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EDITORIAL
Maroon Out
A need to investigate
Since its inception in 1998, Aggies have associated purchasing
Maroon Out T-shirts with showing the 12th Man spirit and fund
ing a good cause at the same time. However, much of the hard-
earned money and effort students expend on these T-shirts has
inexplicably disappeared. The Memorial Student Center does not
know the whereabouts of the $48.(XK) to $61 .(XX) worth of Maroon
Out T-shirts.
The Texas A&M community deserves to know where its
money or T-shirts are and what kind of deficiencies existed that
made such an embarrassing accounting discrepancy possible. An
independent investigation into the location of the missing T-shirt
funds should be launched.
To its credit, the Class Councils requested an audit and has
implemented changes that should prevent this type of mistake in
the future. To some, it might seem counterproductive to investi
gate an accounting discrepancy that occurred a year ago. But this
incident is a virtual paradigm for what happens when organiza
tions do not assume the proper responsibilities or take the neces
sary precautions when dealing with fund money. As Matt Fuxan,
the 2002-2003 Maroon Out director and a senior international
studies major put it: “It’s like Bonfire, you don’t really fix (a bro
ken system) until something goes wrong.”
MSC student organizations need to take proactive measures
when dealing with Aggies’ money and inventory expected to ben
efit all Aggies.
Aggies should be further concerned that the misplacing of this
money — discovered in November — has only now been
revealed. Students deserve answers as to why this error in account
ing was not revealed for 10 months.
An independent investigation might prove useful in finding
more mistakes that allowed such a large sum of money to disap
pear. The cooperation of the MSC in such an endeavor would also
send a message that it responds to students’ concerns and tries to
rectify glaring errors.
THE BATTALION
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor in Chief
Managing Editor
Opinion Editor
Metro Editor
Sommer Hamilton
Elizabeth Webb
Jenelle Wilson
Sarah Szuminski
Metro Asst.
Member
Member
Member
C.E. Walters
Collins Ezeanyim
Matt Maddox
Matt Rigney
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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 sub-
witted in person m 014 Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Letters also may
be mailed to: 014 Reed McDonald, MS till, Texas A&M University, College
Station,TX 77843-1 111. Fax: (979) 845-2647 Email: mailcall@thebattalion.net
MAIL CALL
Cartoon spreads
false ADD stigma
In response the Sept. 15
Crazy Jake cartoon:
In Mr. Mouse’s cartoon
yesterday “Crazy Jake,”
Attention Deficit Disorder
(ADD) was portrayed as
being humorous. Not only is
this not funny but completely
distasteful and disrespectful.
It portrays someone having
ADD as stupid, slow, and
having a short memory. Just
because he can’t tell a joke
right, doesn’t mean he has
ADD. In fact, many children
or people who grow up with
ADD are very bright; they
just have a hard time doing
one thing for a long amount
of time.
I know someone personally
who has ADD, and not only
graduated from an IB league
high school, but also went on
to graduate from Baylor
University with a Graphics
Design degree, and was
treated just like other stu
dents. She was one of the
top students in all of her art
classes. Even in today’s
tough job market, she was
able to get a good job in
graphics design. ADD is con
sidered seriously by many
people, and it isn’t something
to joke about.
Stacy Mooring
Class of 2006
Evolution not a
scientific theory
In response to Mid hat
Farooqi's Sept. 15 column:
“There’s a definite design!
And a design suggests a
designer!” So said renowned
evolutionist Paul Amos
Moody when he realized his
vain attempts couldn’t prove
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.
Sadly, most disillusioned
Darwinian followers won’t
ever share this revelation—
the oxymoron of evolution
ary science: completely
unscientific science.
Evolution assembles no
proof substantiating its
claims for God’s nonexis
tence. Neither can it disprove
the weighty evidences for his
existence. Further, it cannot
explain mysteries like
entropy or the case of the
missing link.
Clint Rainey
Class of 2007
Opinion
The Battalion
Page 5B • Thursday, September 18, 2003
Protecting the skies
New airline screening systems need improvement
I t has become apparent that when in doubt,
the American government color codes.
There’s the infariTous “terror alert” hue
gradation and the traffic system. However, this
time, the elementary school strategy is neces
sary to protect people on airplanes. The govern
ment is using color codes to classify the security
risk of airline travelers, according to The
Washington Post. The new screening system
will analyze a dossier of materials to determine
a passenger’s color-coded risk level.
Critics of the new and more comprehensive security screening
system hail it as a monumental invasion of privacy, but as is so
often the case, personal privacy must be sacrificed for the sake of
America’s collective safety. The crux of
whether the new system will succeed or
fail lies in which screening criteria
are chosen.
The Transportation Security
Administration is in the final
stages of developing its new sys
tem, Computer Assisted Passenger
Pre-screening System II, or simply
CAPPS II. According to The Post,
CAPPS II screens passengers in
two stages. First, information sup
plied by both airlines and private
companies will be used to deter
mine the probability that the name
on the ticket is in fact the true
identity of the person boarding
the plane. The information'gar
nered will vary in scope of inva-
siveness, from standard, driver
license type data to information
provided by private companies
that catalogue things such as one’s
shopping habits for commercial
reasons and in turn, pass this
information along to the TSA. The
second step incorporates what The
Post vaguely terms “government
intelligence” into the existing pas
senger profile and identifies any
outstanding warrants one may
have for violent felonies.
Finally, a numerical score is
generated based on this smorgas
bord of information which ulti
mately determines one’s color
code: green, yellow or red. Unlike
the terror alert color system,
which in no way coincides with
common sense, this color code is
consumer friendly and easy to read
because it works just like the traffic system lights
If a person is green, he or she sails through security without a grace
hitch. If the color is red, the person may end up getting arrested.
Literally.
Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union have
problems with CAPPS II. The Post cites Barry Steinhardt,
director of the ACLU’s technology and liberty program, as say
ing: “This system is going to be replete with errors. You could
be falsely arrested. You could be delayed. You could lose your
ability to travel.”
As inconvenient and problem-ridden as the color system may
be, the fact remains that the current system is glaringly ineffec
tive. Something must be done.
The current screening system employs certain criteria which
9-11 has proven to be both antiquated and easily manipulated,
and must be ousted. The existing air security screening system
will flag a traveler as a potential risk if his ticket is either one
way or purchased with cash. The terrorist hijackers of 9-11, how
ever, bought round-trip tickets with credit cards. These screening
measures pose no obstacles to groups such as al-Qaida.
Noticeably absent from the profile formulated about each trav
eler is race. As a type of information that could easily be obtained
from one’s driver license, race as a criterion is not particularly
invasive, but its use is stigmatized as “racial profiling” and is for
bidden as such by the federal government.
Fedwa Malti-Douglas, an Arab-American aca-
demic, argues the case that race should be used in
airport screening procedures in an op-ed piece
which appeared in The New York Times, enti
tled, “Let Them Profile Me.” Malti-
Douglas attests to the inconvenience
but necessity of such security has
sles, saying, “Arab-Americans
like me want to be safe when we
fly. Cooperating with security
procedures, even when we suspect
that we are getting more atten
tion than our fellow citizens,
makes sense. Does anyone
really want a security official
to hesitate before stopping a
suspicious passenger out of
a fear of an accusation of
bias?”
The TSA is justified in
invading America’s collective
privacy for the sake of safety,
but the system must be updated
and made more efficient and
unimpeded by the dictates of
political correctness. Because
of the way the new screening
system works, no one criterion
(save for perhaps an outstand
ing arrest warrant) will cause a
passenger to be coded as red or
even yellow and thus be
detained or forbidden to fly,
which is as it should be. Race
should be taken into considera
tion. It is simply illogical for
CAPPS II to create a profile of
someone based on information
ranging from his home address
to something as invasive as one’s
personal shopping habits and
exclude a criterion as basic as race
Arenas ■
in the name of being inoffensive.
The United States’ national security is too important to com
promise by walking on eggshells.
Lindsye Forson is a senior
journalism major.
A tedious and dangerous fight
L ast week, the
president erred
in comparing
the rebuilding of post
war Iraq to rebuilding
post-war Japan and
Germany. “America has
done this kind of work
before,” President
George W. Bush said.
“Following World War
II, we lifted up the defeated nations of
Japan and Germany and stood with them
as they built representative governments.”
But Iraq is not another Japan or Germany.
To use a new Marshall Plan in Iraq is
to forget the most important and obvious
variable that will continuously haunt the
rebuilding process terrorism. The
duality therein, the existence of and
necessity to fight terrorism, will make
the rebuilding process just as tedious as
it is dangerous.
Japan and Germany were not terrorist
states before the United States aided in
their redevelopment and thus the
Marshall Plan did not have to factor it in.
As disgusting as it is, the extermination
of Jews in Europe was not meant to
strike terror in the hearts of gentiles but
to relieve them.
Such a seemingly small difference
between the philosophy behind 1940s
Germany and the present-day terrorism in
the Middle East is precisely why Iraq is
such a different venture for the United
States. Never before has the United States
had to rebuild a nation while fighting ter
rorism; this poses a problem.
“Our strategy in Iraq ” Bush said, “has
three objectives: destroying the terrorists,
enlisting the support of other nations for a
free Iraq and helping Iraqis assume
responsibility for their own defense and
their own future.”
Two out of three ain’t bad.
Destroying the terrorists will be nearly
impossible, because Iraq is poised to
become the newest target of terrorist
aggression in the Middle East. If, as terror
ism experts have suggested, the cause of
Islamic terrorism is the hatred of the influ
ence of Western culture and government,
then it would seem the new Iraq presents
itself as the perfect target.
And what can the United
States do?
Israel is one of the most,
if not the most, specialized
countries to combat terror
ism. It has won numerous
wars against nations whose
citizens now must slip
silently into the country and
resort to murdering civil
ians in a vain attempt to
achieve victory. Yet Israel cannot defend
against all the terrorists acts occurring
inside its borders.
If Israel, a strongly democratic and
largely free state, cannot secure its
domestic front, it doesn’t say much as
Iraq — currently under martial law — has
suffered largescale terrorist attacks
already. It would seem that the freer Iraq
becomes, the easier it will be for terrorists
to organize and act. It is, after all, free
societies that are the most vulnerable to
acts of terrorism.
The war is a paradox. While simultane
ously fueling terrorist resentment to the
war, of which the rebuilding of Iraq is a
vital part, it also reduces the numbers of
terrorists as well as their resources.
This increased resentment is not to be
desired, but motive without opportunity is
nothing. With dwindling numbers and the
elimination of vast resources, terrorist
opportunity is fading but will never be
completely eliminated.
The war on terror is like the war on
drugs with the same hyperbolic result.
Both wars are fought not with victory
being the absence of drug users or terror
ists, but with victory being defined simply
by a reduction in drug users or terrorists.
In other words, no matter how many
D.A.R.E. programs children see, there
will always be one willing
to try marijuana or some
other drug. Similarly, no
matter how forceful the
United States is against ter
ror, there will always be
someone willing to take his
own life while murdering
others in the name of terror.
If successful, the two
campaigns will continuously
reduce the number of drug
users and terrorists, but because of the
human factor, the numbers will never
reach zero.
Does this notion diminish the integrity
of the cause? No. But it is something that
all Americans need to be aware of. The
violence in Iraq, and in the Middle East in
general, will not end anytime soon.
“The war on terror,” Bush said, “would
be a lengthy war, a different kind of war,
fought on many fronts in many places.”
What he didn’t say or couldn’t say was
that the war on terror would be perpetual,
not just lengthy.
The reality of this battle needs to be
brought home. The war of terror will not
end; it will not be easy; but it’s still
worth fighting.
Michael Ward is a senior
history major.
MICHAEL
WARD
a
The war on terror
is like the war on
drugs with the same
hyperbolic result.