Panel debates Iraq war
KEVIN ALLEN
News Writer
Students and faculty packed the student lounge in the Coleman-Morse Center Wednesday to discuss the war in Iraq.
Air Force ROTC Senior Andrew DeBerry and freshman Peter Quaranto, a member of the Peace Coalition, helped organize the event, titled "Student Dialogue on the War in Iraq."
"This is a complicated issue and a lot of good, moral people disagree on whether this war is just and legal," said Quaranto. Both pro-war and anti-war voices had a chance to be heard Wednesday.
Participants noted the impact on their discussion of recent news coverage that showed liberated Iraqis embracing American and British troops as they marched on Baghdad.
"Today is a good day to talk about how the war has gone because today we've taken a big step forward in finishing the war," said Daniel Philpott, assistant professor of international relations, as he began an introduction to the many issues associated with the U.S. involvement in Iraq.
The discussion centered on the issues of whether the war in Iraq is a just war, whether a preventive war can ever be considered just, prospects for establishing a healthy democracy in Iraq and the responsibilities of the Notre Dame community during this time.
A four-person panel offered diverse perspectives from ROTC, Peace Coalition, Young Republicans and International Students. The panel was moderated by Philpott, who is also a faculty fellow at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. After the panelists were finished discussing the planned part of the dialogue, the floor was opened up to questions from the audience.
One panel member, Mary Ann Mazzarini, a senior and the wing commander in Air Force ROTC, gave possible positives and negatives that could come from the situation. She said that although the Iraqi people have been liberated from a brutal dictator, the United States has set a dangerous precedent by preemptively attacking Iraq. Actions by the United States could possibly discredit the United Nations, but that could also motivate them to enforce their rules more strictly, Mazzarini added.
Catherine McGeeney, a member of the Peace Coalition, took issue with classifying American military involvement as a humanitarian mission to liberate oppressed Iraqis.
"Why do we continue to support regimes that are just as bad or worse than Saddam Hussein's?" she said.
McGeeney pointed to examples of human rights violations in Israel and Turkey, both U.S. allies, which have not been addressed. McGeeney also said the war has been a distraction from more urgent domestic affairs, such as the struggling economy.
When addressing the issue of what the Notre Dame community can do at this time, McGeeney also said it would be important for students to inform themselves by using several sources for news, not just American, and by promoting dialogue on the issue.
Mohamed Shehab El Din, a peace studies graduate student from Egypt, began his speech on the panel by requesting that everyone reserve a moment of silence to honor the victims of war. He then asserted that more resistance by Iraqis is imminent as well as casualties.
"The war is not over," said Shehab. "This is just a stage."
"The way [the war in Iraq] is viewed in the Islamic world and the Arab world right now is that `it's a crusade,'" Shehab said.
Shehab said that no one in the Arab world argue against the fact that the Hussein regime is corrupt, but they are extremely wary of the American presence in the region. He added that he is encouraged by youth and student opposition to the war.
Mark Hayes, former president of College Republicans, rounded out the panel. Hayes pointed to the possible connections between Hussein and terrorist networks and the subsequent dangers to American national security as justification for the war.
As a follow-up to Wednesday's dialogue, students will also have the opportunity to discuss the war in open lunch discussions on Thursdays in April, starting today, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the South Dining Hall Hospitality Room. Students will get lunch as usual and enter the forum for conversation exclusively about the war.
All News Stories for Thursday, April 10, 2003
