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Opinion
Friday, March 22, 2002
EDITORIAL
Not Forthcoming
Earlier this week, the Texas A&M Presidential Search Advisory
Committee announced a short list of three candidates to replace
Dr. Ray M. Bowen. The search committee will send its recom
mendations to the A&M System Board of Regents.
Unfortunately, the committee has been less than forthcoming
thus far to the Aggie community.
Reports have surfaced that an additional two candidates will be
added to the short list. In the place of a straight answer is tricky,
technical wordplay that neither denies or confirms that there may
be other candidates. This is unacceptable. If the committee is still
searching or intending to recommend further candidates to the
Board of Regents, why was the short list released?
The A&M presidential search advisory committee should clear up
confusion about its choices immediately. If there are in fact other
candidates the Board wishes to recommend to the Regents, the list
should not have been released on Tuesday. To do so is misleading
and a disservice to the candidates and the A&M community.
Determining who will lead one of the largest public research uni
versities in the country is a difficult and important task.
Background checks, personal and professional evaluations and
debate about who is best for the job should not be a public
process. The committee should include and add as many appli
cants as it wishes, but when candidates are named with a strong
sense of finality, the issue should be settled. If this is not the case,
what is the harm in saying so? The A&M presidential search advi
sory committee should end the rumors immediately. To not be
upfront is unfair to Aggies and the previously-named candidates.
The committee should end the rumors — the integrity of the vital
role in choosing the next president is at stake.
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor hi Chief MARIANO CASTILLO
Managing Editor
Opinion Editor
News Editor
News Editor
Brian Ruff
Cayla Carr
Sommer Bunge
Brandie Liffick
Member
Member
Member
Member
Melissa Bedsole
Jonathan Jones
Jennifer Lozano
Kelln Zimmer
The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 200 words or less
and include the author's name, class and phone number. The opinion editor
reserves the right to edit letters for length, style and accuracy. Letters may be submit-
in person at 014 Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Letters also may be
S provided lit nailed to: 014 Reed McDonald, MS 1111, Texas A&M University, Cbllege Station, TX
lowment.
U843-1 1 1 1. Fax: (979) 845-2647 Email: mailcall@thebatt.com
MAIL CALL
v tree speech at its
rafinest — politics
The truth behind
Big Event
A guiltless society
Arabs cannot deny involvement in 9-11 attacks
A\
JONATHAN JONES
recent poll offers a revealing
look at the other side of
.President George W. Bush’s war
on terrorism.
A USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll
asked Muslims in nine Islamic countries
a series of questions concerning the
tragic events of Sept. 1 1 and the U.S.
response to it. Some of the results are
disappointing, but not necessarily sur
prising. After all, one only has to view
translations of Arabic newspapers or tel
evision programming, even among U.S.
allies such as Egypt, to learn about the
elaborate Zionist and American conspir
acies against Muslims. Over the past six
months, European leaders have ques
tioned and complained about everything
from how the prisoners are treated to
the direction and increasing scope of the
effort to root out dangerous terrorist
cells. Now there is evidence of the
extent to which many in the
Arab world are simply out of
touch with reality. But
America must continue to do
what is right.
Despite indisputable evi
dence that the majority of the
Sept. 11 hijackers were from
Saudi Arabia, 86 percent of the
Pakistani and 89 percent of the
Kuwaiti respondents do not
believe Arabs carried out the
attacks. The poll found that
overall, 77 percent of those in
the nine Muslim-majority
countries believe that U.S. mil
itary action in Afghanistan is
morally unjustified. If most of
these countries are U.S. allies,
who have Americans spilled
blood to protect?
The United States spends
billions of dollars in defense
to provide the country with
security, and help ensure
global trade, tranquility, and
prosperity. In addition, U.S.
soldiers have died in three
separate incidents in the past
decade to better the lives of
Muslim people — in Kuwait,
Somalia and Bosnia.
According to the poll, 41 per
cent of Kuwaitis have an
unfavorable view of the United
States.
The United States must do
what is right, no matter what
other countries think. That means stop
ping those who want to bring devastating
hann to America before they get the
opportunity. Religious fanatics blew up
the World Trade Center and attacked the
U.S.S. Cole, the Pentagon and several
American embassies. The Muslim writer
Amir Taheri wrote last October in The
Wall Street Journal, “when pressed hard,
some Muslim leaders admit that bin
Laden is ‘part of Islam,’ but try to mini
mize his place. Dali I Boubakeur, a French
Muslim leader, says that bin Laden does
not represent more than 1 percent of
Muslims. Some comfort. That 1 percent
means almost 13 million people.”
America is, of course, far from per
fect. The U.S. military is far stronger
than any other nation, yet there is no
effort to use that awesome force to con
quer and rule the rest of the world. It is
highly unlikely that any of the countries
in President Bush’s “axis of evil,” or
any totalitarian nation that might sym
pathize with them, would wield such
power with such restraint.
If it is arrogant to say most of the
respondents to the poll are wrong and
seriously misguided, fine. Taheri
believes that, “the Muslim world today
is full of bigotry, fanaticism, hypocrisy
and plain ignorance — all of which cre
ate a breeding ground for criminals like
bin Laden.” There are many good rea
sons to continue the war on terror,
despite other opinions. The safety of
the United States, and those suffering
under stifling societies like the former
Taliban, depend on it. And the moral
objections must end. Many in the
Muslim world, perhaps a large majority,
do not care for the United States. It is
the world’s most effective protector of
democracy, freedom and liberty. Let
them continue in delusion, if they so
wish. But when McDonald’s golden
arches rise over Kabul, the Afghans
will be clearly on the road to recovery.
Overall, U.S. influence and protection
of free and democratic countries is a
necessary part of global security.
Jonathan Jones is a senior
political science major.
ADRIAN
JATTALION
A home for the homeless
ilng-s
>iano D 1
3 this-
lresponse to Rolando Garcia's
)/larch21 article:
Caytie Sarandis, election com-
issioner, was quoted as saying,
lot one of my candidates has
preached me concerning the
sue of First Amendment rights."
lese are not her candidates,
id this is not her election. Last
me I checked these candidates
we running for student govern-
lent positions. Sarandis also
iid, the commission can regu-
itehow SGA chooses its leaders
lithout the First Amendment
mstraints that may apply to the
diversity. I find it hard to
elieve that the SGA is above the
institution of the United States
I America. This is a public uni-
ersity and this is still America.
interpretation of "Who's your
addy? Me.", is that Dubberly
/ants to be a father figure, and
at if elected he will watch over
is constituents and protect us.
lis quote "Pimpin' for the best
amn class pimps are also pro-
ictors of their constituents. And if
!e want his protection we just
lave to vote for him. I fully sup-
jort Dubberly's decision not to
ake down his flyers. I am also
lisappointed that more than 30
fthe 125 candidates in the elec-
on altered their materials for
arandis' approval. I would
roudly vote for anyone who will
land up for his own rights,
ecause he will most definitely
land up for mine.
Henry Thomas
Class of 2004
In response to Richard Bray's
March 21 column:
The main goal of the Big Event
is to say thank you to the entire
Bryan and College Station com
munity for having the patience
and courtesy to put up with all of
the long lines and traffic night
mares caused by 45,000 Aggies.
Both those who are financially
stable and those who are eco
nomically disadvantaged feel
those detrimental side effects,
and thus anyone of any econom
ic background is eligible to have
students come out to their resi
dence and have some work done
for them.
Although some Aggies feel that
the Big Event is not aimed at
helping out those in the commu
nity that are from an economical
ly disadvantaged background, it
in fact is. The Big Event specifi
cally targets several areas in BCS
that really need to be cleaned
up, and sends committee mem
bers out to those areas to hand
out job request forms to door-to-
door residents.
Big Event is aimed at everyone
in the Bryan-College Station
community, but we slightly skew
it towards those who live in
depressed areas. Big Event
encourages community service
for all of Bryan-College Station
and we will help out any resident
who asks for it.
Matt Brennan
Big Event Committee Member
Class of 2002
Gay or not, parents will provide love for orphans
homosexual parents are more likely to become homosexual
themselves. This consensus, found among groups such as
D uring last week’s
“Primetime” inter
view between Diane
Sawyer and Rosie
O’Donnell, there was little
MELISSA FRIED talk about the moral impli
cations of homosexuality.
Instead, the interview centered around a more public issue: the
personal interests of the 568,000 children floating through
America’s foster care system and a particular little boy, Bert,
in Florida. Bert was nine weeks old when Steve Lofton and
Roger Croteau took him home. Like the previous three chil
dren they took into their foster care, Bert was HIV positive and
not wanted by other families because of the stigma and fear of
AIDS. Ten years later, Bert no longer tests positive for HIV
and is deemed “fit for adoption.” Lofton and Croteau, the only
parents Bert has ever known, want to adopt him. But, by
Florida law, they cannot, because they are gay. Although some
Florida lawmakers suggest otherwise, being gay does not make
someone a bad parent.
While there are many contrasting opinions of what makes good
parents, there is a universal agreement that all parents should pro
vide their children with love, protection, guidance and stability.
Unfortunately, rather than considering the life of a child
passed through the circulatory mess of the foster care sys
tem, the current debate focuses on whether gay couples are
able to provide children with the same caring and healthy
family life that the “traditional” family unit provides.
Any parent, gay or straight, willing to assume the respon
sibility of a foster or an adoptive parent role, is someone to
be commended rather than condemned. Often, as with
Lofton and Croteau, these couples take home a child no one
else wants. Lofton and Croteau’s altruistic ways have pro
vided Bert a steady home life — one that is uncommon to
other children still being cycled door-to-door. Every morn
ing they help Bert and his siblings get ready for school, and
in the evening they help them with homework and prepare
them for bed before the entire routine starts over. Florida
lawmakers are wrong to believe that a heterosexual couple
could better perform these universal, parental tasks.
There also is the ever-popular argument that children of
The American Psychological Association, the National
Council for Adoptable Children and the Child Welfare
League of America, is not true. The argument that children of
gay couples will lead a certain sexual lifestyle is like saying
children of bankers will be bankers or children of prostitutes
will be prostitutes. By making such a blanket statement, we
are not giving children enough credit. Children attend school,
watch TV and read books. Each medium portrays the “social
Any parent gay or
straight, willing to assume the
responsibility of a foster or an adoptive
parent role, is someone to he commended
rather than condemned.
norms” and reinforces the ideas of society at large. True, the
child will be exposed and less sensitive to an alternative
lifestyle, but if the parent has created a stable and caring
environment, the parent’s sexual orientation plays no harmful
role in the development of the child.
It is wrong for a child to be subjected to the anguish of the
foster care system when there are families available who are
capable and willing to take them into their home for the love
and attention that they deserve. It is doubly wrong for Florida
politicians to allow their own homophobia to prevent children
from being placed in a home, especially when other heterosex
ual families have cast them back into a system they are desper
ately trying to escape.
“I don’t think America knows what a gay parent looks like: I
am the gay parent.” And thus begins Rosie O’Donnell’s crusade
to save a little boy she hardly knows, but, with three adopted
children of her own, whose circumstances she can understand.
Melissa Fried is a freshman
international studies major.