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Israel Israeli actions reverse progress with treatment of Palestinians Most people in the world were outraged at the Iraqi missile tacks on civilian targets in Israel. These attacks were a coldly c culated plan to draw Israel into the war and turn fundamenta * x?1: A T iviuMim upmiuu luwaiu liaq. Israel was praised world-wide for its refusal to retaliate, showed courage and faith in the United States that Israel American forces defend it from attack. That makes it so much sadder that Israel continues its ruthl suppression of the Palestinian people. Israeli Navy vessels shel Palestinian camps in southern Lebanon in response to rocket tacks from Lebanon. As usual, Israel attacked die Palestinian ci lian population to respond to terrorist attacks from a small min ity of Palestinian extremists. Even more disturbing are the allegations that Israeli-opera Patriot missiles were not fired to stop an Iraqi SCUD that v heading toward the West Bank (where most Palestinians in Isn territory live). The Israelis deny this charge, but it would not be the first ti the Israeli government has shown a callous disregard for Pale nian safety during the war. Palestinians were the last to rece gas-masks when they were distributed to all Israelis. Even touri had been given masks before the Palestinians. As of last we many Palestinians had still not received chemical-protection gea The Israeli general in charge of the distribution said that Palestinians didn't have to worry as they were not targets of Iraqis. This has proven to be wrong as at least two Iraqi SCU] whether by accident or design, have now hit the West Bank. Israel has.also imposed a 24-hour curfew in the Occupied Te tories (the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) since the start of war. This is racism pure and simple, with no justification of than a desire to oppress Palestinian resistance to Israeli rule. One of the few good things to come out of this war is the pre ise by Secretary of State Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Be mertnykh to address the Palestinian issue at future Middle E peace talks following the war. Israel should not use its new-found support in the Persian G War as cover to hide its mistreatment of a people within the coi try's boundaries. The whole world is watching. THE 8ACK-TO-THE-FUTURE MACH/ME The Gamecock News: 777-7726 Advertising: 111-42' Kathy Blackwell robyn Thompson Editor in Chief Managing Editor Jennifer Jablonski David Bowden Copy Desk Chief Viewpoint Editor Lucy Soto Kathy Heberger News Editor Carolina Life Editor Steve Johnson Renee Meyer Sports Editor Photography Editor Aaron Sheinin Tige Wati Assistant News Editor Assistant News Edit Octavia Wright Patrick Villeg/ Assistant Carolina Life Editor Assistant Sports Edit Chris Silvestri Julie Bouchillc Assistant Copy Desk Chief Assistant Photography Edit Eric Glenn Darkroom Lab Technician Ed Bonza Erik Colli? Director of Student Media Faculty Advis Laura S. Day ray Burgc Production Manager Assistant Production Manag Renee Gibson Kyle Berb Advertising Manager Assistant Advertising Manag Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters shoi be, at maximum, 250 to 300 words long. The writer must include full name, pi fessional title if a USC employee or South Carolina resident, or year and majoi a student. An address and phone number are required with all letters sent. T Gamecock reserves the right to edit letters for style, possible libel or in case space limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under ai circumstance. ||^|g^|fcfpTnbue' S Reporters ek, r Iraq, Iraq, Iraq, Iraq... Can you star say it one more time? As an obscure member of the met p. munity I do understand the important s' word at this juncture in history. Hell, war and war means lots of extremely i m" news. But the key word in that sentent the portant news. Now is it just me or is thi her can public being drowned in a murky "reporting" that is becoming just plain j im- Live coverage is a great way to get i :SS_ ence involved. Strategic diagrams are ;ast tive. Interviews with families and soli touching. Periodic updates keep us c< ,f on top of the situation. Right now I'm ,u ing to figure out,how desperately the / jn~ television audience needs to know aboi feet of the war on the tatoo industry. No, this is not something I made up. you probably saw that story on the ti And I was really disturbed when I saw LETTERS T( m. T A A A fNation twists 1 ( truth in war ; I To the editor: We are appalled by Michele i Marple's letter to the editor (Wed- ! nesday, Jan. 23) likening the war a in the Persian Gulf to a basketball c game. We find it hard to imagine 1 that, in this day and age, anyone can hold such a callous view of r warfare. s Before we all jump on the "fight I now" bandwagon, as Ms. Marple t suggests we do, we ought to at r least examine what we are being I asked to support. p Do we know why we are fight- 1 ing in the gulf? We hear a lot of v high-minded talk about the "liberation of Kuwait" and defending <3 against "naked aggression." But g neither of these reasons approaches ^ the truth. If Zambia invaded Mo- g zambique, would President Bush 5 have responded by deploying tens 1 of thousands of American troops r and immediately demanded the v 49 "liberation of Mozambique?" Of ? course not a If Kuwait had no oil, Bush tl would have no interest in its "lib- c ? eration." Besides, the "legitimate s government" of Kuwait is a feudal ti mnnarrhv A rmintrv must he free in the first place before it can be n "liberated." a Is the Gulf War entirely about s oil? Perhaps initially, but as time 1; as passed, it became more of a c ? personal vendetta for Bush. Having s PS put his reputation on the line with o or the United Nations resolutions and n ^ the Jan. 15 deadline, Bush backed is or himself into a corner. lN Neither he nor Saddam Hussein E or could back down without suffering tl a serious international embarrass- p ment. Thus, as the deadline ap- C proached, the administration g pushed several arguments for war, si _ often distorting the facts in the a sTs process. er The unsubstantiated and exag)S gerated claims include: ,er 1. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait was ,y unprovoked. (The two countries hoiro o lr\nrr_efonHinrr Hier\ntp> onH uavv a ouiuuui^ uu^/utv, u?u Iraq has accused Kuwait of "eco- ^ nomic warfare" in driving down * the price of oil.) 2. Hussein would soon have nu- I ~ clear weapons. (Experts said it 0. would take him five to ten years.) -] ,lf 3. Iraq would invade Saudi Aro? abia. (The CIA predicted the inva- . 1 ny sion of Kuwait but said that Saudi a Arabia was not in danger.) S J 4. Saddam Hussein is another g push liniit lia com- Cue s of that -T ont this is a -? mportant :e is im a Ameriries about the impact on ocean o tiques selling desert can the^audi- g3S maSkS'. rm JUSt P?sit . . new iook in spnng ward informa- me, but I like lo be educ ters are ^ave m? intelligence insu] Bul since J?urnal ,s . " pressed for stories, maybe erican Qr twQ ^ ^ beauties: it the ef Coverage of a sting Many of all copies of Playboy shi jbe, too. bound like the Koran. r the sto- Guest appearance b 3 THE EDITO Jitler. (Hussein is by no means an exemplary character, but he has leither the military might nor the jenocidal ideology which Hitler assessed.) So, on Jan. 16, 1991, the United States launched "Operation Desert /nn Irvnrrar "TAacorf /IUIlit lUU^Vl i^V/OV/ll UIUV/1U J ind initiated the war with Iraq. In essence, Bush started a war to save lis reputation. This is inexcusable. A responsible world leader does lot begin offensive wars on peronal whims. And while our. lombs and cruise missiles continue o "light up Baghdad like a Christnas tree" (we suppose this is what iush really meant by a "thousand oints of light"), we should not get ost in the excitement and forget vhat war is all about. War is death, destruction and levastation. War is licensed agression. War is organized murder. According to some predictions, a round war in Kuwait could bring 0,000 casualities and cost over 0,000 American lives (not to nention Iraqi casualities, which vould be even higher). If Bush indeed orders a ground ssault, he will have on his hands tie blood of thousands of Amerian soldiers. And for what ? to ave him from an embarrassing siiiation? Inexcusable. We realize the value of a strong ational defense and even of an rtivf fnrpicrn nnlifv Rut nr? rpQ_ on ? no excuse ? justifies lunching an offensive war. If our ountry is attacked, we certainly hould be prepared to defend urselves. But we must always relember that war is not a game; it > an extremely serious matter. One final thought: both George lush and Saddam Hussein claim lat God is on their side. Suposedly, they worship the same rod ? a God who believes in ood will toward mankind and the anctity of human life. Would such God not favor peace? David Cohn Interdisciplinary studies senior Tom McPherson Art history senior Students aided by safeguards fa the editor: For the past two years, I have ived in the Towers dormitory rea. The heavy congestion of lumter Street has always posed a [rave danger to pedestrians such as 'ERATION SERT SE/v ^ :s with war pert to discus* purchase Sadda LLEY MAGEE puK^ up the fact tha "some incredil dered them to ( i fashion. With' bou- Live cove louflage jumpers and jn2 ?f ive we'll see a whole ^nS "Good tr robes. Maybe it's just anyway!" afpH hv thp npuic not A Tha Mivv* KJJ Miv Iivno, HWI W 111^/ dUVA/f Ited. There." Saudi . ism world seems so cover unsightl i they could pilfer one dodgers. Story on operation impounding Barbie" (Barbi ipped to Saudi Arabia Barbie B-52 so Airing of y a psychological ex- Hussein's bunk Q n myself in getting to and from the g< main area of campus. Many times I have almost be- hi come another unlucky student g< struck down by oncoming traffic di from both Devine and Sumter jo streets. However, I was pleased to w see in the Friday, Jan. 25 issue of tii The Gamecock that there is a plan w, for improvement about to be ec implemented. Hopefully, this plan will allevi- sc ate the situation and insure pedest- ti< rian safety. I would like to thank Sen. Tom Young of the Student Senate for his initiative in urging the university to endorse the plan, and I look forward to the begin- ' ning of the construction to improve # this area. Kevin Beach Chemistry junior Ti Giants aren't ? stupid, lucky ? To the editor: ^ I am writing in response to Mr. Johnson's Super Bowl article ("Soldiers Anxiously Awaiting re Super Bowl Sunday," Jan. 25). ai Maybe, Mr. Johnson, you should u] sit back during the football season ^ and actually watch a few Giants w games before you make pathetic ^ accusations about the team. ^ For example, you stated that the ai Giants have no recievers (sic) worth mentioning. Any football ^ fan will tell you that Stephen j1. Baker, Mark Ingram and Mark ^ Bavaro (Bavaro is actually a tight _ end, not a wide receiver, ed.) were w a great asset to the team. Next, I a< must refer to your brief history les- c] son about backup quarterbacks. This lesson said backup quarter- Q] backs get up for one game, but then flop the next week. Just be- tj. cause Cody Carlson had a great y( game one week and then flopped U! hard the next day does not mean ir that it will happen to all backup a, quarterbacks. w Jeff Hostetler took the Giants e] through the playoffs and was the sj winning quarterback in the Super ^ Bowl. This fact obviously proves your brief lesson invalid ? sorrv. Now, I'll bring up a name you ^ might not be too familiar with ? dl Jumbo Eliot (sic). He was the man who handled Bruce Smith very well through the whole game. Smith did have a sack for a safety, 0 but that was due to a Hostetler: trip. Don't get me wrong. Bruce c? Smith is a great defensive player, but he wasn't the best in this C coverage > the instability of people who im Hussein shower heads. ;port that Exxon is sending over > directors to help Hussein cover it he was under the influence of ?le Turkish hash" when he or)pen the pipeline. rage of nude oil wrestling featuri crowd holding up banners sayy Saddam, we're rolling in it dng story: "What's Really Under Arabian women wearing veils to y facial hair are actually draft record sales of new "Combat e tent with air conditioner and Id separately.) top-secret CIA tapes of Saddam er bantering with God. * ime. You know that I did not see Phil Simms throw is crutches^ in disgust after the ime like you said he would. If he d throw it, it was either in pure y or the fact that he didn't get to in the Super Bowl for the second me in 4 years (Super Bowl XXV as the Giants' second in 5 years, I.). Watch football during the sea>n before making stupid predicts about the Super Bowl. Doug Raynor Business sophomore tVar must end mmediately 0 the editor: People of this world must learn 1 accept what they have ? re?ice in what is their own, not lust "ter another's possessions. Having lose possessions will not make du happier, but strengthen your ssire for more. People must learn that there are ifferences among us. They must ^cognize the variety of culture id ideas in this world. They must iderstand them and accept them, everyone was the same there ould be nc point of existence. It were all put here to learn from ich other ? not to live in ignorice of one another. Through r morance comes dis usi ana mrougn aistrust comes itred. This iiatred leads to misust which manifests into reality - WAR. In this game, blame is holly placec on the opponent, but ? Francois l>uc de la Rochefoutuld said, ' Quarrels would not st long if the fault were only on ne side." And there are rules placed on lis game ? rules that say how ou can or cannot kill people or se them. There should be no killig at all. People see their enemy s "the enemy" when, if they ould stand face-to-face with "the iemy," they would see that he/ le is a real human being just like ley are. I do not want to see this war go own in history as one ending with eath ? the deaths of many men nd women on both sides and lose not involved. I want to see lie \x/Qr pnH u/itVi lif/* thp 1i\roc Llj TT Ul V11U TT1M1 I11V UIV 1ITVJ f those men and women whp rive to make peace despite the atred and resistance before a few asualities turn into many. Susan E. Burdick hemical engineering sophomore