Kosovo and Iraq shouldn’t be compared

I am writing in response to Yvonne Harper’s letter to the editor, “Become informed on Hussein and Iraq.”

First, I would like to address your final note: “…what President George W. Bush is doing now is no different than what former President Bill Clinton did with Kosovo.” Let me try to inform you. Kosovo was not a solo action. We had support from the majority of the other governments in the world (something we do not have now). Also, what happened in Kosovo was an unbelievable tragedy, where hundreds of thousands of people were mass-murdered so Milosevic could get the Muslims out of Kosovo in what is known as ethnic cleansing.

I am not trying to downplay the plights of the Iraqi people, just trying to give you a better perspective.

The Web site I used was . I think you should check it out.

Another aspect I would like to address from Harper’s letter was to tell her why the life of a Kosove citizen was valuable enough to intervene but an Iraqi’s is not. I would have to say it is not; again, the situations are very different. I was wondering if, since Harper is so concerned with injustices faced by people from their governments, why not address Cuba, North Korea, China or Iran and their treatment of their citizens, just to name a few.

Is this supposed War on Terrorism led by Bush going to address those governments, as well, or does our government only address them if it wants to? I guess I should end this with one more question for Harper: Are Iraqi lives more important than Cuban, North Korean, Chinese or Iranian lives? Please inform me.

J. Thomas is a senior majoring in environmental science and policy.

War against Hussein necessary action

In Thursday’s Oracle, a letter was printed from Anthony Schmidt about how he will not have the blood of innocent people on his hands, that’s why he is against the war. How about the blood of all the people Saddam Hussein has already killed? Or the blood of the people who will die at his or his sons’ hands in the future? You would rather have that blood on your hands?

Your words concerning President George W. Bush illuminate the real issue you face — politics. Get over the election. You will willingly turn your back on those innocent people just because you don’t support a president you didn’t vote for? How self serving can you be?

The same people who protest this war are the ones who will fight against human rights violations abroad, and yet they turn their backs on the Iraqi people because it might seem that they are supporting (gasp) a Republican. Yet, when Bill Clinton said to go into Kosovo, the liberals cheer, the same when he lobbed missiles at Iraq. Hooray for the great Clinton.

This duplicity is appalling.

You need to get past the politics and realize that what is right will always be right, no matter what the French or anyone else will say. A majority of Americans believe that and support this war. The French alienated themselves, the United States didn’t (in reference to the cartoon Tuesday, we have paid them back for the statue many times over).

Get past your own self-serving issues and realize what is at stake. Many have died at the hands of Hussein and many more will die if he is left in power. This war is just, necessary and, more importantly, the right thing to do.

T.J. Harvey is a sophomore majoring in business.

Al-Arian had reason to be arrested

Those who call Sami Al-Arian’s arrest unjustified truly are baffling. While it has always come natural for them to justify any violence aimed at Israel, one really has to wonder what they are thinking in assuming this guy is innocent of what the U.S. government charged him with. Right, all this is just some huge conspiracy aimed at the poor professor.

Never mind all those intelligence intercepts they have against the guy — solid evidence that links his fund-raising ties to terrorist organizations. Or his chants of “Death to Israel” because hey, he “just meant the end of Israeli policy,” which these sympathizers would love for you to believe is the cruel massacre of the innocent Palestinian people. And besides, don’t you always hear chants like these during speeches at fund-raiser rallies over something or someone that speaker just simply doesn’t like?

Yes, just these “harmless” chants would lead the U.S. government to arrest him and make up all of the evidence against him, because golly, they’ve got nothing better to do. His arrest removes a big threat here, not to mention someone responsible for civilian deaths, through his ties to the Islamic Jihad: more than 100 Israeli deaths, including two Americans. But many of these Palestinian supporters are master apologists for barbaric terrorists anyway, “Oh, I’m so sorry about those poor Americans. Of course, it was their fault for supporting the Zionist entity.”

The people who think Al-Arian is innocent are either trying to justify their own anti-Israel sentiments, or at best, fooling themselves with naïveté. If the investigation of Al-Arian had not turned up anything, his supporters would gloat and dismiss his chants. Now, despite the ton of evidence against him, they still like to believe that it’s all a result of some unfair, unconstitutional practices of the U.S. government.

Josh Arazi is a USF alumnus living in Miami.