4a
Opinion
Thursday, November 9, 2000
For comments, contact Ben Voosen Embry or Emily Hughey at 864-4924 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com
Perspective
People should adopt crusade against SOA
presiding of church. The previous day, he had begged the El Salvadoran army to end its repression of his fellow citizens. His assassins were soldiers, graduates of the United States Army School of the Americas
On March 23,1980, Archbishop Oscar Romero was shot and killed while presiding over mass in his El
Nine months later, 767 people, mostly women and children, were massacred in El Mozote, El Salvador. They were murdered by a special counterinsurgency battalion trained under the supervision of United States military advisers. Many of them were graduates of the School of the Americas.
Today, you, a U.S. taxpayer, fund the School of the Americas (SOA) located in
Fort Behnigh, Georgia.
Known in Latin
America as "the school of the assassins," this institution trains Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency,
infantry tactics, military intelligence, anti-narcotics and commando operations. Many of its graduates, such as those who massacred the people of El Mozote and Archbishop Oscar Romero, are infamous human-rights abusers.
Holy Worthen guest columnist opinion.com/iansan.com
The SOA originally began in Panama in 1946 as a means of professionalizing Latin American armies. Throughout the 1960s, its purpose was to thwart Cold War threats in Latin America and "democratize" the region. In 1984, the SOA was relocated to Georgia. With the end of the cold war, SOA's emphasis has shifted to the "war on drugs."
Upon viewing the violent history and repressive nature of many of its graduates, it is evident that the SOA is not an innocent promoter of democracy. Instead, many SOA graduates act as U.S. government and corporate puppets. They often oppress their people so that the masses remain poor and powerless. The wealth lies in the hands of a privileged few, and the people and the land fall prev to global corporate initiatives.
As the violence surmounts, the U.S. public has become increasingly aware of the atrocities that SOA graduates commit. They have begun to speak, protest and denounce U.S. government support of such an entity. In 1990, the SOA Watch was formed to monitor and raise public awareness of the SOA. Last November, a group of KU students joined more than 12,000 people at the gates to Fort Benning and demanded the closure of the school. Over 4,400 of these protesters risked arrest by walking onto the base in a solemn funeral procession in memory of those who have been murdered by SOA graduates.
Thanks to action like this, members of Congress are beginning to listen to the voices of their voters. Recently, Congress narrowly missed passing a bill that supported closure of the school.
We, as U.S. citizens, have the responsibility to take action against the SOA. We should speak for the voiceless, for those who are silenced by the barrel of a gun. Too many innocent victims have died at the hands of men trained with the support of our tax dollars.
I urge you to write your representatives, and I invite you to join me and thousands of others at the gates of Fort Benning this November. As Oscar Romero stated in his final plea, "In the name of God, in the name of this suffering people whose cry rises to heaven more loudly each day, I implore you, I beg you, I order you: Stop the repression." It is time to say no to the SOA. It is time to end bloodshed in the name of democracy.
Latin American Solidarity is a KU student organization and will be organizing a trip with SOA Watch of Kansas to protest the SOA in Fort Benning November 17-19. For more information, e-mail hworth@ukans.edu,or access the Web site at www.soaw.org.
Worthing is a McP希勒 junior in International studies and English.
Wes Benson / KANSAN
Kansan report card
Pass:
High student voter turnout. 710 residence hall students showed up to vote at Allen Fieldhouse Tuesday night. Is the Baby Boomers' progeny becoming less apathetic?
Jackass. MTV has a new show featuring the zany antics of a bunch of "real" people. Up next on the History Channel, Benjamin Franklin will ride a motorcycle through a series of flaming hoops.
Lawrence Planning Commission. The Planning Commission voted against the proposed housing ordinance last week that would limit the number of unrelated people living in a single-family residence from four to two.
Fail:
The Electoral College. Where else in the democratic world is there a possibility that the people's first choice in a presidential election won't be a nation's leader? Time for some constitutional revision.
Blair Witch II: Book of Shadows. In an unprecedented attempt to capitalize on the success of the first one, producers have created a Blair Witch sequel in which horror-flick gore takes the place of innovate filmmaking and creativity.
Kansas Secretary of State. Ron Thombergh. He threatened to "gigorously prosecute" anyone in Kansas who agreed to swap votes for the presidential election. How about we prosecute the Secretary of State for idle threats and harassment. (Note: It's not even illegal.)
Perspective
Printing deadlines make for interesting headlines
I'm most of us are familiar with the photograph of Harry Truman triumphantly holding up a copy of the Chicago Tribute, with a headline wrongly declaring Dewey as the election winner. Depending on what happens in Florida, Al Gore might be able to do that with the
Kursan, as well as many other newspapers across the nation.
For most newspapers, the news that the election results weren't decisive after all came too late.
Tuesday night, Bob Woodward of the Washington Post told Larry King that the people he really felt sorry for were the newspaper editors trying to write yesterday's headlines. As difficult as that decision is to make, I'm sure George and AI were sweating a lot more than we were.
Anyone who stayed up
Anyone who stayed up watching the results come in Tuesday night knows the numbers are neck and neck most of the night. Elections are one of those areas newspapers cover that aren't cut and dried. They run late, and they aren't always finished when you think they are.
Erinn Barcomb
readers'
representative
readerresponse.com/ianan.com
Tuesday night, Kansan staff members stayed up watching the networks and the Associated Press wire to see if the race would come to an end. Although the Kansan's deadline to get the paper to the Lawrence Journal-World printing press is usually 1 a.m., we waited until 1.55 a.m. We checked the networks and the wire, finally
sensing the paper with the information we knew to be true at the time — Bush won.
Unfortunately, in the early hours of the morning, that changed. By the time you picked up your copy on the way to class yesterday morning, the race again was up in the air.
What's wrong with newspapers, anyway?
Being weighed down by printing deadlines is newspaper's obvious weakness. The ability to publish updates on the Web has been a godsend for printed media. Sure, television has the advantage when it comes to updates, but I'd rather have to make last-minute, deadline decisions than have to carry on with endless commentary and banter, even when no new results come in for hours.
It's not that we don't have a clue how to cover an election. The logistics of creating a printed product limit the amount of revision we can do at the eleventh hour.
With the limitations of newspapers also come benefits. Newspaper articles can give an in-depth account of an event, the kind of information you'd have to watch hours and hours of televised coverage to get. Aside from some obvious flaws, I hope today's paper provided good coverage of election highlights. The Kansan also has something you won't find on network television or in other papers — coverage of your reactions and involvement as students.
Although the complications of this year's elections make producing newspapers difficult, they certainly make for interesting news. As things change and results come in, check out the Kansan for election coverage with a campus spin. We're doing the best we can — under the circumstances.
Barcomb is a Wichita senior in Journalism.
Editorial
Businesses need to be responsible
Recent spate of incidents raise the bar on corporate government accountability.
Whether it is another round of Firestone recalls or a doomed Russian submarine, this year's news events remind us that corporations and governments need to take responsibility for their actions and be accountable to the people.
A month ago when the Russian submarine Kursk sank and the fate of its crew was unknown, not only did Russian President Putin stay on his vacation, but the government refused to accept help, perhaps to keep safe certain military secrets.
Responsibility, whether corporate or governmental, means more than just apologizing or assigning blame. Responsibility means taking the proper steps after an incident occurs to maintain credibility and prevent further calamities.
In the midst of Firestone Tires' media-escalated recalls, Ford ran commercials of Chief Executive Officer Jacques Nasser explaining the issue.
Many said the apology came too late. It was followed by more recalls and fatalities. Stories surfaced of substandard tires sold to meet deadlines.
Add United Airlines apologizing for canceled flights and Microsoft for breaking antitrust laws, the public wonders why corporations put themselves in positions where they must issue优意法-lamed and insincere apologies, face lawsuits and lose revenue.
But the public also can learn from the recent rash of recalls: No product, regardless of warnings, is completely safe. Faulty tires or not, driving always can threaten your safety.
Common sense teaches us that taking responsibility for one's actions, on all levels, is the only way to avoid catastrophe.
Ben Tatar
for the editorial board
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. The Kansan reserves the right to edit submissions, and not all of them will be published. Slanderous statements will not be printed. To read more, go to www.kansan.com.
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Neither of the candidates mentioned anything about farmers. Without farmers, we wouldn't be able to eat
I have three words: Dewey defeats Truman.
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With the alarming number of UDK editorial staff supporting Gore and Nader, it's apparent why your paper is so liberal.
Can we vote to eliminate the Executive Branch?
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I hate people who bash the electoral college. It was enacted to prevent morons from making a difference.
Liberals are the greatest thing since sliced bread.
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If Missouri can vote a dead man into office, can I vote for George Washington in the next election?
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If the House is Republican, if the Senate is Republican, and the president is Republican, does that mean our paper will be conservative?
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If Nader wants to get into the White House, he'll have to take a tour like the rest of us.
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The issue the government will be worried about for the next few years will be treasury debt pay-down.
I know the Pi Beta Phi secret handshake, and I'm not afraid to show anyone.
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We should have better com mercials during the presidential election telecast.
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Now that the election is over, we can stop seeing "Vote Nader" on all of our sidewalks.
The president should be elected by the people, not an electoral college. I think government's dumb.
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Never trust a man who can't even win in his own state.
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