4A the university daily kansan
opinion
wednesday, september 10,2003
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What is up with the guy that lives in Hash with the ears and tail? Last year it was just the tail, now ears and a tail. What's next --- a nose? Fur? What is up with that?
perspective
Hey, whoever is in charge of filling the ditch on 13th Street needs to do it now
What is the deal with girls and hair extensions? That is disgusting.
--perspective
Somebody in Oliver has a sock monkey Is it weird that it creeps me out?
To the guy who works at the SUA box office: You are uber-cool. Thank you.
You made my day. There should be a tip jar there because he deserves a lot of tips.
We have ants.
Is it a medical emergency if you are dying of loneliness?
perspective
Ward, I am worried about the Beaven
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111 Stauffer-Flint
U.S. must return stability to Iraq, even if it means admitting wrongs
Jennifer Wade for The University Daily Kansas
On Sunday night, in his first address to the nation since he declared an end to major combat in Iraq, President Bush informed the nation that he would ask Congress for some $87 billion for the military occupation and reconstruction of Iraq. Gone were the flight suit, aircraft carrier backdrop and the glamour that had accompanied the swift initial military "victory." Many Americans now know that more of their servicemen have been killed since that address aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln than during the actual "war" — 149 dead since the beginning of May. In addition, the bombings of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad and a major mosque in Najaf continue to highlight the instability of the country.
GUEST COMMENTARY
Instead of glory, Bush spoke of urgency and purpose to the mission of rebuilding Iraq, and to this point I concur. Now more than ever there is an absolute need for the United States and its military to remain in Iraq. However, I believe that the time has also come for Americans to reassess just what their government has created in the "War on Terrorism."
In his speech Bush stated:
Ravi DeSilva opinion@kansan.com
Yet it was not stated that the pentagon itself released a report highly critical of its own military planners who spent nine months preparing for the full-scale invasion of Iraq, but only 28 days formulating a policy for reconstruction after the toppling of Saddam Hussein. This indictment of the military's own strategists underscores just how inexperienced the United States is at dealing with terrorism. There has not been a quelling of terrorism in the Middle East or Iraq. If anything the country is now more fertile to violent minds than ever.
"We have learned that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength they are invited by the perception of weakness.
And the surest way to avoid attacks on our own people is to engage the enemy where he lives and plans. We are fighting that enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan today, so that we do not meet him again on our own streets, in our own cities."
Nothing spurs more suicide bombers against Israel than the assassination of senior members of Hamas or other militant factions and the flood of emotional outpouring that accompanies their funerals. It was the killings made by Israel that set loose a deranged moral imperative in the mind of a Palestinian man, with a wife and children of his own, to board a bus
If bringing the fight to "the enemy where he lives and plans" is the U.S. strategy, we have already seen the failure of such an approach in Israel. Targeted killing, a practice of preemptive attacks against Palestinian terrorist groups, has resulted in a snowball effect of destruction and a cataclysmic end to the Middle East road map to peace.
and detonate himself, taking the lives of 20 civilians with him in Jerusalem on Aug.19.
on Aug. 19.
The United States must now face the fact that the primary means by to succeed in Iraq and Afghanistan in the "War on Terrorism" are to build up as much as possible. If this means an increase in troops to ensure that water and electricity are returned to the people of Iraq quickly, it should be done. If this means turning over control of the operation to the United Nations so that we may gain more widespread international support and additional troops to stabilize these countries, it should be done. If this means admitting the U.S. acted hastily and with hubris, it must be done.
nubris, it must be deceived.
These are the mechanisms that will diffuse terrorists' attempts to recruit more attackers and saboteurs. These steps undercut the foundations that terrorists use to augment their ideological movements. These steps deny the excuse of blaming the United States for creating more problems than the people faced under Saddam or the Taliban. And these steps reflect the mature perspective of a country that wishes liberty and democracy to thrive throughout the world.
world. Unfortunately, these are not the steps that will be taken and in the end we will pay the price. For as long as bitterness and resentment continue to brew in Iraq and Afghanistan, we will continue to meet the enemy in our own street, as we pause to wait for another flagdraped casket to be paraded slowly past.
DeSilva is a Topeka graduate student in anthropology.
'kansan' report card
Pass:
Lube to go: The Kansan advertising department passed out free pocket-sized portions of sensual lubricant and condoms on Wescoe Beach Monday. It's always nice to hand out free items people will use, or at least hope to use.
KU Memorial Union's support of KJHK: Bravo to the Union for stepping up to the plate. The Union's program department is working on a plan to control funding of KJHK, without changing their format. Now, could we work on those crazy commercials?
KU football's victory over the University of Nevada Las-Vegas: We won, we won, we won. Did you hear? We won!
Fail:
Louise Stauffer, Kansan
Roundabouts: Hey traffic safety commission: It's not that we don't understand roundabouts. They annoy us when placed in extremely small intersection such as the one at 17th and Indiana Streets. Sure, they meet the minimum requirements. It's still difficult to get our cars around them.
Plastic water bottles: Re-using pure-looking bottles results in bacteria and cancer-causing materials. Just another reason not to pay $1 for something you can get free from a drinking fountain. By the way, what will expert say causes cancer next, broccoli?
Only temporary two-ply toilet paper: We were fooled. We thought the new two-ply paper in Stauffer-Flint Hall was permanently replacing the one-ply, but alas, the supply company had given it to the University as a temporary fix for a distribution problem. Sorry, tushies.
editorial board
Don't let rankings erase your perceptions
Three, six, 19,44.
What do these numbers mean to the average University of Kansas student? Probably not all that much, but regardless of importance, this won't be the last time you hear of them. They're all national rankings. Administrators might cite them in speeches or reports. New students might be drawn to (or turned away from) the University because of them. But in reality, the rankings probably won't change your experience at the University, or the education you receive here.
Whether it's the U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review or Playboy, it seems that we cannot get enough of these lists that tell us how well (or how poorly) the University stacks up against its peers. In the last month alone, at least a half-dozen such rankings have popped up.
Recent weeks have seen the University ranked among the best for its school spirit and its campus newspaper but not for its party scene, radio station or local music culture. While these rankings have been the source of some grumbling and some bragging, that has likely been the extent of their impact. It's doubtful that students are drinking a couple extra beers each night in hopes of boosting that party ranking.
So, in the end, what exactly does all of this mean to the average KU student? Probably little. The rankings might be good fodder for convocation speeches and press releases, but there's likely little immediate impact beyond that.
Likewise, the chancellor is structuring the University's growth and policy around the hopes of becoming a top 25 public university by 2010. It seems that the University has made some strides in that direction, but earlier this fall, its ranking fell from 41st to 44th.
However, academic rankings tend to carry more weight. For instance, the engineering and business schools both made strides in their national rankings. Consequently, they might catch the eyes of a few more prospective students this fall.
Do you get more enjoyment from reading The University Daily Kansan because you know that it ranks in the top-ten of "great college newspapers?" Or are the recent tuition hikes any easier to swallow because the University has been listed as a "best buy?" Probably not.
These rankings — social, academic, or otherwise — are not going to redefine a student's stay on campus. Whether we rank 25th or 55th, the University will continue to give out only as much as you put in'.
Steve Munch for the editorial board