Page 12 - ThePhoenix1990-91

Page 4IWestern Maryland College/September 13. 1990 Editorial Addiction and Oil by Pat Blackman now find ourselves on the wrong all Arabs. The United States, moralposiuonregardingaggres- our safety and our humanity. Thecurrentsituation in the end of a resource leash that we are told, stands as it always sion, abuse of power, or human Perhaps then we have painted MiddleEastseemstohavegiven stretches thousands of miles. It has "against aggression". And rights violations simply falls ourselves into a comer and we us good subject matter for cas- seems impossible to conceive we have the United Nations on apart when we consider our own need to stand against Saddam ual conversation but I wonder of an economy without oil and our side. record on these issues. We have Hussein to protect our immedi- how many of us, students in gasoline, yet ten years ago we Yet we seem to forget the as little moral high ground upon ate interests and avoid major particular, have really consid- were on the verge of a commit- atrocities our own soldiers which to stand as does Saddam economic disaster. But if we ered its implications. ment to alternative energy re- committed in Vietnam, and the Hussein. must confront. we should do so The current trend to tum sources which by now would direct attacks we've recently The counterargument can with our. eyes on peace and this issue into fuel for a new age most likely have freed us from made on Panama, Grenada, and now be made; "Of course this humane values as part of a of patriotic fervor. is at best our terrible addiction. Libya. all of which were criti- isn't about moral issues, it's combined. Arab-led UnitedNa- misguided, and at worst, a se- Unfortunately, we elected cized and denounced by the about economics and national lions peacekeeping force. And vere threat to the lives of thou- an administration which purged United Nations. security. We need to defend our certainly we should berealizing sands of Americans and other its offices of all who talked the Wedon'tthinktwiceabout oil supply if we are to remain a that the time has come for alter- world citizens. language of alternative energy the fact that we create and sup- strong and prosperous nation, native energy resource devel- Furthermore, thereduction andreplaced them with oil baron port oppressive regimes allover and we have a right to do so." opment. of the issues and events involved and defense industry puppets the world; remember Diem, Pi- This argument 100 is faulty. Finally. we have shown in the current crisis to simple who helped to create the envi- nochet, Somoza, Noriega, etc? I have already shown how little awareness of the fact that moral formulae is simply inade- ronmental hell typified by Prince We stand against Iraqi aggres- we have ignored our own poten- we are not Arabs and we are quate and is an extremely dan- William Sound and the political sion with a hundred thousand tial for developing alternative thus culturally limited in our gerous way to interpret reality, turmoil in the Persian Gulf. troops but we give Israel only a energy resources. I would con- understanding of the problems especially in terms of world Wehave the technology and tounge lashing between arms tend that our vital national secu- in the Middle East An Iraqi is politics. the potential, not to mention the shipments for the atrocities they rity interests lie not in protect- not the same as an Iranian is not Before giving support for need, to break: the cycle of oil have commited against the Pal- ing our addiction to the non- the same as a Palestinian is not this argument, it should bemade addiction, but we don't. This is estinians. Wedenouncethelraqi renewable, highly polluting the same as an Egyptian is not clear that it is possible to criti- because the past ten years in this gassingoftheKurds(aswemost fossil fuels of the past, but in the same as a Saudi. But all of cize the scope and intent of U.S. nation have seen an incredible certainly should!) but we are developing new, environmen- thesepeoplearehuman,justlike involvemenuntbe Persian Gulf re-concentrationofpower in the oblivious to the human rights tally safe and socially respon- you and me. And they disagree while still remaining critical of hands of industrial and political violations we have committed sible energy resources. and even fight just like we do. Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi leaders with vested interests in and still are committing against It is becoming obvious that There are many issues aggression against Kuwait. the petroleum and defense in- Native Americans. no nation can remain strong and which we simply can't under- Furthermore, an argument dustries. Whenever we do take a prosperous while destroying the stand unless we try 10 keep an against the current policy of the The current crisis in the somewbatmoralstance, we only environment at the same time. open mind. It's easy to label all U.S. is by no means anattackon Gulf is being managed by these do so in our own strategic inter- The same point is true with Arabs terrorists and incompe- the men and women who must people, and our current policy ests; for example, our policy in regards to the outrageous mili- tents and cop a superiority serve in the region. Rather, I reflects this fact Yet for the South Africa has nothing to do tary expenditure which we in- complex about how we have to question the way in which our most part. we ignore this power with ending apartheid. only with cur as a rule, and which is now clean up the mess that the Arabs government and the American structure and its reasons for protecting rare minerals and SOmuch the greater with our made. But history reminds us people in general have reacted initiating the huge buildup of resources vital to the defense expedition to the Gulf. that it was the West, particu- to this situation. It is a reaction American forces in Saudi Ara· industry. And our support of Look around; homeless- larly Britain and more recently which isbasednoton truehuman bia and the Persian Gulf. Israel has nothing 10do with the ness, poverty, environmental the United Slates, which gave concern but on issues of eco- We've convinced ourselves moral plight of the Jews after degradation abound. Are these the Middle East its modem day nomics, power, and race. that this policy is the only way the Holocaust; strategically, we the signs of a strong and pros- boundaries and thus set the stage President Bush asked for a to stop Iraq from sweeping see Israel as a stabilizing inOu- perous nation? And now we are for the modem day conflicts. In kinder, gentler nation where a across the entire region. We encetocheckanypossiblethreat asked to sacrifice even more; other words, we helped make thousand points of light repre- paint the picture in black and to our oil Oow. our own flesh and blood to pro- the mess with the same brand of senting a new compassion and white. Iraq is the bad guy and The point is this: any argu- tect the selfish interests of an foreignpolicywe're implement- voluteerism in the nation would we're the good guy. Thissortof ment which asserts the right of insauablepowerstructurewhicb ing to "clean it up". We're shine. Instead, I see people .shallow moralizing is plainly the United States to enforce a has as the least of its concerns asking for more of the same. around me giving the age old apparent, especially in the way cry of war, ready to pay for the media portrays Saddam thick, black crude oil with the Hussein as Adolf Hitler and the blood of my generation spilled Iraqi solidiers as poison gas- by a thousand points of muzzle toting, raping, pillaging, plun- flash. Why? dering religious fanatics. In- We have built our econ- deed, thissortofstereotypeplays omy so heavily on oil that we right into our racist notions of Editorial An Ounce of Prevention by Jenn Seott The Cold War is over and distracted us from the just as peace is in the offing. In the dangerous, if nuclear-armless, time following the fall of the enemies. The world has never Berlin Wall, the isolationists been smaller. Aircraftcancross have gotten their hand into the Atlantic in one hour, a trip things unlilceanytime before the that fifty years ago required Isitanywonder,then,thatwhen to be seen as dependent on oil. in sending troops to helpprotect Carter administration. The twenty-three hours. Nuclear such countries show signs of We are dependent; in the last Saudi Arabia in a multinational United States has finally begun weapons can reach enemies on irrational expansionist senti- decade searches for energy ef- efforttodeterSaddam. Itseems to disarm, disengage, and disin- the other side of the globe in meats, the world gets a little ficent measures and alternative to be working, too. Saddam volve ourselves with the rest of thirty minutes. nervous? The opponents of energy sources have been aban- Hussein has geared down from the world. We don't need to Even during the nuclear Bush and the United Nations doned. This crisis will defi- an offensive posture to one of guard against the Communist arms buildup, there was little look only at the issue of our nitely urge us to pick up that defense along the border. He menace any longer and its high actual threat of a war on the addiction to oil. They scorn as search, but we certainly can't counted on world apathy and time money got funneled into nuclear scale. The Soviets and paranoia the parallels made to go cold turkey. Neither can the instead met united condemna- our escalating domestic prob- Americansdominatedeveryone Germany's Hitler, but the pur- other industrialized nations, tion and resistance. True, the lems. For too long the deficit else and balanced one another. pose of history is to keep us most notably Japan, which United States hasbeen rash with has been spiraling out of control Their governments are stable, from making the same mistake, imports ninry percent of its oil, its military aid in the past with in the name of defense spend- bureaucratic, and slow to act not to read it as idle entertain- and a large percentage of that Vietnam, Israel, Libya. And the ing. Tbebomeless, our schools, The possibility of nuclear war ment and then toss aside. from the Gulf area. U.S. hasoften backed the wrong and transportation systems have comes when the small, dictator- Granted, the threat to the History has taught us that horse, so to speak: Marcos, been neglected and they deserve run countries get their hands on world's oil supply plays a role, wecannotappeasedictators.tnat Noriega,SaddamHussein. This their fair share. There will weapons of that magnitude. butthatdoesootmeanweshouid they see concession as a weak- time.however, thereis nodoubt. alwaysbethreatstoworldpeace, Several, including Iraq, are let Saddam Hussein take over ness to be exploited. President Saddam has attacked and an- however: the Soviets had only within years of that technology. countries because we're afraid Bush was right in acting swiftly Continued on page S