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War? Huh! Students debate what it's good for By
Leon D'souza and Will Bettmann The mood is somber, the voices divided, the debate acrimonious. The lingering question: Should we go to war against Afghanistan? Many USU students knew little or nothing of the country prior to this week. Many still have trouble locating it on a map. But they have strong feelings on whether the United States should attack Afghanistan. "I think we should show them that nobody messes with America. There should be full retaliation so that they know that this can't happen again," said Dan Gazaway, 24, a health education major at Utah State University. Holly Riley, 20, a psychology major, supported war, but cautioned against reckless military action. "I think there should be military use, but at the same time I don't think that it should be rash. It needs to be strategic and planned," she said. Stoker White, 18, a freshman majoring in music, opposed a full-scale attack against Afghanistan. "I think we should kill Bin Laden. But the group that did this is a small minority in Afghanistan. We don't need to take out the majority who had nothing to do with this. We have the capability to fight terrorists," he said. Gazaway blames Islam for the horrific violence of Sept. 11. "I think their religion is screwed up if they want to injure innocent people," he said. Alok Jani, an international student from India, offered a refinement of Gazaway's criticism of Islam. "This is an act of Islamic extremism. Extremism is the enemy," he said. Shannon Peterson, an instructor in the department of political science who specializes in international relations, cautioned against equating last Tuesday's events with the teachings of Islam as it is practiced by the majority of Muslims worldwide. "We have to be careful with declaring war against Islam. To equate fundamentalism with all of Islam is dangerous," she said. Nasser Al-hazmi, 20, an international student from Saudi Arabia, agreed with Peterson. "The terrorists involved in Tuesday's attacks were not acting in accordance with Islam, and were misusing the concept of jihad (holy war) to further their own agenda," he said. Peterson added that the current situation does not necessarily have a military solution. "A lot of this might be settled diplomatically and economically. In fact, the military is a blunt instrument. A lot has to come together for it to be effective," she said. Anit Kuruvilla, an international student from India, worried about the repercussions of US military action against Afghanistan. "I see this as a recipe for destruction, World War III in the making. We don't know how the Muslim community will react to this. When they see their own people being killed, they will be compelled to strike back. Seventy to 80 percent of people agree that it's Osama Bin Laden and a handful. They will react strongly to the massacre of an entire population as retribution for the blowing up of a couple of buildings by a few lunatics," he said. Peterson also warned against hasty judgment. "We must educate the public. We can't have public desire for revenge. If we do use the military, there are going to be casualties. We are not going to be using precision weapons. This is going to be a dirty war," she said.
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