WORLD
y, June 19, 2003
ch
ued from page 5
lind the lead element,
le company commandj
g-
i was among the soldiers
liling half,
e time the 507th readia!
i, some of the unit’s sol-
officers had gone witf
for 60 hours. As oneoffi-
, they suffered "a fatigue
rsely affected their deci-
ing.”
i/ed
i Mushafafawi,
in the Iraqi army medical
member of former
Saddam Hussein
ty and the director ofile
;aid a policeman
male U.S. soldiers about
Opinion
The Battalion
Page 7 • Thursday, June 19, 2003
were both
he said. They were
wounded, he
; symptoms of shock ami
le read their dog
e Lynch and her I
wa.
Lori,” Mushafafani
I bruises all over
was bleeding from it
evere head wound.”
tewa died soon at
the hospital,
her soldier display evi-
: had been stabbed
, no,” he said. Pressed
nswered, “Maybe D
oe shot.”
afawi said he and
taff cut away Lyncii
id threw her clothes on
She lay on a gurney,
Red, as Iraqi militaiy
;I nurses worked on bet.
had multiple fractures,
iwi said, and a
he described as t
the staff sutured tbe
e was given blood and
s fluids, he said. Ik
X-rays, partly set her
nd applied splints
s to them,
had left her wit
she would have di
w\ said.
S IN BRIEF
ilitary hands
ipe suspect
AP) - A U.S. Matii
of raping a woman in
was arrested
y after U.S.
agreed to turn h
ndictment.
ear-old suspect
cond U.S. serviceman
them Japanese is
ided over to pt
ges were brought by a
The U.S. military not-
is custody of person-
?d of crimes until they
i but can relinquish
ler if the crime
ious enough,
nvolving American
a sensitive issue on
vhere a heavy U,$
tence - about half of
50,000 American
pan - has long been
f friction with resi-
of a schoolgirl by
servicemen in 1995
jtrage on Okinawa
e two countries to
Washington would
thetic consideration'
for the handover of
serious crimes prioi
t.
linst whaling
as in Japan
lP) - Anti-i
icked a Japanese
inesday to resume
whaling, calling for
h into stocks before
f a 17-year interna-
vhaling conference
to 17 against a
tion seeking permis-
50 Bryde's whales a
le North Pacific in
:e is not complete
k delegate Michael
;e country lined up
including Britain,
Korea to defeat the
t the International
nmission's annual
a fresh rejection (of
irces such as Japan,
several Caribbean
the majority voted
strengthen whale
ifforts.
Legalize it
America should follow Canada’s planned decriminalization of marijuana
P eople have debat
ed the worth of
marijuana for
/ears, and the argument
going on. Of the
nany questions asked
ire: Should marijuana
ielegalized in the United States? Is
narijuana addictive? How harmful is
narijuana to the hQman body?
Recently, the debate has heated up
iccause of America’s neighbor to the
, Canada. According to Canada
Inline, Canada’s Justice Minister
dartin Cauchon has made it apparent
hat he will introduce legislation
ometime in 2003 that will decrimi
nalize small amounts of marijuana
or personal use during the upcoming
icssion of Parliament. This could be
nterpreted as a step toward legaliz-
ngmarijuana, one that the United
States should follow.
According to Canada’s Special
Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs,
Marijuana is not a gateway drug
mdshould be treated more like
obacco or alcohol than like harder
Treating these two drugs dif-
erently makes no sense.
At the close of the U.S. national
inthem, it is stated that America is
he “land of the free.” Everyone
mows that it is impossible for people
o enjoy perfect and entire freedom
and still have an organized society,
tut people should be free to make
hoices about their own health with
out the government telling them what
right and wrong.
Canada’s Special Committee on
:gal Drugs states that, on average,
,000 people are arrested each year
forsimple possession of marijuana.
states that each imprisoned
M/ividual costs $50,000 per year.
the math is done, the costs
amount to $1.5 billion per year to
imprison people arrested for posses-
of marijuana. Instead of wasting
money on incarcerating people
possessing relatively small amounts
of marijuana, the Canadian govern-
could spend it to combat legiti-
TIMOTHY GILBERT
mate crime and educate
the public.
The decriminaliza
tion of marijuana does
not mean that people
should be able to smoke
it and get behind the
wheel of a car or participate in any
other activity that could injure anoth
er person. Just like with alcohol,
driving and certain other activities
performed while under the influence
should be illegal. However, smoking
marijuana shouldn’t be banned just
because people can possibly go out
and harm others after smoking.
Many people can and do harm
others without marijuana being
involved at all. Alcohol con
sumption, which was once ille
gal, still results in death and injury.
No one is saying that marijuana is
a harmless drug that only hurts peo
ple when other factors, such as driv
ing, are compounded with it. In fact,
according to “Health and Fitness: A
Guide to a Healthy Lifestyle,” a book
used in health classes on Texas
A&M’s campus, marijuana smoke
“may be more damaging than ciga
rette smoke.”
However, even with this informa
tion, California State University
Northridge’s college of health and
human development reports that
“every year, 40,000 die as a result of
tobacco usage and more than
150,000 people die from alcohol
related causes yet not one person has
ever died from smoking marijuana.”
Still, tobacco and alcohol are per
fectly legal to use and abuse, and
marijuana is not.
If marijuana was treated like its
legal counterparts, many Americans
would have a lot less to worry about.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation
reports that there have been “more
than 10 million marijuana arrests in
the United States since 1970,” which
adds up to more than 300,000 arrests
per year. These are people who now
have criminal records which will fol
low them for the rest of their lives.
All of these unnecessary
arrests also make American taxpay
ers use their tax money for some
thing that is obviously not achieving
its goal. The Marijuana Policy
Project, a lobbying organization,
states that “taxpayers spend nine bil
lion dollars annually to hunt down,
arrest, try and incarcerate marijuana
consumers.” This money could be
spent chasing legitimate criminals or
terrorists.
If people really want to stop or
slow the use of marijuana, then they
are going about it the wrong way.
All the money that is wasted on the
criminal aspects of marijuana could
be pumped into educating children at
an early level of develop
ment about the truths of
the drug. Education
would allow Americans
to make better decisions
about what they want to
do with their bodies.
Timothy Gilbert is a junior
sociology major.
Graphic by Seth Freeman.
Hamas killing Road Map MTV lacking values
S ince President George W. Bush
met with Middle Eastern leaders
to push his Road Map to peace
earlier this month, the media has been
filled with tales of escalating violence
Israel, beginning with the
Palestinian terrorist group Hamas,
which pulled out of the peace process and immedi
ately began engaging in attacks against Israeli mili-
taiyand civilians. During the past week, Israeli heli
copter raids attacked Hamas leadership targets after
which Hamas “responded” by sending one of its
teenage members on a suicide bus bombing.
To refer to the senseless murder of a busload of
innocents as a “response” to a strategically planned
military operation against its enemies would sound
too much like calling the actions equitable, which
are not. In a talk with reporters last Sunday,
Hamas used a different phrase for it — “self-
defense.”
One has to wonder how much of a
threat the old people and children on
that bus were to Hamas.
The United States is engaged in a
type of war previously unheard of
before Sept. 11. It is a war- against no
nation in particular, but against the
forces of evil within multiple nations,
lliese terrorist forces seek the pro
gression of their own particular ide
ologies and savage hatreds through
the death of innocent civilians in the
country of their choosing, using any
method necessary. If the United
States is to fight a war without the formal declara
tions and boundaries of traditional warfare, it is cru
cial that Americans correctly separate justified blood
shed from terrorist butchery.
Members of the Palestinian Liberation
Organization apparently ignore this differentiation.
“(Israili Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s) aim is to dis
credit the Palestinian government and to assassinate
his real enemy, which is the Road Map,” Palestinian
Cabinet Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said earlier this
month. His estimation of the situation is like accus
ing a surgeon of supporting cancer by wishing death
upon the patient while he is trying to remove a
tumor. This is what Sharon was trying to do through
helicopter assaults against the leader of Hamas: stop
terrorist actions against his country by removing the
terrorist leader. Because there were extra casualties in
the process doesn’t mean the act itself was evil —
these are only a few consequences of the new rules
MIKE WALTERS
a
While Israel is
acting in self-
defense, its enemies
have taken to the
street screaming for
blood and
vengeance.
of warfare, rewritten by terrorist
groups that do not allow for neat, tidy
fronts of tanks in the wilderness.
Unfortunately, if Sharon wishes to
attack his terrorist enemies it must be
on their terms: in a crowded street,
where Hamas and other groups hide in
hopes that the sunounding civilians will act as
human shields, yet crying out if anyone innocent
dies. Sharon was only doing what he felt was neces
sary to protect his people against enemies of the
peace, a job refused by Palestinian Prime Minister
Mahmoud Abbas, who insisted he cannot use force
against the militants who have rebuffed his truce
offers.
The first of the military strikes came last
Wednesday, when Israeli helicopters attempted to
assassinate Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi, only
succeeding in wounding him. It was hoped that his
death would cripple the terrorist group, which has
: been responsible for more than 300
deaths in suicide bombing attacks,
according to The Associated Press.
After the attack, Hamas issued a
statement that said its terrorist cells
would be “called upon to act rapidly
to transform the Zionist entity into
blood and ruins.” This organization
makes no bones about its chief objec
tive: the destruction of Israel. So how
could one accuse Israel of acting
wrongly in wishing the destruction of
Hamas and its leaders?
While Israel is acting in self-
defense, its enemies have taken to the street scream
ing for blood and vengeance. Hamas is a terrorist
organization whose only purpose is the annihilation
of Israel through the murder of innocent civilians, as
witnessed by its recent killings. Its acts are not “self-
defense,” despite whatever it might claim, and they
weren’t even aimed at the military forces that initiat
ed the attacks on Hamas leaders.
“We will make no concessions to terror," Sharon
told his cabinet last week, according to an Israeli
government official. Neither should we. As allies
with Israel in the War on Terror, the United States
must make sure it correctly identifies the terrorists
and the victims, and places its sympathy — if not aid
— with those who share our values against the com
mon enemy of evil.
Mike Walters is a junior
psychology major.
(U-WIRE) AMES, Iowa — I have come
to expect little to nothing intelligent from
MTV. It’s amazing how much the producers
of “MTV Cribs’ feel the camera needs to
move around when touring celebrity refriger
ators, simply to keep the miniature attention
span of the viewers focused on the show. I
honestly feel that my brain matter is being
reduced every time I see “Spring Break
Karaoke” or a very boring Carson Daly pres
ent 20 percent of the number one video on
“TRL.”
Now, unintelligence I.can handle, but
recently the channel seems intent on elimi
nating not only intelligence, but any ethical
standards a young person may have. MTV
has followed in the footsteps of the advertis
ing, movie, and clothing industry in advo
cating a liberal lifestyle.
MTV has run and re-run a sad attempt at
an investigative report on marijuana use in
the United States and Canada. The young
reporter visited bong shops, drug dealers,
marijuana clubs and drug users with virtually
no dialogue other than, “So how long have
you been using?” After the segment ended, I
wasn't left with information about the nega
tive side of using marijuana, but I did find
out I should use “psychedelic purple” weed
to get rid of my migraines.
Other attempts at journalism include a
recent piece about body art. It consisted of a
dialogue between young people who have
tattoos or alternative piercings. The discus
sion focused on how ridiculous parents were
for not letting their kids be “individuals,”
those who define themselves by how odd
they cart look. I have a tattoo myself, but I
respect the fact that parents may not approve
of their children doing so. MTV, however,
does not respect any ethical or personal con
duct code other than the very low one which
they think younger generations should have.
These are simple, yet blatant attempts to
convey a message that kids should be free to
do as they please, regardless of parents who
hold their children to a higher standard than
“Spring Break Cancun.”
Virtually every show crosses the line of
appropriate behavior. From the over-sexed
“Spring Break” shows to “Urban Myth”
shows exploring sexual issues, from “The
Real World” to “The Osbournes,” MTV has
apparently made a serious effort to add inap
propriateness to every program available. I'm
curious if it has bothered anyone else that a
channel solely aimed at youth has a show
called “Undressed.” A description of the
show on MTV's Web site, www.mtv.com,
reads, “Not getting enough action before you
go to bed? Undressed will definitely be
changing that!” What great programming to
promote a liberal lifestyle for the most
impressionable members of society.
It seems rather obvious that many liberals,
especially those in the media, would simply
rather be comfortable and unchallenged. It's
easy to laugh about your newest anti-Bush
bumper sticker, compare him to Hitler, and
talk about the latest rumors regarding the
secret memo that reveals Cheney’s intentions
to drill for oil in Central Park. It is more dif
ficult to understand the opposite side of an
issue and write an objective news story than
it is to spin facts to spread a liberal ideology.
Yes, the press and the media have freedom
of speech. MTV has the right to convey reck
less messages that are within the law, just as
they are now. I, too, have the freedom of
speech, and I think that MTV has become the
trashiest channel available on basic cable.
It's common to hear someone say, “Don't
put your morals on me,” or something to
that effect. The truth is that is just some
thing people with no standards say in order
to make it sound as if having no standards
should simply be okay.
Despite common criticism, it’s okay to
attempt to hold others to a higher standard.
Having a different set of values does not
mean that one can make no attempt to per
suade those of a different ideology, political
or otherwise, to adopt those same values. I
believe it is inappropriate for MTV or other
youth-targeted media entities to suggest that
kids need not be held accountable to their
parents’ standards.
Parents should and do have the right to
let their children watch whatever they feel is
appropriate. I, however, think MTV has
become a moral hazard to every impression
able person who could watches it. MTV will
not be on in my household; my children will
not watch it, and I honestly think they will
be better people because of it.
Nathan Borst is a columnist
at Iowa State University.