SPOK HE BAHAI Opinion The Battalion Page 5B • Wednesday, April 2, 2003 Depiorabie acts Iraqi forces in violation of Geneva Convention must be held accountable IMON * THE BA-. »sse Madercor s begin today. c third in the' il second in I women { t the Ton in part to i >ie thr finishes j to act ince tm r an injury I ,o years in otentiallyc icmimiyu gold met in the woe ; inches, competiti ead Coac ;ry hard) e her out . velin teat the men Marrs le. TOO). 1 •egins tct ing off a' dua ng for the pitcl re that we did «’ effectively,” Pi lay after the *al hearing, iginally was ■ five games, d had it cut to veek. slugger Vlad uspended for hanging the m spring trad ped his appe. >r the com mi' :lilting the pc s. U .S. forces in Iraq have been destroying organized resistance rapidly, leading Saddam Hussein and his followers to la horrible conclusion: to sur- Ivive, they must violate the ■ rules of war against Allied ■forces and even their own [people. Forcing their own [soldiers to fight at gunpoint, parading prisoners of war on television and using terrorist tactics to ambush U.S. troops all are deplorable and avoid able acts that Iraq is committing, and all are being covered by the media. (The United States and its allies must Jact now to prevent events such as ■these from happening and to let those ^responsible know they will not ;scape punishment. The Iraqi regime has undertaken an array of acts that run counter to :he Geneva Convention and the nor- nal conduct of war. For example, when Iraq paraded American POWs around on state TV, it violated Article 13 of the Geneva Convention, according to The Houston Chronicle. Article 13 states that prisoners must ae protected from “insults and public mriosity,” meaning that they can’t be humiliated and displayed in front of the public to show they have been captured. The United States and its allies have reportedly captured senior officers and other Iraqi soldiers, according to The Chronicle, yet none of them have been seen on videotape released to the general public. Iraqis have perpetrated an even worse crime, as Marines found four bodies ear An Nasiriyah dressed in merican uniforms who appeared to ave been executed POWs. It is believed that these are some of the same soldiers who appeared in tele- DAVII) SHOEMAKER vised interrogations previous ly, according to The Chronicle. This is simply appalling, showing that Saddam and his forces, despite all their crow ing about the United States’ “illegal war,” have even less respect for international law than they claim the United States has. And as if this were not enough, Saddam is now sending his troops on suicide attacks against U.S. troops. The Chronicle reports that Iraq’s Foreign Minister, Naji Sabri, claims these soldiers volunteer for the duty. This may not be entirely true because, in an even worse inci dent reported by The New York Times, Iraqi officers are shooting their own soldiers in the back for refusing to fight. U.S. troops found an Iraqi private who had sustained a small caliber gunshot to the back of the head at close range, indicating that he had been shot by one of his superior officers. Other soldiers reported similar behavior in other areas, where troops who did not want to fight were forced to do so at gun point. All of these incidents seem to fit a pattern of Saddam’s total disre gard for the conventions of war, and even for the troops who are fighting for his survival. Allied forces can no longer simply sit by; something must be done to improve the situation. The Allies should use the media, diplomatic channels and the troops on the ground to put an end to Saddam’s deadly games. First, the Allies need to make it clear to those in Saddam’s regime that any further mistreatment of Allied prisoners is intolerable. Any treatment of POWs in violation of the Geneva Convention should result in those responsible being tried for war crimes. Although this threat may not dissuade Saddam’s lackeys, at least after the war's end there will be jus tice for the POWs' families and a way to keep war criminals out of post-war Iraq. Regardless of how these threats are delivered to the Iraqi armed forces, the U.S. stance must be made clear. However, Allied forces need to reach out to average Iraqi citizens and soldiers. They must be encouraged to revolt against officers forcing them to fight and to turn over Saddam loyal ists in hiding. But these requests must be backed up with pledges of protec tion and of monetary rewards. These kinds of offers are communicated well by leaflets dropped from air planes and by interaction with troops on the ground. Allied forces must act now to prevent the spread of illegal and inhumane tactics by Saddam’s forces across the rest of Iraq before more people die needlessly. David Shoemaker is a junior management major. Graphic by Josh Darwin. Media must remain impartial during war Anti-war protests seemingly given more attention than those supporting war Nicholas Teddei Arianne Thigpei Carl Thorpe Cruz Torres Jennifer Tranlltf Katie Treadwell Carol Treece Amy Trevino Kimberly Tryce Annee Tucker Marco Valadez Stephanie Villaj# Marc Wade Ashley Wagnon Jessica Walcik Katie Wall Rorey Walsh Claudia Waylanl Mary Weeks James Weinman Bethany Whetsto# Ryan White Darrell WigginsJ 1 Genevieve WilW 1 Daryl Williams Joseph Williams Veronica Willi3l , Elisa Wilson Natalie Wilson Jennifer Woods® 1 Melinda Wu Emily Yendell Kerri Yu Monique Ziebr® T he media have always been criticized for having some sort of bias, which has become more appar ent since the war with Iraq has been in the spot light. Some journalists have seemingly forgotten one of the basic rules of journalism: objectivity. For something to be considered biased, it does not have to come from a newscaster preaching that war with Iraq is wrong. Bias is sometimes more apparent in an editor’s decision about what news story to run or in a reporter’s decision about who to interview. Bias tends to happen, whether intended or not. Bias can come from both directions — liberal versus conser vative or pro-war versus anti-war, depending on the news agency. Flip back and forth between CNN, Fox News and other stations and notice the difference. The success of the war in Iraq could partially rely on public opinion, especially among American citizens. This is why it is important for the media to remain impartial and to present both sides of the issue. It is possible that if more Americans who sup port President George W. Bush were represented, public opinion might change. The fact that the news media have covered so many anti-war protests around the globe creates the feeling among their audi ences that practically everyone is against the war in Iraq. This might mean that some Bush supporters, thinking themselves a minority, are afraid to voice their opinions. Maybe members of the media are not necessarily to blame KATHARINE MCHENRY for creating a kind of bias in this particular coverage. News editors likely consider the protests newsworthy, biit it is necessary to remind the public that what it is seeing is only half of the story. Chances are, most people who are content with America’s foreign policy are not going to go out and march with signs that say “We’re happy with the status quo.” Yes, there have been a few pro-war protests covered in the media, but anti-war protests have seemingly been given more publicity. This may have to do with the fact that there are, on the whole, fewer pro-war protests than anti-war ones, but is it really necessary to keep showing the peace demonstrators? Almost all of the anti-war protests look the same. People wave signs saying things such as “Bomb Texas too” or “Bush is Hitler” while they chant in unison, “No to war.” Why is it necessary to keep bombarding Americans with the same story day after day? Peace demonstrations have been given more coverage than they deserve, at least as far as newsworthiness is concerned. It has also been difficult to go more than a day or two with out seeing a well-known — but not necessarily well-informed — celebrity criticize the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. Unfortunately, it is the stars, not average American citizens, who have automatic publicity to express their views. Award shows, specifically the Grammys and Oscars, provide a perfect opportunity for entertainers to rant about the injustices of the world, the favorite of which is that the candidate whom they backed was not elected president of the United States. Because celebrities receive so much media attention from their statements, some people may be led to believe that these entertainers’ overwhelming views represent a majority of Americans, which certainly is not the case. On the opposite end of the spectrum from the so-called liber al media, there are such organizations as the ultra-conservative Media Research Center, which has the goal of bringing “balance and responsibility to the news media.” According to the Media Research Center, there are at least a few stars who support the American policy toward Iraq. Among this elite few are Kelsey Grammer, Dennis Miller, Kid Rock and Vince Vaughn. However, most people probably have not heard about these entertainers’ views because celebrities who back Bush do not receive the coverage that other celebrities get when they shame lessly say, “I’m embarrassed to be an American.” By now, everyone has probably lost count of the number of stars who have made that statement. Maybe the media think anti-war celebrities make for more interesting stories, but surely the idea of a celebrity actually supporting the United States should make the front page. Katharine McHenry is a senior journalism major. MAIL CALL JV, a trainN ►ril 8th, 5:3C 'ompletell 1 (5 UNITS) STAIR, AMERICA, © USf\, ®LftnDOF Wt FREE, SHaTE. OF THE 8RWF-, (I B&flWH, <4i8firraM\K otheBottf klk, il adstW, f ttte the Outback,