College campuses across the nation are stunned by the air strikes the United States began against Afghanistan on Sunday. Here are a few of the reactions from college newspapers:
Where’s the other news?
The news is dominated, as it should be, by the reverberations around the world from the attacks on America. The front page always includes the big developments in this ongoing dilemma for that day. But can’t some news exist outside this right now? Is it possible that every piece of news has been touched by the events of the 11th? Is there such a thing as an isolated event?
The biggest news of late is that George W. Bush has sent $320 million dollars in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. We’re flying dangerous missions through possible Taliban anti-aircraft fire and desert storms that spring from nowhere to bring supplies into this impoverished nation. Why?
Well, there is poverty, disease and starvation. Yes, that’s all true but that’s not really, really why. The real reason is that we’re trying to butter up these guys in the Middle East and widen the divide between the people of Afghanistan and the Taliban.
Chris Townsend
FSView & Florida Flambeau
(Florida State U.)
Media mustn’t settle
for a press release war
Sure, there are humanitarian justifications for the bombings. Some 7.5 million lives are at risk from starvation or exposure. Not that we expect cruise missiles and high ordinance explosions to abate the famine in Afghanistan. Not that we expect any of the aid packages we drop to be distributed. Nor should we expect more success in Afghanistan than in humanitarian actions in Somalia.
We run the risk of dropping food and blankets on people who need other things — like infrastructure and sustainable agriculture. Air-dropping supplies is a patchwork solution to systemic problems and may even create refugees while exposing recipients to further repression.
So, we’re at war. At this point, what we must do is challenge the press to refuse to settle for Pentagon press releases. The media should be free to investigate and interrogate the practices of our government. Citizens inside and outside the university community should explore and debate U.S. foreign policy, including the rationale of training men like Osama bin Laden.
Staff Editorial
Daily Texan (U. Texas-Austin)
U.S. must use force cautiously
The Taliban asked bin Laden to leave, but did not give him to U.S. authorities. The training camps remained open. And Sunday, U.S. forces responded with military action.
U.S. officials moved cautiously, and for this they should be commended. They didn’t cave in to the cries for Afghan blood. Instead they were methodical about making sure of bin Laden’s involvement and the safe haven the Taliban was providing. Sunday’s strikes were calculated and aimed at Afghanistan’s military, rather than its innocent civilians.
Now, the United States needs to remain just as cautious as before. Our government must continue to act with jurisprudence. If we stop using good judgment, this conflict will turn into a politically motivated coup rather than a justified retaliation.
Staff Editorial
Kentucky Kernel (U. Kentucky)
Country’s response
is becoming vigilantism
The U.S. response to the tragedies of Sept. 11 is turning from shock and anger into a fanaticism that leaves no room for rational critique and analysis.
Hate crimes across the nation are only a glimpse of the emotionality that threatens to plunge the country into blind vigilantism. Everyone knows of someone who has been threatened or harassed since the attacks — Guardian staffers, too, have suffered from the backlash — but few seem to realize that the spirit behind the harassment is perpetuated through other, more socially acceptable means.
Catherine Navarro
The Guardian (U. California-San Diego)
Killing bin Laden
will only continue war
Bin Laden would be a martyr like no other. His death in the face of the “American war mongers” would serve as a rallying point for other fundamentalists all around the world. Thousands of young Islamic men would take up arms — young men out to prove something, orphaned adolescents with no one else to follow, and other extremists looking for a reason to terrorize.
Should bin Laden fall victim to a U.S. strike, his followers and new supporters from all over the world will continue his war against America.
Matt Chain
Washington Square News (New York U.)
Keep eating bagels
War is war. It is a scary and morally ambiguous thing. And while it will affect us all in one way or another, it is vital to the running of America to continue with our lives.
Go to class. Eat a bagel. Watch a movie, pay your bills, play a game of football — just keep living. Osama bin Laden wants to disrupt our lives and destroy our “evil Western decadence.” If that’s not a rally cry for us to eat, drink and be merry, then what is?
We can’t live in fear because that means we lose. That makes us cowards and America is not about cowardice — it’s about freedom, so enjoy it.
Staff Editorial
Daily O’Collegian (Oklahoma State U.)
