THURSDAY,APRIL3,2003
WAR
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN - 9A
Parents should discuss war topics
By Nikki Overfelt
overfelt@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
War isn't easy for college students to understand, but imagine being 4 years old.
Students like Lori Bell, Pittsburgh sophomore, are learning to see the war from a different perspective: that of their children.
Bell's 4-year-old son, Matthew, whom she describes as inquisitive and smart, has begun to pick up on news broadcasts discussing the war.
"He hears the word, but doesn't understand the concept," she said.
Bell and her husband want to answer his questions, but they also want to shield him from being overwhelmed and worried. Bell said.
"It's scary for us," she said about the war. "We don't want to scare him."
But she also realizes they can't protect him from everything, she said.
"You can't shelter them forever," she said.
Bell isn't alone. There are approximately 775 students at the University of Kansas who have children, according to the Office of Institutional Research and Planning.
It's important to talk to kids about the war if they are asking questions, said Eric Vernberg, child psychology professor and director of the KU Child and Family Services Clinic. Vernberg is also one of the core experts for the Terrorism and Disaster branch of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.
How much parents talk to their children about war depends on the child and his age, he said.
With younger children, parents should be particularly protective because they have the hardest time understanding the events, Vernberg said.
"Parents should serve as a buffer and protective shield to information," he said.
This information includes both
media coverage and conversations about the war.
If children are young enough that they are not aware of the war and are not expressing interest, it's not necessary to inform them of all that's going on, he said.
For kids who are in middle-to-late elementary school it's important for parents to talk to them because they've probably heard about it at school, Vernberg said.
The kids can have dramatic misunderstandings about things, such as how much personal danger they are in, he said, so it's necessary for parents to clarify what's happening.
For children of all ages, Vernberg said, it's good to watch coverage of the war with them and limit the amount of coverage they are watching.
"I don't think it's helpful for kids to see a lot of coverage," he said. "A lot of images are kind of disturbing."
The images can cause the children to worry about their personal safety and can cause them
to become preoccupied with the war and have nightmares, he said. The images can also spur anxiety for people they know are involved in the war, he said.
Bill Tuttle is an American studies professor who has done research on children coping in World War II. Tuttle said the danger with war coverage was that it often blends in with other television programming.
"Children can almost become desensitized," Tuttle said, "because it's just like another show."
Tuttle said the most important advice for parents was to tell children you would always be there for them, and you understood their fears.
For more information about talking to children about the war students can contact the KU Child and Family Services Clinic at 864-4416.
Kansan staff writer Nicole Roche contributed to this story.
- Edited by Brandon Gay
Students discover war similarities
By Kevin Wiggs
kwiggs@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
While American troops make their way to Baghdad, University of Kansas students are sitting in classrooms learning about past wars and the similarities between them and the war in Iraq.
Ted Wilson, professor of history, teaches the "The History of the Second World War." He said he did not attempt to focus on Iraq, but he couldn't ignore what was going on overseas.
"I haven't changed the class," Wilson said. "But I do take the opportunity to point out parallels at appropriate times."
Wilson said students could better understand the war in Iraq if they learned about past conflicts, such as defending supply lines, the training of troops, the attitude of the country, government propaganda and media coverage. For instance, the Japanese Kamikaze pilots of World War II parallel suicide bombers.
"We are watching history in the making," he said. "And we can have a better understanding by paying attention to the issues World War II possessed."
Kaci Nash, Omaha, Neb. sophomore, said she enjoyed taking the class because she could study the long-term affects of war, as well as the patterns as they developed.
The more I study World War II
"We are watching history in the making. And we can have a better understanding by paying attention to the issues World War II possessed."
Ted Wilson Professor of history
the more parallels I see, and it's scary to see the result," she said. "In 20 years people will be studying this war, and we are a part of it."
Steve Sodergren, graduate teaching assistant for the class, said the students were at an advantage by taking the class at this time.
"They read their textbooks and then have the media for a frame of reference," he said. "It's impossible to not make connections."
Sodergren said he devoted class time to discussion and linked the two conflicts but tried to avoid political debates. He said that although students were paying more attention to the war in Iraq, they were not relating it to World War II as much as he would like.
"The present is a reflection of history," he said. "It is important to understand history to understand our present, just don't overdo it or you'll become burned out and psychologically damaged."
- Edited Melissa Hermreck
American forces battle in sight of Baghdad
American forces fought their way to within sight of Baghdad's skyline yesterday and claimed the destruction of a pair of menacing Republican Guard divisions.
Bombs shook the capital as Army and Marine armored columns took separate, converging paths toward the city from the south.
The Associated Press
thousands of troops within the so-called red zone — an imaginary line on the map near the capital where Iraqi use of weapons of mass destruction is most feared.
The rapid advances brought
An Army Black Hawk helicopter was downed by small-arms fire near Karbala, site of fierce fighting between the Army's 3rd Infantry Division and Iraqi troops, including Republican Guard forces. Seven soldiers were killed and four were wounded and rescued.
officials said.
The military campaign unfolded as Pfc. Jessica Lynch, a 19-year-old prisoner of war freed in a daring nighttime rescue, was flown to Germany for medical treatment.
But the joy over her freedom was tempered by word that the special forces who rescued her also found 11 bodies.
Increasingly, there were signs that Iraqi civilians were eager for
the arrival of invading forces. Some smiled and waved as Marines rolled through Nasiriyah in tanks and other military vehicles.
There were moments of humanity, as well, in the 2-week-old war. In Nasiriyah, American snipers summoned help for an Iraqi woman in labor in a pickup truck. Navy Hospitalman 1st Class Kyle Morris delivered a healthy baby and named her "America."
Battles in Iraq may endanger artifacts from ancient world
By Kelley Weiss
kweiss@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
In Western Civilization, a graduation requirement for most students, the class begins with the Mesopotamia, the Fertile Crescent and the city of Babylon. All of these monuments, dating back to the beginning of the first urban civilizations, are in modern-day Iraq.
In any war, markers of cultural heritages are in danger. But in Iraq, the traces of civilization's beginnings could be at stake.
Associate professor of French and Italian and Humanities and Western Civilization, Diane Fourny, teaches Western Civilization.
Fourny said she was concerned about the fate of the rich history of Iraq's monuments. She said she specifically had noticed an early image of the war that showed a startling familiar image. The image displayed a palace representing the Ziggurat formation of ancient Aztec and Mesopotamia civilizations. After looking twice, Fourny realized it was Saddam Hussein's palace built in the image of the ancient Ziggurat.
Seeing the damaged remains of the palace was upsetting to Fourny, not because it was Hussein's palace, but because it was a building built in the tradition of the Mesopotamia.
"I found it very sad when I was showing a slide from 3,500 years ago of a Ziggurat in my Western Civilization class and realized that American bombs were blowing up the modern version." Fourny said.
Fourny said the world would lose an important part of history if thousand-year old monuments from the country were destroyed.
"Not only human life would we be lost in war but human memory," Fourny said.
Ivana Radovanovic, professor of anthropology, said many archaeological monuments in Iraq dated back to the beginning of civilization. The first recorded script, by King Hummarabi, of inscriptions of law, the city of Babylon and the first record of a
Radovanovic said that the way the media was portraying Iraq and what most people thought about the country was void of the huge importance of the history of Iraq.
food producing community were found in Kurdish territory.
"When you say Iraq people see desert, sand and oil," Radovianovic said. "They're not aware that it's much more than that — for me it is ancient Babylon, not just sand and oil."
If the monuments and archaeological sites in Iraq were to be damaged or destroyed it would be a tragedy, Radovanovic said.
"It would be disastrous and horrible," Radovanovic said. "All these monuments are monuments of human history."
Roche Lindsey, Dubois, Wyo. graduate student in archaeology, said although he was worried about the safety of the archaeological sites in Iraq the likelihood of any real destruction was minimal.
"The reality of what will really get affected is very small because they are underground." Lindsey said. "Although things in the open air hidden by a Tell, or hill, soldiers won't know it's a site."
If artifacts were to be destroyed, though, it would have irreplaceable effects. Lindsey said.
"Archaeology is a nonrenewable resource." Lindsey said. "Once it's gone it's gone."
John Alexander, professor of history, used the example of priceless artifacts destroyed in Lindengrad, modern-day St. Petersburg, by the Germans during World War II as what could be lost in war. Several pieces of art were taken by the Germans and Russians, and much of it was destroyed during air raids.
But, Alexander said he was not concerned that the coalition forces would target ancient monuments and artifacts in Iraq.
"I think the American command would be very loathe to be accused of destroying the heritage in Iraq," Alexander said. "Ethically they would be very reluctant."
- Edited by Brandon Gay
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