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War We fought for freedom in Kuwait, why not freedom in Iraq itself? The Kurdish and Shi'ite rebels in Iraq are being devastated by the counteroffensive started by Iraqi troops loyal to Saddam Hussein. It is uncertain whether nr nnt the rehek will he ahle tn cur. vive this onslaught. U.S. troops in southern Iraq can see Iraqi government forces attacking the rebels. The last thing the U.S. should do is attack with ground forces, BUT even a small use of our air power could turn the tide in the war. U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf admitted the Iraqis lied to him about the purpose of certain helicopters when he allowed the Iraqi government to use them. They told him the helicopters were evacuating government personnel from rebel-held areas, when actually the vehicles were used to attack rebel positions. Now that the U.S. is aware of this, why don't we do something? We shot down two Iraqi jets that were fighting the rebels, why not go after the helicopters? Do we now need a U.N. mandate to do anything? Saddam lied to us about the helicopters, just like he lied to the Kurds when he told them he would grant them an autonomous state inside Iraq. Saddam's bad faith is the perfect excuse to intervene in Iraq's civil war. If the United States keeps out of the conflict, and the rebels somehow do win, we will have no credit with the new Iraqi regime. The only way to ensure that a state friendly tQ the U.S. comes to power is to intervene. As NBC reporter Arthur Kent said in an interview, the U.S. h"as a problem with the "follow-through." We have great victories, yet we don't back military success up with lasting diplomatic solutions. The U.S. is picking a weird time to play pacifist. "HELLO - NEW LP ORPERS* 1 ; I NATI0MS EVE(?YWHEJ?e'I TOO CAA/ rj-^pf HAVE A ME 5g?f? ymiwff&rx i ZSMk? WEAPD/fc Id if - EVER x *m *$r- ARMS S4LES gp=jg I J deh^erany^hery, iGAMECoiUKf News: 777-7726 Advertising: 777-4249 Kathy Blackwell Robyn Thompson Editor in Chief Managing Editor Chris Silvestri 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 Watts Assistant News Editor Assistant News Editor Octavia Wright Patrick Villegas Assistant Carolina Life Editor Assistant Sports Editor jennifer jablonski julie bouchillon Assistant Copy Desk Chief Assistant Photography Editor Eric Glenn Wayne Williams Darkroom Lab Technician. Comics Editor Ed Bonza Erik Collins Director of Student Media Faculty Adviser Laura S. Day Ray Burgos Production Manager Assistant Production Manager Renee Gibson Kyle Berry Advertising Manager Assistant Advertising Manager Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should be, at maximum, 250 to 300 words long. The writer must include full name, professional title if a USC employee or South Carolina resident, or year and major if a student. An address and phone number are required with all letters sent. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit letters for style, possible libel or in case of space limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under any circumstance. 'Ecomug' It seems that Marriott Food Sei of swamp land to sell to USC cemed about the environment. Just several months ago, the 1 was made from paper to plasti Gamecock Park dining area. Th< for this switch was that the bea Food Services logo could be i plastic bags rather than on the tr: bags as used before. No one < paper bags were recyclable throu cling programs or that they helc nine out of 10 old ladies prefer plastic. Every brainless twit knows p cheaper to make than paper. W every nationwide chain of gro< making the similar move? Plastii expensive. But why should Mar about their reasoning for the switi So anyway, now Marriott Foo ter being badgered by SAGE (S for a Greener Earth), has annoui r?nc nQmprfvlf Prnmncr Thic ma times, a refillable cup, is design with the thousands of Styrofo coated cups thrown away each students. It is a fantastic idea that is ah( at least for the University of S The people of SAGE should be IjVJ 1 I HfiVL Lab animals are people too To the editor: This article is in reference t Raja Choudbury's letter on aninu testing ana animal ngnts activisi in the March 21 issue of Th Gamecock. I respect Mr. Chouc bury for standing up for what h believes in, but when he resorte to name-calling, I think it mad light of his point. He referred to animal rights ac tivists as "lopsided" in his lettei This surprised me, because I thin we share common ground in tht he is a medical student and out t help people, and we, being anim; rights activists, are out to help ani mals. Since he painted a-not-sc pretty picture of our group, I fe< compelled to explain to him an tr the world what our thoughts are. I Students (and People) for th Ethical Treatment of Animal (SETA/PETA) is a compassionat group who is not anti-science c anti-research, but seeks to stres the responsibility of the biomedic; research establishment to find an use alternatives rather than use ir nocent animals. The scientists claim that testin on animals is not inhumane. Wei if this is the case, why don't w perform the tests on our grand mothers? There are even case where a substance was considere safe when tested on an animal, bi had dreadful effects on humans. Seven billion dollars is spent c over 10 million animals each ye< to confine them and make thei sick. The irony in this is that man people with crippling diseases ai unable to obtain adequate healt care because of the lack of func that were spent on testing. The disgusting thing is that ther are alternatives. For example, i the United Kingdom, physician are trained through apprenticeshij demonstration and assistance. An instead of dog labs, they lear from textbooks, lectures, videc tapes, surgical observations, interr ships and computer simulation. It is hardly fair to assume thes animals should die for us, espe daily since we ourselves are an mals. Because we are more intell gent, does that give us the right t destroy other life forms? I thin not. And I conclude that fightin 4 for their lives along with them i W COACH ftfESNT.CHEW Of product j rvices has a bit students conMl brilliant switch c bags in the ; reason given CrUf utiful Marriott irinted on the aditional paper their insight and th :ared that the be thanked for final gh USC Recy- There is a slight 1 more or that ing the marketing ' paper bags to and Economical," signs abounding cai lastic bags are save the Earth, hy else would Ecological? Yes, :ery stores be minded individual ; : bags are less locations campus-w riott be honest an Ecomug equipp :h? plastic bookbag clip d Services, af- helps reduce the ar Itudents Allied to the Richland Coi iced the fabul- is good. rvei or mouem But economical/ ed to do away new mug is econo iam and wax- Marriott. They say day by USC using the Ecomug s the food business w sad of its time, made in sales of fot outh Carolina. The syrup and ( applauded for inexpensive. And > TO THE EPF] nowhere near "lopsided." Mr. Choudbury stated in his 1 ter that because of the efforts medical researchers, animal rigl activists would have many mc disease-free years in which to pi test Well sir, on the same note, j you are not a vegetarian, and y became one, you yourself wot live a longer life in which to coi . mit bloody murder. Contact SET ? Box 80068, USC, 29225-0112. d I e Lynn Bry English juni k Gun control 0 not needed il | To the editor: 1 This letter is in response to Ti j Watts' March 25 column, "Gii shouldn't be in the hands idiots." As the title of the colui suggests, Mr. Watts feels that i all Americans should be allowed possess firearms. It is amazing for the assist* news editor of a major univers newspaper (or any marginally e( ^ cated person for that matter) to brashly and unscrupulously sugg any American citizen be deniec basic right guaranteed by the S< ond Amendment to the U.S. Cc j stitution. Certainly such benevoh ^ dictators as Saddam Hussein a l_ Joseph Stalin would concur w Mr. Watts on the issue of prote ^ ing civil liberties. lt Preventing accidents caused the misuse of guns will not be cilitated by overlooking civil lib (n ties and restricting gun owners! to those deemed privileged enou 11 ? ^ to own guns. As with other restr y tions on inanimate objects, su e measures do not work (how ma h teenagers do you know that c k easily acquire a keg of beer if th feel like doing so?). The only w to prevent such accidents e through education, n Educating people on how to i is inanimate objects (e.g. cars, cc ), doms and guns) safely could p d vent many accidents each year, n simple drive through Five Poir ?- for example, reveals a multitude i- motorists who do not know how operate cars safely, and there is e apparent call to restrict the p vilege of driving to safe drive i- As more effective driver educati i- would result in fewer auto ac o dents, so too would effective g k safely courses result in fewer ac g dents because of the misuse is guns. usi^profitabl cheap. Marri _ cup and still 3P SHIVES brewed tea cheap to mal garbage cans st Columnist 7116 ?nly water drink< cents for a e people at Marriott should ly listening to them. with an Ecoi problem, however, concern- cups of wat of the Ecomug. "Ecological But if watei the cup itself boasts. And bring his or npus claim the Ecomug will etplace ins Ecomug? indeed every ecologicallyshould rush down to dining j fjnd it p ride to sink two bucks into rroll tr* ? ~ -- U1V ^,UJI WV ed with spill-proof top and suggest by >. Each refill saves a cup and save the Ee nount of wastes USC sends shown in th( unty landfill each year. This logical issue The only people that this It appalls mical for is the folks from Earth Day b discount prices available by mercial com ave you money. Everyone in fast buck. Iv ill admit huge profits can be tion of this mtain drinks. sickening, m :arbonation are ridiculously Kipp Shiv everyone knows water is WUSC-FM. roR The National Rifle Association et- has made an enormous effort to of promote gun safety courses and its has even attempted to provide such )re courses free of charge to public ro- school children, if ou Unfortunately, the NRA's efdd forts have been thwarted by groups ro- hostile to the cause of gun safety A, and private ownership of guns. As with safe sex education, special interest groups have placed their an own political objectives above the ior safety of the public and jeopardized that interest through limiting public access to gun safety education. In conclusion, if reducing accidents caused by the misuse of guns is to be achieved, education is the answer. Teach Americans how to use guns safely, and fewer acciige dents because of the misuse of . ins guns will result. Denying civil of liberties through restrictions on ron gun ownership is not the answer, lot to Eric Lieu MIBS student int ? No excuses for prejudice I a ic- To the editor: >n- This letter is in response to the int ignorant homophobic fliers that nd were posted on campus Monday, ifh Marrh 9S For those of VOU who ct- did not get to see these, I will be glad to reiterate the content: "Antiby homo Week ? March 25-29 . . . fa- Homosexuality is an abomination er- to God. Please read Romans chapup ter 1:24." gh I encourage anyone who reads ic- this letter to also read these quotes ch from the Bible for the purpose of ny seeing how nebulous they are. This an is just another example of misuse ey of biblical passages to justify that ay which is unjustifiable, is Homophobia is nothing more than socially accepted bigotry. It ise alarms and scares me that such a >n- blatant display of prejudice is prere sent in a university setting during A the 1990s. It makes me wonder its, what could cause this hatred towof ards homosexuals, to As unfortunate as it may be, the no reality of the matter is that it is iri- still considered to be OK or even rs. cool to ridicule and belittle people on because of their sexual orientation, ci- Even with this being the case, I ;un cannot see how there is enough ci- motivation to make antiof homosexual fliers and post them on campus. 4l k I "j f IV le farce iott could sell soda for a quarter a 1 make money. And if you've ever before, you know it's almost as Ice as Kool Aid. But is tea stored in ; really worth 64 cents? real benefits of the Ecomug are to ;rs. Before, Marriott expected 10 cup of water. Now, water is free, mug, of course. So after drinking 20 er, water drinkers come out ahead, r is truly free, why can't a student her own mug to the Grand Markitead of the official Gamecock iretty damn ironic that Marriott has place posters around campus that purchasing an Ecomug, it would irth. Marriott Food Services have i past their lack of concern for ecos. me that they would jump on the andwagon that so many other comipanies have boarded just to turn a larriott is using the granola popula on the underlying messages of the Bible and of other religious teachings? These are a love of yourself, a love of everyone else, peace and happiness. Nowhere in the Bible do I recall a passage that says it is OK to hate and have prejudice. I do not understand why there is social injustice in the world, and I don't suppose I ever will. Homophobia is only one of many injusknt it /i ff/*/f to *vi st rriAfV* ih'lTl utw, uui 11 aiiU/id iu& hiv/iv mwii any other. If anyone can give me a reasonable, valid, intelligent explanation of why there is still homophobia in the world, please do so. Maybe if we can locate a cause of the problem, we will be able to overcome it Shane Miller Psychology sophomore campus to maxe money, mat is lore sickening even than their food. es works at Portfolio magazine and Maybe sexual insecurity plays some part in this. It seems logical to me that if someone is insecure with their own sexuality they would be more likely to lash out at the cause of their frustration, in this case, homophobia. I'm sure this accounts for much homophobia, but certainly not every homophobe is a closet homosexual. Some people may argue that they were raised to be homophobic. I understand this may be the case, but it is still a pitiful excuse. Many things socially acceptable in our parents' youth are now considered to be inappropriate. Racism and sexism were also considered to be excusable forms of prejudice 35 to 40 years ago. The only other reason I can see that people would be homophobic ic rplimmic harlrcrmund T sav this because of the biblical quotes printed on the fliers and because of the many questions I have heard about the relationship of homosexuality and Christianity. I am by no means a biblical scholar, although there are many American homosexuals who are devout Christians, there are also those of us who are Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Athiest, Pagan or Agnostic. Quotes from the Bible are impertinent to us. However, to be impartial and open-minded, I have read many "supposed" anti-homosexual quotes. I found that just like many things in the Bible, these quotes can be taken lots of different ways in any given situation. Thump your Bibles all you want, but this is not a valid point. Instead of looking at vague quotes which have been translated many times and are now quite questionable, why not concentrate