as the Pan-African movement, ac-
cording to Grundy.

“Toure represents black activism,
not just nationally but intemational-
ly, for about the last 30 years,"

See KRS-ONE, Page 2

 

Fine Arts Building yesterday.

 

MUSICAL MIRROR

Jennifer Hudson, a music performance sophomore from Evansville, Ind., rehearsed on her french horn in the women's bathroom in the

GREG EANS'Kemei Sta“

 

 

Blues artist captures audience’s imagination

By KYLE FOSTER
Staff Writer
CINCINNATI — When BB.
King played “Peace to the World"
before a packed house in Cincinnati
Friday night, the song seemed espe-
cially significant now that the war
in the gulf is raging.

But King, who has been singing
the blues since he was 18, said the
song, from the recently released
“Live from San Quentin" album,
was not intended to be political.

"We are advocating peaceful co-

UK TODAY

Civil-rights activist
Kwame Toure and rap-
per KRS-One will give

a presentation in the
Student Center Ball-
room at 7:30.

 

Lady Kats
gear up for
game.

Story.
Page 6.

Perspectives ...................... 3
Classifieds ........................ 5

existence with everyone, if that's
possible," King said in an interview
following one of his shows at Bo-
gart‘s nightclub. “The whole world
wants peace, and I believe that even
Saddam Hussein would like to have
peace. It’s just maybe he don’t know
how to get it."

So, King talks to his audiences,
but not about foreign policy, war or
politics. “People come to festivals
they don‘t want to hear the politi-
cians talk, the preachers preach.
They don't want none of that — all
they want’s music, and that, to me,

is what I'm about."

And that, to his audiences, is
what BB. King, the blues boy from
Beale Street, is all about.

Despite icy roads, chilling winds,
and freezing temperatures, fans of
all ages filled Bogart's Friday night
to see the King of the Blues. Steve
Wiegand of Cincinnati saw King
perform last year at Bogart's and
the music had such an impact on
him that he returned.

“It's like he‘s crying out. The
blues can be like a burning red or it
can throw you into a black hole."

Wiegand, 17. said he is hooked on
King and will be back to see the art-
ist again and again.

Which is how Alice Holt, 45, be-
came a King fan. Holt has seen the
blues star perform 17 times, all in
her hometown of Cincinnati. “Eve—
ry time he comes here, I‘m here,"
she said.

“When he smgs blues, you feel it
on the inside and if you’ve ever had
the blues, you‘ll know," Holt said
as she closed her eyes and nodded
her head to the music.

Ironically, the King of the Blues

UK swimmers get soaked in
first day of SEC competition

By TAMMY GAY
Staff Writer

Sophomore Jamie Smawley en-
tered the pool of the Lancaster
Aquatic Center yesterday with
splashless dives, beginning the UK
men‘s diving team's odyssey
through the Southeastern Confer-
ence swimming and diving tourna-
ment.

UK. outrnanned and not always
competitive with SEC powerhouses,
dove only two men — with Smaw-
ley playing Odysseus.

Smawley —— despite his lack of
experience — made it to the finals
of the three meter competition.

His 457.45 score was good for a
seventh-place finish.

“It is a strong field and he per-
formed well. (Smawley) improved
his performance and that was very
good for the young man. His strong
board is one meter.” assistant diving
mach Milton Braga said.

UK’s other diver. sophomore

INSIDE: CATS LOSE TO VANDERBILT

Robert Taylor, finished 16th out of
17 divers overall in the competition.

Senior Mark Rourke from Ala-
bama won the meet with a score of
569.10. Florida sophomore Jason
Thompson’s 509.00 captured sec-
ond place, while LSU freshman
Greg Triefenbach took third with a
score of 505.95.

Although UK did not have any
women to make the final eight in
the one meter diving, Shelly Par-
sons was llth and Heather Pollard
was 12th.

“I think I could have done better,
but I did alright. My optionals went
well, but my required didn't go very
well," Parsons said.

Parsons was in eighth place after
seven rounds.

“I thought she could hang on."
said diving coach Brigid DeVries.
“She had a good optional meet. She
started to pick up points towards
near the end. She just missed by a
few points getting in the top eight."

Overall, Dcvries believed the
divers performed consistently.

Noel Pierratt and Julie Robbings
finished in the bottom half but they
are still optimistic about the remain-
ing events.

“We didn't do very good today,
but there is always tomorrow. We
shouldn't get our heads down,"
Pierratt said. “We‘ve got tower to
do and we are all pretty good at
that."

DeVries is also optimistic about
the remaining diving events.
“We’ve got a couple of people who
are strong in the three meter and of
course on the platform Saturday ——
that's probably our strongest event."

In the finals of the women's one
meter, junior Kelli Hill from LSU
came in first with a score of 4 14.80.

Georgia senior Lee Ann Fletcher
came in second with the score a
413.05. Aubum's Marina Smith. a
junior, finished third with a 388.95.

See SWIMMING, Page 2

never thought about being a blues
singer until he was about 18. King
started out smging in church m ltta
Bena, Miss, where he was bom in
1925.

“I always thought I‘d be in the
gospel field, and I always thought
that I'd be popular. but I never
dreamed, it never entered my
mind."

Not until King wcnt into the army
at 18 and started playing his gurtar
on street comers in Memphis,
Tenn., did he know he would be a
blues man.

“People usually come by and re-
quest tunes if they asked me to
play a gospel tunc. most times they
would maybe put me on the head
and say, Son, you‘re real good.
chp it up , you‘re gonna be great
one day.‘ "

But if King played it blues song
thcy IlSkCtI him to play. he got a up.
“That‘s utmt .‘01 Inc started,“ he
\LlltI.

Rtlcv ll. King got his name while
working as a disc jockcy at a Mem-

See KING, Page 2

 

IN NORTHERN SAUDI
ARABIA — The US. military
is taking steps to improve
communication between pilots
and ground commanders to
avoid more casualties by
friendly fire, officials said this
week.

At least l0 US. soliders
have been killed by allied fire
since the war began Jan. 17.

On Sunday, an Apache heli-
copter of the lst Infantry Divi-
sion mistakenly fired a Hell-
fire missile at a Bradley
fighting vehicle. killing two
infantrymen and wounding srx
others.

“What we've found IS that
when you have two opposing
forces intertwined. it‘s very
difficult to separate the friends
lies from the enemy.“ said Lt.
Col. Bill Hatch, commander of

 

U.S. taking steps
to end friendly fire

Assoclated Press

 

I World watches for
signs of peace.
Story, Page 5.

 

an Apache battalion in the divi-
sion.

The Apache incident also
brought harsh criticism from H.
Norman Schwarzkopf. com-
mander of US. forces, for unnec-
essary use of f ircpower.

Although Hellfiies are meant
to be used sparingly on heavily
armored tanks, more than 100
were fired at trucks, lookout
posts and scattered infantrymen,
according to officers.

Col. James Riley. a 1st Ar~
mored Dwisron brigade com-
mander, underscored Schwarz-
kopf‘s message: “You use a fly
swattcr on a fly. You save your
best ammo for the appopriare
targets.“

 

 

 

 2 - Kanmeky Kernel, Thursday. February 21, 1991

 

'Tnooouylag byKannlnbr

BUSH LS STILL EE-
‘meT 1?) GIVE
ANY ubwes To
THE Possrarurv or

 

 

 

 

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Kernel

we mean
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call 257-2872
for advertising
information

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SGA

Continued from page 1

Psi accounting honorary‘s Volun-
teer Income Taxation Association
program.

-Tabled a bill allocating $500 to
the American Institute of Chemical
Engineering to help pay the expens-
es of attending the club’s regional
conference.

-Passed, on second reading, a bill
containing minor changes to SGA‘s
constitution. The legislation, also

passed at the last senate meeting.
now goes into effect.

oApproved election rules for the
upcoming SGA elections.

At press time, the senate was still
debating a bill recommending the
allocation of $1,500 to help sponsor
“Hot, Sexy and Safer," an AIDS ed-
ucation program.

Before last night’s allocations and
allocations earlier this month that
totaled $3,750, the senate had only
$13,093.43 left in its budget for the
rest of the semester.

 

 

 

1-6 MONTHS.

coverage.

If hav

 

Renewal Notice

STUDENT GROUP HEALTH INSURANCE

If you are currently enrolled in the Student Group Health Insurance
Plan and wish to continue your enrollment, payment must be received
by University Health Service before 4:30 p.m., March 13, 1991: or pay-
ment made directly to the Insurance Company must be postmarked by
midnight. March 13. 1991.

NOTE: THIS INVOLVES ONLY THOSE STUDENTS WHO
HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THIS PLAN FOR THE PREVIOUS

PLAN BENEFITS CHANGES:

1) Routine newborn baby care, well baby nursery and related physician
charges are M covered in the 1990-91 policy. You have 30 calendar
days to enroll the newborn in the UK Student Insurance Plan. The
newborn then has his / her own policy and it works as yours - $200
deductible to be met first.

2) Hospital Miscellaneous has limits as follows:
$750 first day/$500 second day/$350 each subsequent day.

3) Day surgery miscellaneous and outpatient miscellaneous have
maximum amounts paid - refer to the 90-91 brochure for exact

Student Health Service is located in the Medical Plaza. 801 Rose
Street. first floor. behind the wildcat blue doors.

stions leas call 23 -

or 257-5

 

 

 

 

 

Swimming
Continued from page 1

After day one, LSU’s women
lead the tournament with the score
of 37. Florida has 30 points, Au-
burn, 30. Tennessee, 19. Georgia,
17, UK, 11,and Alabarna,11.

Vanderbilt has yet to score.

LSU's men are also in the lead
with 44 points. Alabama has 26,
Florida, 23, Georgia, 19, Auburn,
16, Tennessee, 14 and Kentucky,

KRS-ONE

Continued from page 1

Walker said. KRS-One's raps deal
with life on the street, something he
has seen up close and in detail. He
lived on the street for six years be-
ginning at age 13. His music is con-
sidered to be on the cutting edge of
rap, and his lyrics delve as deeply
into social issues — violence, sex
and politics —— as they do into rea-
listic street experience.

His song “Stop the Violence"
started a movement to end black-
on-black youth violence in urban ar-
eas. The movement gave rise to an
all-star rap song. “Self Destruc-
tion,” which addressed the issue.

Continued from page 1

phis radio station, WDIA, in his ear-
ly twenties. King played his guitar
live on the air for 10 minutes every
day before he played records. Be-
cause the radio station was located
on Beale Street, he soon became
known to listeners as the Beale
Street Blues Boy, then Blues Boy
King and finally BB. King -— “I
liked the B.B., and it‘s stuck ever
since," he said.

King's 10-minute solo spot grew
into a longer spot after he formed a
group with two other people, adding
keyboard and drums. By 1949 he
was one of the best-known blues
singer in Memphis and on his way
to the top of the charts.

The road to success was paved
with racial prejudice, especially as
King played the clubs on the “chit-
lin' circuit," which crisscrossed the
deep South.

“1 don’t know, just some reason,
'cause you were black. you go in an
area and people would look at you
as if you had leprosy or something,”
he said.

Racial integration not only freed
blacks, but many whites as well be-
cause it meant that whites would no
longer feel social and legal pressure
to discriminate, King said.

“People have said many times,
you can sleep in the room with a
snake if you know what comer he’s
in. That’s what happened when inte-
gration came about — there were a
lot of people that really weren’t cra-
zy about you, but they didn’t want
to get rid of you simply because
they didn’t like you," he said.

King said it is nice to be able to
go from one comer of the United
States to the other freely, with only
a few exceptions. “There are alleys
that I wouldn’t go to in my neigh-
borhood and alleys I wouldn't go to
in yours, but as a whole, you can go
anyplace,” he said.

“The only place I know of now in
the whole world you cannot go and
be just a person, regardless of your
color or creed, is South Africa — I
do not know of another place you
cannot go," King said.

At 65 years old, King has thou-
sands of shows behind him filled
with memories from each city,

 

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some more painful than others. Like
those filled with thoughts of Ku
Klux Klan attacks. But other memo-
ries are of good times and people.

"Each place to me is kind of like
foods or fruit -— all are unique in
their own right," King said.

SinceKingwastoldthathehad
diabeteslastyear,hesaidhehas
been looking toward having more
time off. Currently King performs
more titan 300 shows a year.

BB. King had only been back in
the United States for two days when
he performed in Cincrnnatr' '.

Since November, he completed
tours of the Netherlands. Germany,
Switzerland, Belgium, Austria,
Czechoslovakia, Ireland, Greece,
Turkey, Japan and New Zealand.

He left Turkey, which borders
Iraq, two days before war broke out
in the Persian Gulf, but he said there
were no outward signs of aggression
toward him or the BB. King band.
“We’re the last to get that because
most times I’m not political in my
playing," he said.

King said he is surprised how
well he feels despite having dia-
betes. I-Ie attributes his good health
to very little drinking and no smok-
ing. “The one thing against me is
my weight and not getting the
rest I should," he said. “I’m a vege-
tarian, as well, so I don’t eat a lot of
heavy things."

King's decision to become a veg-
etarian came late one night about
eight years ago, after a show. He
was watching television at his home
in Las Vegas. An English actress
was showing how people kill certain
animals for reasons she did not feel
were necessary.

“She showed how some animals
were slaughtered and how they do a
lot of the things that’s unnecessary,
she thought, like killing minx for
mink coats. Some of the things is
just terrible is the way it looked to
me and I got mad,” he said.

“Even the animals in the jungle
~— they all kill for what they need,
they don’t kill and kill and kill. I’m
sitting up there getting angrier and
angrier and it was gruesome to me,"
King said. He has not eaten any
meat since.

King said he does not know
whether being a vegetarian makes
him healthier, “but, mentally, I feel
good, I feel real good."

Part of his plan to have some time
off includes opening a club on Beale
Street in Memphis this summer.
King said that “B.B. King's Place"
has been chosen for the name right
now, but that may change. And he
plans to play there three or four
times a year.

King once said that his only ambi-
tion was to be one of the great blues
singers and be recognized.

“I think I’m a pretty good blues
player — I’m a pretty good guitar-
ist. There are many, I think, that
may be as good, but not too many
better, doin‘ what I do, the way I do

 

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'I‘l \ 'l'.‘ —--——~

Conflict will not bring
a ‘New World Order’

 

Students For Education On The Gulf

 

e Americans historically have thought of

ourselves as possessing a deep sense of

justice. Our constitution, founded upon

democratic principles with a bill of rights
to protect the individual, embodies the notions of

rights and justice for all.

Because war involves immense loss of life,
intentional killing, terror, and the destruction of the
environment and property, we have a duty to ensure
that engaging in war meets with the criteria of

justice.

We have a duty to protect those
principles that we have established
for ourselves, and, therefore, we
must answer the question, “Is this a
just war?”

To begin, “just" and “unjust" are
logical contraries. That is, in war,
one side at the most can be just. But
it is fallacious to think that if one
side is unjust, JIC other side must be
just. If yet" "iy is evil, that does
not mean that you are necessarily
good.

There are crucial questions that
must be answered to determine
whether the Persian Gulf War is a
just war:

-Do we have the right intention in
starting the war?

-Is there just cause to go to war,
and, if so, have we done everything
possible to avoid the war?

-Is the cost of the war in reasona-
ble proposition to attaining this just
cause?

-Most important, will the war
bring a just peace?

Let us consider each of these
questions.

This was has been marked by
confused intentions from the begin-
ning. Having supported Iraq’s war
machine in the 19803, we are now
told it must be destroyed

Despite no explicit evidence that
Iraq has nuclear weapons, and de-
spite our ability to halt its nuclear
program with limited air attacks, we
are told we must go to war to stop
the Iraqi nuclear program.

In the confused mix of
reasons that the
administration has given,
one had to question
whether its intention was
to preserve the power of
those in the
military-industrial
complex who faced the
threat of a scale back of
their operation, as the
Cold War began
tumbling to a close.

Despite no drop in the world’s oil
supply, we are told our military men
and women must die for the eco-
nomic well-being of the world.

We are told we must liberate Ku-
wait to stop Iraqi atrocities against
innocent people, and the best way to
to that is to bomb Basra

We are told that a “New World
Order" will come about in which
we will have peace, and the way to
this peace is through war.

We are told that the danger of ap-
peasement was the lesson of the
1930s, yet Iraq, unlike Nazi Germa—
ny, is not a self-propelled war ma-
chine; it relies upon import for mili-
tary equipment. Also, Iraq. unlike
Nazi Germany, was “contained" —
at the “line in the sand" — when we
started the war.

Some Americans believe that we
are defending “freedom." Yet the
United States is not directly threat-
ened by Iraq, and the regime we are
seeking to restore is a monarchy, a
form of governing this nation reject-
ed at its birth!

Many Americans believe that the
goalofthewaristogetridoflraq
President Saddam Hussein. Yet this
is not the stated goal of the Unite
Nations resolutions.

Despite claiming that Saddam
will be held responsible for war
crimes, President Bush denies that
theremovalofSaddamisagoanf
U.S. policy. Such a task probably
would require the invasion of Iraq
ltd the siege of Baghdad, and it
would be much more costly than
just driving Iraqi's militty from
Kuwait.

So why did out president commit
our troops to war? What really was
the intention of the administration?

In the confused mix of reasons
that the administration has given,
one had to question whether its in-
tention was to preserve the power of
those in the military-industrial com-
plex who faced the threat of a scale
back of their operation. as the Cold
War began tumbling to a close.

Can we say with certainty that the
intention was not to protect the in-
terests of the 3 percent of the popu-
lation who own 97 percent of the
wealth; Exxon, Mobil, Standard Oil,
Texaco, Gulf Oil and President
Bush's own Pennzoil?

So great is the power of this
group that it can manipulate the
governments of entire nations and
move a half million people to a
point on the globe where they must
be willing to die to protect “our in-
terests." Who was it that said, “I
would rather have bad laws and
good men governing than good laws
and bad men governing?"

The desire for what is morally
right must be one of the motives to
wage war; it is certainly the criteri-
on of a just war. But hatred of the
enemy is not counted as right inten-
tion, nor is the desire to control the
world's oil supply.

The desire to protect the rights of
Kuwaiti citizens is a noble reason
for war in and of itself. If, however,
such nobleness were truly the inten-
tion of the Bush administration,
why has the United States chosen to
support the Israeli government, who
has violated the rights of those in
the occupied territories while wag-
ing war on Iraq?

This fundamental inconsistency
precludes appealing to the protec-
tion of rights as the principle for
which we wage war, for rights be-
long to all persons and are not ex-
clusively possessed by any single
group. nor should they be selective-
ly protected.

One might argue that it is the
right of nations to collective self-
defense, in which case Kuwait may
have a legitimate claim. The de-
fense of a nation from ruthless ag-
gression by another is a just cause
for war.

Even though the just cause exists,
however, unless every diplomatic
effort was given its deserved chance
to succeed, the war cannot be count-
ed as just!

Diplomatically, the United States
never budged one inch from the un-
conditional demand that everything
be returned to the status quo prior to
Iraq's invasion of Kuwait

No pre-withdrawal negotiations
on any issues were considered.
Such issues included the Iraqi-
Kuwaiti border dispute over agree-
ments on oil pricing and the Pales-
tinian-Israeli question. Diplomacy
is a dialogue, not an ultimatum, and
must be mum-directional, to pro-
vide room to maneuver to settle-
ments.

Sanctions cut off more than 90
percent of Iraq's export profits and
eliminated its supply of new mili-
tary hardware and crucial spare
parts.

Sanctions were given only five
months to work — the shonest
length of time over which the Unit.
ed States could assemble an offen-
sive force and far too short a time to
judge the effectiveness of sanctions.

The onrush to war was further
driven by the Bush administration's
decision in early November to near.
Iy double U.S. troop deployment in
Saudi Arabia from 200,000 to more
than 400,(X)0. This decision, taken
without consultation with Congress.
was made to provide an offensive
capability.

Unfortunately, as former U.S.
Secretary of State Herry Kissinger
and others have pointed out, the ec-

 

 

 

 

onomic and cultural strain of so
many troops on Saudi soil is so
great that the Bush administration
was forced into a choice between
reducing the deployment (which
would have been seen as backing
down) or insisting on an early dead-
line for a war.

The Bush administration painted
itself into a comer. This “use-them-
or-lose-them" mentality, as Sen.
George Mitchell put it, has resulted
in “logistics driving policy rather
than policy driving logistics.”

Given Bush's inflexibility, impa-
tience and invasion. we must con-
clude that Bush's brinkmanship was
a sorry excuse for diplomacy. Since
everything was not done to avoid
this war, just cause fails to pass

JERRY VOGOT/Stdi Artist

come extinct. Yet this catastrophe
was foreseeable. Saddam had long
claimed that he would commit such
a spill if we started a war.

We are likely to bear a significant
economic costs for Bush’s brink-
manship. The price tag of the war is
going to be more than $50 billion,
perhaps more than $100 billion,
should this war continue beyond
April. Yet the price of a short war
would be an increased confidence
in the efficacy of war.

There will be no peace dividend
for you or me, or our children,
when the successful use of million-
dollar missiles means more orders
are on the way. Further militariza-
tion of American society only ag-
gravates the immense difficulty of

 

Given Bush’s inflexibility, impatience and invasion,
we must conclude that Bush’s brinkmanship was a
sorry excuse for diplomacy. Since everything was not
done to avoid this war, just cause fails to pass muster

as “just war.”

—

muster as "just war."

Even if one takes dispute over the
diplomacy question, in a just war
the costs of the war must be in ap-
propriate proportion to attaining the
noble goals of the just cause.

The privileged position of view-
ing the war as a docudrarna that
casts our soldiers in the roles of he-
roes distorts the realities of the war.

Thousands of tons of bombs have
struck Iraq and Kuwait. Of these,
only a small fraction are “smart"
weapons that strike their targets
with truly unbelievable accuracy.

But how many civilians have
been killed or maimed so far? And
just how extensive is the neurotoxin
fallout over Iraq that has resulted
from the clinically accurate “assets”
of the American military? How
many Iraqi soldiers, many of whom
were forced into the army and can-
not surrender, will we kill with our
incessant carpet bombings?

Where does the notion of war end
and that of crime begin?

The environmental and property
damage of war is incalculable. The
oil spill in the Persian Gulf is 30
times as large as the Exxon Valdez
spill. Entire fishing industries are
destroyed, and whole species. in-
digenous to the I“. will likely be-

transforrning the war economy into
a peacetime economy.

Finally, we have little reason to
believe that this war will be the
means for a just peace, one that
ends the complex conflicts of the
Middle East.

The Israeli-Palestinian issue, the
rich-poor conflicts, anti-Westem Is-
lamic fundamentalism, Kurdish
separatism, threats to Israeli securi-
ty, not to mention the power vacu-
um left by the destruction of Iraq
remain to be solved.

It is certainly not clear that this
war can attain a “New World Or-
der." Will we be like those who
fought World War I to avoid World
War II? We may be creating ene-
mies for our children.

Many Americans believe it is un-
patriotic to protest against this war.
Yet the desire for justice and the
importance of the right to dissent is
at the bean of the U.S. Constitution.
Patriotism ceses to be the ideal for
which so many have proclaimed
their willingness to die when justice
fails to be delivered.

This essay was written by Sharon
Thom, Joe Decry and Mary Vo-
guslaw ofStudem For Education
On The Gulf. which has 30 mem-
bets.

Kentucky Kamal, My. Fahrusry 21, 1991 - a

More than oil at stake
in Persian Gulf War

 

Dan Such

 

ince the United States and its Coalition

members launched a military offensive

against Iraq last month, several people have

criticized the war, and the reasons for the U.S.
presence in the Persian Gulf. While they have the
freedom to speak out against U.S. policy, many of
the arguments against the Persian Gulf War are rife
with several dangerous premises.

Premise 1: "This 's a war for oil
and is an act of U.S. aggression
and meddling.” No expert will
deny the strategic significance of
Kuwait and the other members of
the Gulf