Cohen is hypocritical
I graduated in the same class from the Jesuit high school that
Seth Cohen refers to in his submission “Military protest very
logical” (Feb. 18) and shared several courses with him. That
school was used as little more than a recruiting grounds for bodies
to fill out protests, including protests of the Western Hemisphere
Institute for Security Cooperation (aka the School of the Americas)
and anti-abortion picketing.
Following Cohen’s logic, we should close down our
high school, since its staff sought out and encouraged students to
participate in crimes relating to the WHISC, including trespassing
and resisting arrest.
Cohen then attempts to tie everything together as part of a
“terror campaign the United States has lead around the
world.” I have a suggestion for him: he should return to our
shared private background, where faith and religious belief are
allowed to be taught, and stop attending public schools, where
he suckles from the teat of the government he detests so
much.
Rory Miller
Graduate student, law
Bush isn’t as pro-life as he seems
There was a provocative sign I saw at one of the anti-war
protests recently. While it is not a quotation of the president,
unfortunately the resulting truth behind it cannot be denied. It
showed a picture of President George W. Bush with the caption:
“I’m Pro-Life! Well, except when it comes to the
slaughter of innocent Iraqi children.”
Paul Harris
San Diego
War can be liberating
This past weekend the world witnessed various “peace
rallies,” all supposedly opposed to the impending war in
Iraq. Many of these demonstrations took place in major U.S. cities
and drew thousands of people who protested U.S. policy with regard
to the dictatorial regime of Iraq. Such demonstrations are nothing
new to the Bush administration’s ears. The informed remember
how these same peace activists were against the war in Afghanistan.
They accused the United States of having ulterior motives for its
“aggression” against Afghanistan and warned that the
United States would kill scores of innocent civilians.
Sadly however, these demonstrators had completely forgotten that
before Sept. 11, 2001, the United States was the biggest
contributor of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. The peace activists
had also forgotten that the Taliban was an illegitimate entity of
spurious origin that brutally suppressed women and committed
countless massacres against minorities in Afghanistan. The United
States refuted the groundless assertion of the anti-war mongers,
when it liberated Afghanistan from the Taliban with minimal
casualty on all sides. Furthermore, the rallies of the
“peace-activists” disappeared right about the time the
Afghans were dancing in Kabul in joyous celebration of the
Taliban’s demise. In reality, the United States liberated
Afghanistan, planted the roots of democracy and gave hope to its
unfortunate people.
Unfortunately, the bogus assertion of the anti-war movement is
resurfacing again, this time with regard to our policy against
Iraq. But if history is any indication of future events, we will
see no demonstrations when Iraqis start dancing in Baghdad right
about this time next month.
Kamrouz Eliassi
Fourth-year, business economics
Republicans make point with humor
When I attended UCLA in the late ’60s and the ’70s,
it was the Republicans who had the reputation for being
humorless.
It is fascinating that now when Republicans choose to make a
point through satire, it is the Democrats who just don’t get
it and act with indignation. Is it really necessary to spell out to
the Democrats that the point of the Bruin Republicans was to
ridicule the notion of treating people differently based on
superficial characteristics, such as the color of their skin?
Of course, Democrats of the ’60s and ’70s not only
understood that point, but powerfully pushed that position until it
morphed into harmful quota policies.
Mel Aranoff
UCLA alum