As Spring Break approaches, everyone is probably wondering how a cynical college student with deep-seated objections to the impending war with Iraq spends his break. I’m sorry to harp on war, but I have a hard time writing about how much parking sucks when thousands of lives and billions of dollars are about to be spent pursuing a war that has not yet been justified and that has literally millions of protestors world wide (our president referred to them as a “focus group”).
This Spring Break, I will be trying to answer two questions that it seems supporters of war cannot answer. First: why Iraq? Supporters of war cite a list of reasons, some of which may not be completely true. Then, when millions of people and some of the most powerful countries in the world say that they are not persuaded, supporters of the war merely repeat those same “facts” without any new information that might make protestors change their minds.
These supporters of war, for example, will say that Hussein gassed his people, a comment that has absolutely nothing to do with the situation we are in right now. They will also say that we must stop him from developing and selling more weapons of mass destruction as a matter of national security, which is just hypocritical. After all, North Korea has nuclear weapons and wishes to sell them to anyone who will buy them, but no one is crying for their blood.
Second: Why now? Supporters of war have failed to answer this question. The world seems ready to explode, we are in the middle of a conflict based largely on a clash of religions, and our president, diplomatic genius that he is, is outspoken in his belief that the Christian God is on America’s side. Call me crazy, but doesn’t it seem like pursuing this war right now might be a little like lighting a match in a barrel of gunpowder? Is this the smartest time to toss diplomacy to the wayside, and more importantly, will this war solve anything or will it simply increase anti-American sentiment worldwide?
If I may say one last thing: I am disgusted by the recent trend in this country of treating protestors like traitors or supporters of terrorism. Are we living in 1955? Has Joseph McCarthy been resurrected? Are we going to reinstate HUAC and start blacklisting people because of their “ties to communism?” It certainly seems there are plenty of “good Americans” who would love to see protestors silenced by any means necessary. And to think, we want to instate a democracy in Iraq when we don’t even understand what it means to have one here.

Travis Atria is a senior majoring in English Literature. Viruses can be directed to Batman7777@aol.com.

The time has come for the United States to rid the world of its worst terrorist, liberate 25 million people and install democracy in Iraq. Inaction will result in Iraq’s indefinite condemnation to life under a tyrannical animal that mutilates, tortures, rapes, robs (Forbes estimates his personal wealth at $2 billion) and murders his people at will. The Iraqi people have the inherent, fundamental human rights of self-government, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The world must not continue closing its eyes, naively acquiescing and, as President Bush says, “hoping against the evidence” as it so regretfully did with Adolf Hitler. We have the opportunity to prevent another holocaust, including you or I as victims.
Iraq’s illegal, unaccounted-for weapons total at least 25,000 liters of anthrax, 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin, 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent, along with 30,000 chemical warheads and unmanned aerial vehicles to deliver them, according to a 1999 U.N. report. Hussein currently seeks the crown jewel of his terror arsenal, enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon, as evidenced by defected Iraq nuclear engineers and satellite images of rebuilt nuclear facilities. Under threat of nuclear holocaust, Hussein would again invade his neighbors, fulfilling his aspiration of Middle East domination.
Hussein has used chemical weapons against Iran and the Iraqi Kurds, murdering over 20,000 civilians. Iraq financially supports the families of Palestinian homicide bombers, an unjustifiable evil. Hussein has praised the 9/11/01 attacks, given refuge to and instructed Al-Qaeda terrorists how to produce bombs, poisons and lethal gases for use against the U.S. The slaughter of 2,998 civilians finally awoke America to terrorism after eight years of inexcusable inaction under Bill Clinton. How many more Americans must die before we eliminate Saddam Hussein?
In material breach of UN resolution 1441, verifying the disarmament of Iraq, Hussein has threatened to kill the families of Iraqi scientists for cooperating with inspectors, hid documents and sanitized weapons sites. C.I.A. intelligence indicates weapons facilities have been mobilized on trucks or buried underground, making them impossible to locate. It’s Iraq’s obligation to present and destroy their weapons. If by miracle the U.N. locates them, Iraq will simply produce more.
Hussein bears full culpability for Iraqi and American casualties during the war he’s forcing upon the world. In the words of our courageous president, “We did not ask for this present challenge, but we accept it . . . we will meet the responsibility of defending human liberty against violence and aggression . . . and lead the world to a better day.” God Bless Our Armed Forces.

Pete Trombadore can be contacted at petetrombadore@hotmail.com.

“I want to be just like my daddy!” Or not. The lack of solid reasons to invade Iraq makes me think more and more that Bush Jr. is just trying to “finish what his daddy started” 10 years ago.
Supposedly, this invasion is for the protection of the American people; yet, with disasters such as September 11 still freshly imprinted in our minds, I question the government’s true abilities to protect America from another horrible attack within our borders. The still-present security gaps, with target places such as airports, further prove that the government is not serving the people’s interests. It seems as though concentration has shifted from directly improving security on our turf to endangering innocent lives by shipping people out to war.
It’s pathetic to see how fast our world is going down the drain because of our wonderful world leaders showing each other how big their guns are, or saying and doing things to show “Look! We’ve got Missiles!” and “Look! Biological weapons!” and “Look how many billions we spent on defense this time, never mind our growing economic problems!” It looks as though leaders are making sure our generation can re-experience the horrors of war over the last century that our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were so unfortunate to encounter. Only this time it involves “weapons of mass destruction,” that only have the potential of affecting our society and environment for the rest of our planet’s existence if not blowing it out of the solar system.
The irony of the whole situation is that our country tries so hard to relieve other countries of their destructive and biological defenses yet with the billions we allot to defense, it makes you wonder what we else have hidden within our back pockets besides horrid weapons such as Napalm.
I don’t want to be like my daddy and fight a war like the one he did 10 years ago. Nor do I want to remain under leaders who fight invisible enemies like terrorism, similar to the bloopers we got involved in by trying to fight Communism.
Blowing up countries does not solve social injustices or dethrone ringleaders (as seen with Bin-Laden), but only makes us place our energies continually in a losing battle with ideologies outside of our own.

Marquita Bell is a sophomore majoring in print journalism and political science. She can be reached at m_bell01@hotmail.com.

In response to the Roman Polanski article published on Friday February 28,2003:
Mr. Shawn Wines’ article on Roman Polanski omits what is clearly the most relevant detail in a retrospective that deals significantly with The Pianist, that Mr. Polanski himself escaped a Krakow Ghetto while his parents were sent to a concentration camp. Isn’t this be more relevant information than the details of his sex scandal (to which the writer devotes an entire paragraph)?
What I find inexcusable is the writer’s glaring oversimplification that Mr. Polanski “brings little” to the metaphorical Holocaust offerings table. The Pianist has a “unique angle.” It tells the story of the true events of Wladyslaw Szipilman’s life and therefore is different in its own right. Unlike Schindler’s List, which recreates the gruesome images from concentration camp life, or Life is Beautiful, which deals with the relationship between a father and son during the Holocaust, this film is unique in that it is the survival story of a man in hiding, who watches the horrors unfold from the outside. Moreover, 6 million stories about the Holocaust will never be told. Each and every one of these stories is unique, and when one of them is told with the mastery and craft that Mr. Polanski brings to The Pianist, I fail to see how “this film brings nothing new to the table.” Films bring each and every one of these stories to life, and even the writer would agree that Mr. Polanski does that superbly with The Pianist. More importantly, there is no such thing as “just another Holocaust film,” just as there is not such thing as another slavery film.

– Orly Shuber

Response from Life & Art Film Critic
I feel The Pianist is a fine film, but it’s not Polanski’s best. The visuals and Brody’s stunning performance are the highlights, but it certainly contains flaws.
Polanski chose to tell the story from a certain distance, not letting us become as emotionally invested in the characters as in other dramas. This choice just didn’t work for me.
I also believe that a retrospective should provide information about the filmmaker’s background, as well as his body of work. Polanski’s troubled past is something that defines who he is and how he works, and was deserving of the space it got in the article.

– Shawn Wines, Life & Art Writer

Our neighbors, a.k.a the UMNHOA, are hardheaded. And hot-headed. And, frankly, out of control. It seems that these people have grown desensitized to yelling and shouting and arguing in circles.
And we’re at the core of all this because UM has a critical need for housing.
The recent decision to move forth with Phase I of the 1992 plan for University Village was one made out of necessity. But the neighbors refuse to listen.
Sure they can voice their concerns. It’s their neighborhood too.
But the fact remains is that many students are registered voters of the City of Coral Gables. We’re residents too. Our vote counts. We work here. We live here.
We help to elect city officials. We contribute to the community.
They think we are all “hooligans” that “urinate from roofs”. They yell these things all the time at University Village community relations meetings. They blame UM students for random disturbances and minor crimes.
But the neighbors have never stopped to consider the fact that maybe local Gables and South Miami youth are responsible for these issues. It seems more likely that local elementary, middle, and high school kids are doing these types of things. On campus, local youth are always trespassing and causing havoc. Ask Public Safety.
Sadly, the neighbors are not aware of the fact that the majority of the students within this campus that totally de-evaluate their misconceptions. Many of us are very successful. Some are nationally recognized. What about the academic and athletic dedication of our athletes? What about the service projects of the fraternities, sororities, student organizations and clubs? Our debate teams and mock trial teams win awards all of the time.
The neighbors ignore these successes.
The reality is that our involved student body continually stimulates changes within the University and local community. We are not criminals.
But who can blame the neighbors for thinking as they do? Their heads must be filled with stereotypical images from Hollywood of what the typical college student is: Animal House, Road Trip, American Pie. Poor neighbors, Hollywood has brainwashed them.
Meanwhile, most of us sit around and wait for all of these things in the movies to happen to us, but they never do.
Still, it seems that any other type of discrimination would be unacceptable under any other circumstances. Therefore, their unfounded statements can’t be excused.
But the neighbors are smarter than that. They back up their generalized discriminatory remarks with facts, primarily from articles printed in this very publication.
The problem is that they take the articles out of context and mold the facts to their liking. Then they present the misinterpreted information at city meetings. They print it in their local Homeowner’s Association newsletter to distribute to surrounding neighborhoods.
They talk about us behind our backs.
Even better, the neighbors continually criticize UM for not being open to new options, but refuse to listen to the point of view of the University and compromise for a comparable middle-ground.
What hypocrites.
Even better, the proposed Village would only heighten safety and improve the condition of the current area, making it more aesthetically pleasing and useful.
In the end, UM has done everything in its power to be a good, considerate neighbor and has been received with nothing but criticism, stereotypes, and barefaced discrimination. Simple human decency should take precedence over even the most serious of concerns.
Maybe the neighbors should move to a less classy neighborhood.