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Thursday, January 24, 1991 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
State terrorism
Official paranoia aimed against Arab-Americans serves only to divide the nation in time of war
Before the United States started bombing Iraq, a war was launched on the homefront against Arab-Americans.
Soon after Iraq invaded Kuwait, FBI agents began knocking on the doors of Arab-Americans. The interrogation of these citizens was conducted, according to the FBI, to search for leads on possible terrorists attacks.
Reports of violence against Arab-Americans isn't new. But the war has escalated such incidents.
so now, in addition to worrying about the recent violence against them by individuals, Arab-Americans can add the U.S. government to the list
Arab-Americans rightly consider the FBI's visits violations of their constitutional rights.
Albert Mokhiber, president of American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee wrote in an open letter to the FBI, "... as a result of the bureau's misguided attempt to ferret out potential acts of terrorism, Arab-Americans have felt obligated to proclaim their loyalty."
Paranodia once again has ripped through this country, further dividing a nation in a time when unity is so needed.
The FBI has split a community and forced Arab-Americans to question to whom they pledge their allegiance.
And then, as if all of this weren't enough for Arab-Americans to worry about, rumors of "internment" camps have been whispered in both Arabic and non-Arabic circles.
This is not an unreasonable fear. Fifty years ago, we were guilty of a similar sin against Japanese-Americans. Their internment did little but exacerbate racism and misunderstanding.
But as the organization has said, "... blanket FBI questioning based on ethnicity, nationality, or religion constitutes a potential violation of civil liberties."
The need to counter terrorism is recognized by those opposed to the FBI interrogations.
Mokhier said, "We are Americans." It's unfortunate that we need remindin
Tiffany Harness for the editorial board
Doctors with AIDS
Health workers with AIDS should inform public
The New York Health Department last week issued guidelines to health-care workers stating that they do not have
often then patients they have AIDS. These recommendations are the first issued by any state concerning health-care workers infected with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes aquired immune deficiency syndrome.
This decision must be reversed.
New York's guidelines are based on the conclusion that doctors, dentists and other health-care professionals infected with the virus can treat patients and even perform surgery with only a small chance of infecting the patient. The health department says the risk of infection is between one in 100,000 and one in 1 million.
Though the chance of getting AIDS from a doctor or dentist seems unlikely, it already may have happened. Kimberly Bergalis went to her Florida dentist several years ago to have two teeth pulled, and now she has AIDS
The Centers for Disease Control concluded that her AIDS-afflicted dentist was the number-one suspect, even though he wore gloves during her visit.
Since 1982, more than 4,500 health professionals have been reported to have AIDS, including at least 144 dentists and hygienists, 668 physicians and 40 surgeons.
The federal government should be responsible for notifying the public about this information. Instead of trying to locate all current and former patients of each doctor, the government more successfully could mail yearly reports to all U.S. citizens.
For this reason, all health-care workers who deal with the transfer of blood in any way should be required to take routine tests and notify their state health department if and when they contract AIDS.
These reports should provide current information about AIDS, while making it clear that people have a right to know whether their doctor or dentist has AIDS. Specific instructions about how to obtain the information should be included.
Health-care providers must be the leaders. By making their test results available to the public others may feel more comfortable about AIDS testing.
Unfortunately, many people remain ignorant about the disease and how it is contracted, so everyone must continue to promote AIDS education and prevention.
If the state of Florida had offered Kimberly Bergalis information about dentists with AIDS several years ago, she might not have the disease today. No one wants to be that one unlucky person out of a million.
Melanie Botts for the editorial board
U.S. involvement in gulf war blamed on diplomatic failures
l night. While I watched the tapes of tracer fire over Baghdad and thought back to the sounds of explosions Bernard Shaw brought to us live from outside his hotel window, I thought again about the events that led up to this war. The more I thought about those last days of July, the more angry I became. We are at war in the Persian Gulf because our government officials failed us.
Lest we get flushed with pride over our success in the gulf war, let us remember that we are there because of our own diplomatic failures. It is not the stubbornness of Saddam Hussein's lack of the need for peace effort from Iraq and the United Nations to the cause of this war. We, the United States, must be held responsible.
First, we erred in the delivery of our message to Iraq. In the months before Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq was a woman. Despite her certain competence as an individual, and our own ideas about equality here in the United States, in Iraq women are
By the time Secretary of State James Baker attempted to deliver that ill-fated letter to Saddam, the true deadline for diplomacy had long passed. The real deadline was Aug. 1, one day before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The United States made two fatal errors in the last month before Saddam's tanks rolled. Both times, we should have known better. Now, brave, young soldiers will pay for those blunders with blood.
Aaron
Rittmaster
Guest columnist
treated as second-class citizens. By sending a woman to negotiate with Saddam Hussein, we sent a subtle, but well understood, message. We don't send a Hallmark. We didn't care. We've very best. What price, ignorance?
We sent our message with an individual that the Iraqis, by virtue of their own cultural blues, could not voluntarily insulted the Iraqi government.
Our second fatal error was in not saying what we meant. When our government did comment on the Iraq-Kuwait situation, before the invasion, we said that the United States would not take a position on an inter-Arab border dispute. Our government did not take action that we didn't care. If we did care, as we now obviously must, why didn't we say so?
Imagine what our shocked response would have been had Gorbachev said, "We will not take a position on a Western Hemisphere extradition dispute," before the U.S. invasion of Panama, and then began massing Soviet troops in Colombia. By our own words, we all but gave Saddam permission to invade Kuwait.
By Aug. 3, there was really little question. War was going to happen if Saddam was to be removed from Kuwait. Once Iraqi troops crossed the border into Kuwait, the diplomatic role was slammed when the U.S. government must take at least partial responsibility for helping to close it.
Currently, we have more than 400,000 troops, arrayed against Saddam in Saudi Arabia.
Who looks crazy now?
The United States was irresponsible in not using every means at our disposal to avoid war.
Before we bask in the glory of military success, remember that it was necessary because of our own failure. The young women and men fighting this war are not at fault. They are valiantly cleaning up our fallen enemy man saddened, though, that they must risk their lives for flawed policy.
I hope for: a day soon when we can bask in the glory of peace instead of war, and the night sky will be illuminated by President Bush's kinder, gentler thousand points of light, instead of tracer fire from anti-aircraft guns. I am reminded of a Hebrew song I've known since I was young. "In the rain, owl ol' olive chereh, lo yil'mu du od mishama. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor ever again shall they train for war."
- Aaron Rittmaster is a senior major ing in political science.
Obsessive vanity could lead to insanity
"I can't believe it!" he said, "Oh, dear God. Why?!" His condition was contagious, and I was panicking for reasons I didn't even know.
My awareness of today's topic came about a week ago as I was walking to class. A friend of mine ran up to me with a look of apety on his face. He ran his fingers through his hair over and over again as he paced back and forth.
"What happened," I said. "Are we at war with somebody else?"
"No," he said, looking at me as if I had just kicked him grandmother. "It's my hair. I can't believe they cut it so short!"
I walked away, leaving my friend so sob about his bad haircut in the middle of Wesco Beach as I pondered the source of his madness: vanity.
Excessive pride in appearance can lead fairly normal people to do some pretty insane things. One such example is illustrated in the popularity of liposuction. For those of you who have lived in a cave for the last few years, I'll explain the procedure. Liposuction is a process whereby a trained physician shaves the nozzle of a Hoover vacuum in a fatty area of your body and sucks all out those Twinkies and ecclairs that you thought the trip to the kitchen and back would work off. The scary thing is, thanks to Barbara Hershey, people want the fat that used to give them those wonderful derriere dimples that are so attractive on the beach to be injected into their lips.
Staff columnist
Matt Walsh
Colored contacts are another way to feed the insatiable hunger of one's
vanty. I imagine the next step in this phase will be glow-in-the-dark for someone. I'd love to hear the arguments by the wearer saying, "Of course this natural eye color," as fireflies rain into her head, thinking it mating season.
The push to be beautifully brown has led millions of otherwise proud people to degrade themselves by lying in an oversized toaster oven in a pool of their own sweat. The end result is a tan that nobody would believe they got in the middle of December, and burned parts of their body that they'd rather not show to even the ones they love the most.
Back in high school, a girl's vanity could be measured by the height of her hair. I often wonder if anyone ever told these lovely ladies that hair like a tumbledweave in front does not look natural or all that attractive.
perfection are taken, people like to stop and admire their hard work in every mirror they see. I love to watch people gaze at themselves in the mirror; they take on a whole new persona. Cheeks are sucked in, mouths are parted slightly as they crowd up, eyes are ished over one eye and one eyebrow is raised to somehow make their reflection say back to them. "Those guys in GQ are weenies; they only wish they looked as good as you."
Once all the steps toward personal
Yes, vanity mixed with a dose of pride is a large part of all of our personal chemistries. As long as my friend sobs in the middle of Wescoe, hometown girls spray their hair with hairspray and try to keep off and other such activities are performed in the name of personal perfection, we will never have to worry about the one constant component of our world. Vanity will live on forever.
- Matt Walsh is a freshman planning to major in journalism.
Other Voices
Defense bills pay off
Video images of pinpoint precision bomb strikes against Iraqi targets give convincing evidence that many work exactly as designed — notwithstanding criticism of systems and component purchases over the years.
From the Albuquerque (N.M.) Journal
It's great to learn that out of the $1.6 trillion spent on U.S. defense during eight years of Reagan administration, the nation actually got some weapons systems that work spectrally.
New minister safe bet
Mikhail S. Gorbachev's nomination of Alexander A. Bessmertynk, the ambassador to the United States, to become
Bessmertynkh, has served as ambassador to Washington since last May. He is a specialist in U.S. affairs, and his appointment as foreign minister reaffirms the continuing importance that eminence attains closing closer ties to the United States.
the new foreign minister is no surprise.
Unlike (Eduard) Shevardnadze, whose rise to the foreign ministry was a marked departure from a career as a Georgian Communist Party official and, later, Interior Ministry official, . . . Bessmertnyk, a 57-year-old foreign affairs apparachik who can be counted upon to provide continuity, if not creativity, to Soviet foreign policy.
From The News & Courier, Charleston, S.C.
CHRIS SIRON
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