4a
Opinion
Tuesday, March 6, 2001
Perspective
For comments, contact Chris Borniger or Nathan Willis at 864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com
Military school's reform efforts are toothless
Robert Chamberlain's column "Military school doesn't corrupt students' minds" (Feb. 22) makes several unfounded assumptions about Latin American Solidarity, activism and the nature of the former School of the Americas. As co-president this year, I know that Robert Chamberlain is not a member of Latin American Solidarity. He is not on our listserv, and he has not attended our organization's protest of the former school. Many of our members are deeply offended by the disrespectful assumptions made about our organization.
The School of America was founded as a combat school focused on counterinsurgency techniques, supposedly to protect democracy in Latin America. In September 1996, the Pentagon admitted that torture, execution, false imprisonment and extortion techniques were included in
the School of Americas and by mobile training units in Latin America until 1991. The school admitted to such trainings only under intense political pressure. Why would crittics of the school have cause to assume credibility on the part of the former School of Americas?
The 2000 protest was the largest act of civil disobedience since the Vietnam War. There were 10,000 people in attendance
Anna Wagner
guest columnist
online@anna.com
including me. We are not being utopian; we ask that our government act professionally and justly.
In January, the school changed its name to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation to take off the heat. The late Paul Coverdell, a former Georgia senator, said in an interview with the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer last April that "the School of the Americas would still be able to continue its purpose." He called the proposed changes to the school basically cosmetic. Why change the names of courses and revamp if the school was so virtuous?
The institute, like its predecessor, does not teach human rights. Only one of 42 courses in the 1996 course catalogue — Democratic Sustainment — centers on democracy and human rights. In 1997, only 13 students took it, compared with 118 who took Military Intelligence. The "mandatory human rights component" of other courses is insignificant, reports former School of America human rights instructor Charles Call.
The argument that the one percent of School of Americas graduates who are linked with human rights abuses are all psychopaths is simply absurd. Those are only the ones *School of Americas Watch* has linked with U.N. Truth Commission citings. The school does not track its graduates; it should unless officials are afraid of what they will find.
It's nonsense that professional graduates of the school who represent their nations' best would turn out to be psychopaths, all carrying the same mental disorder in which their "egocentric and antisocial activities" all result in rape, torture, genocide and assassination.
In my mind, torturing unarmed people isn't an example of "restraint and discipline" or typical of a "professional army." Two of three officers cited in the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero were School of Americas grads; three of five officers cited in the rape and murder of four U.S. churchwomen; ten of twelve cited for the El Mozote massacre of 900 civilians; more than 100 of 246 cited for atrocities in Colombia. Who would call the murder of 900 civilians "serving their countries as best as they could"? If this school reflects the population's one percent of psychopaths, why aren't all other military schools turning out psychopaths? Why isn't the University of Kansas?
The school's graduates continue to be linked to atrocities in Latin America — toward labor organizations, indigenous groups and religious workers. We want the school to close because it teaches combat skills that would be used against noncombatant civilians. If the University taught these things, we would call for its closure as well. If this is the best the institute can do, its reform efforts have failed miserably.
I live in a democracy where I can hold my opinion without the fear of being kipped, raped or tortured because I disagree with the stance of the military. Others are not so lucky.
For those interested in discovering why members of this community oppose the SOA under any name, Latin American Solidarity will sponsor a dinner and panel discussion at 6 p.m Tuesday at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries
Wagner is a Topeka senior in environmental studies.
MOVEA2001
By the Numbers
$6.3 trillion Total world economic output in 1950.
376. 000 Number of host computers on the internet in 1990.
44 million Number of tons of meat consumed worldwide in 1950.
72.4 million
total world economic output in 2000— an increase of 667 percent.
Number of host computers on the Internet in 1999 — an increase of 19,100 percent.
217 million Number of tons of meat consumed in 1999 an increase of 493 percent.
Source: The Worldwatch Institute
Perspective
Drinking, zealotry create common social dilemma
This campus presents two options for social interaction: Get drunk on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, or pray on Sunday morning. I'm neither a Christian nor a binge drinker, and I could give you a long list of reasons why. But that would be telling you why I don't, not why you
That said, let me indulge myself and, without passing judgment on either side, point out logical inconsistencies on both sides.
Why is it that we college students pride ourselves on being great rebels, but when it comes to our social scene, all we do is what everybody else is doing?
If I drink a Heineken in my room, alone, at the end of a lone day, I get
John
Audlehelm
columnist
opinionkansan.com
labeled a loner and an alcoholic. But if I go out with friends and drink 15 cans of Natural Light, I'm a "social drinker." What kind of sense does that make?
But it seems to me that if heavy drinkers were truly respectful of lightweights (such as me) and nondrinkers, then the heavy drinkers wouldn't feel this ridiculous need to constantly ask, "Why aren't you getting wasted?"
When I raise these questions to my friends, I frame them as a personal-liberty argument. Not drinking heavily is what I choose, and they should respect that. Usually, they do.
In my experience, the best Christians are the ones who don't bring up their religion after knowing me for five minutes. They're the ones who show themselves to be moral long before they tell me why I'm immoral. For the record, the vast majority of Christians I know fit these criteria.
I have similar questions for some Christians.
The worst Christians are the ones who use their religion to label as immoral anybody who disagrees with them. You don't have to watch CNN very long to find examples.
What's with this current rash of politicians (from both political parties) who claim to act in the name of Jesus Christ? I've read the Bible, and I think this is the last thing Jesus would want.
In his Sermon on the Mount, which is one of the few times in the Bible that Christ doesn't speak in parables, he says, "Beware of men who practice their religion in front of others in order to be seen by them (Matthew 1:6)." Who was Jesus talking about if he wasn't talking about politicians?
I ask these questions not only to get them off my chest but also to point out the logical inconsistencies that arise when people swing to the extremes. Extremists don't listen. They don't allow anybody to challenge their ideas, and their ideas become weak.
My point is that excessive drinking and religious zealotry are extremes. They are opposite ends of a spectrum. They are not your only options. That's a false dilemma.
Drinking and praying are not the only things to do with your spare time. I've recently tried my hand at rock climbing. I've discovered abilities I never knew I had and found a sense of inner peace deeper than anything I've ever felt.
If you see the world in black and white, you miss the color. Life is too short and too precious to block out the beauty for the sake of ease and morality.
If you want to scream at me to chug a beer, go right ahead. If you want to scream at me to accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior, you can do that, too. Either way, you'll be screaming to deaf ears.
But, then again, that's why I climb. It's not necessarily why you should.
Audleholm is a Des Moines, Iowa, senior in political science and journalism.
Editorial
Clean-fuel cars deserve a chance
A program exploring ethanol's usefulness is a step toward a cleaner city.
Local officials have brought a more environment-friendly mode of transportation to town.
Three new city vehicles run mainly on ethanol, a corn-based fuel that burns more cleanly than regular gasoline. This is a step in the right direction in investigating ways to use more energy efficient transportation in Lawrence.
The pilot program that the city is participating in will help determine the efficiency of ethanol.
According to a Feb. 9 article in the Lawrence Journal-World, the city was given a storage tank, a pump and fuel to use in three city-owned cars until June. Those cars will run on a 75 percent ethanol, 25 percent gasoline blend and will be financed by the Kansas Corn Commission.
Goals for the project include recording both performance and mileage of the cars and, based on the results, potentially working to increase their popularity.
The only competitor of ethanol for a niche in the fuel industry is the chemical MTBE.
However, according to an article in the February 2001 High Plains Journal, MTBE causes groundwater pollution and is being phased out in some areas, leaving ethanol as the key alternative.
There are 60 ethanol production plants in the United States and at least six new ones being built.
As both fiscal and environmental costs of traditional fuels increase, new fuel options are necessary. There is a large supply of ethanol available to fill this need. The next step is to test how ethanol can work best and incorporate it into automobiles.
Large, fuel inefficient vehicles can be wasteful; ethanol-fueled vehicles, however, contribute to a cleaner environment.
The steps that Lawrence is taking to help realize a cleaner place to live are the right ones.
Katherine Marchin for the editorial board
Free for all callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. The Kansas reserves the right to edit submissions, and not all of them will be published. Standenous statements will not be printed. For more comments, visit www.kansan.com.
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The Kansas basketball court really needs to have a Big 12 logo on it.
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I just want to say that all the Asian student organizations did an awesome job at the Taste of Asia, and I want to thank them for a great show.
Have you ever imagined a world without hypothetical situations?
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Hi. I'm a KU swimmer. I'd just like to thank Dr, Frederick for ruining my life.
As I burn my Terry Towel, I reminisce about how much money was wasted on Memorial Stadium at the sacrifice of the winning Kansas men's tennis team.
OK, I was going to start working out tomorrow, and I drove by Total Fitness, and it's up in flames. Dude, that is crazy.
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It really sucked when I couldn't get into the campus after the basketball game. There's not that much traffic, but they wouldn't let me go home to the Towers.
I think it's really fair that when the football team does bad, the other men's programs on campus suffer like the swim team and the tennis team. It really sucks.
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Bob Knight was right. We should be addressing our elders as coach or master. So I think all the students are wrong and should address Roy Williams as Coach Williams. Thank you.
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OK, so student housing says it costs so much to heat Amini Scholarship Halls that they're raising our rates. Yet with all our windows open, it's 85 degrees in the rooms and 90 something in the hall. How about instead of raising the rates, they lower the heat or at least learn how to control it?
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Does Omaha even count as a city, and Does Nebraska count as a state?
What is with these damn potholes in this damn town?
Free for All was cool when it didn't post so many stupid things.
Mardi Gras at Pi Kappa Tau was a blast. Thank you, guys.
If you don't watch basketball here at KU, nothing makes sense.
I wish KU would take better care of our GTAs. The peer institutions are doing better in terms of caring for their GTAs.
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I was just wondering why they have two sides to a road if you can't drive on one after the basketball game.
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