An Army Incorporated
In the first year of Iraq’s occupation U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer III, according to The New York Times, “”exempted security companies and their employees from accountability under Iraqi law for the deaths and injuries caused in the execution of their duties.”” In December 2006, a Blackwater employee killed a bodyguard of the Iraqi vice president during an argument. The mercenary faced no punishment and was simply sent home. Congress has asked the Pentagon to hold contractors accountable, just as U.S. soldiers, but nothing has been done. There is a U.S. army for hire in Iraq with no rules of engagement. No one should be free to kill without consequence.
As President Dwight D. Eisenhower said as he left the White House in 1961, “”America’s leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.”” Protecting Blackwater’s contractors from the rule of law is a misuse of that power.
-University of Minnesota’s Minnesota Daily
Border fence inherently un-American
The first high-tech “”virtual fence”” at the nation’s borders sits unused three months after its scheduled debut due to an apparent technical glitch.
The fence, consisting of nine 98-foot towers equipped with radar, sensors and sophisticated cameras, spans 28 miles near the Arizona-Mexico border that are reportedly trafficked heavily by illegal immigrants and drug smugglers.
The goal, of course, is to prevent people, immigrants or terrorists, from getting into our country. However, we think this fence is in complete opposition to everything our nation stands for.
The plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty reads, “”give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”” Why is it that now, while we are supposedly fighting a war overseas to spread freedom, that we feel justified in denying it to our neighbors to the south?
-Colorado State University’s Rocky Mountain Collegian
Support our students
Star A. Simpson made an honest mistake when she wore a glowing circuit board to Logan International Airport. State police responded reasonably to a perceived threat, and they quickly determined that Simpson’s attire posed no threat at all. She was cooperative, and they were professional.
It should have ended there.
But then a police representative told an eager crowd of reporters that “”thankfully”” Simpson had cooperated and “”ended up in a cell as opposed to the morgue.”” The Suffolk County district attorney pressed charges of possessing a hoax device. National news reports displayed a recklessly sensationalistic disregard for the truth by using phrases like “”fake bomb strapped to her chest.”” MIT – which should be acting to help its student – was curiously quiet, releasing only a statement that “”(a)s reported to us by the authorities, Simpson’s actions were reckless and understandably created alarm at the airport.””
Instead, the Institute should make the facts of the case clear – that Simpson and the device were harmless – and the district attorney’s office should drop the charges against Simpson.
-MIT’s The Tech
OPINIONS BOARD: Editorials are determined by the Wildcat opinions board and written by one of its members. They are Allison Hornick, Sarah Keeler, Connor Mendenhall, Justyn Dillingham, Jerry Simmons and Allison Dumka.
