The debate over Iraq started at my school in early January.
Members of our liberal club, The Collective, taped up some
photocopies of a picture of dead soldiers. Beneath someone
had boldly written “Blood for Oil?” Other posters
listed more reasons why this was an unjust war. Many accused
the Bush administration of using war to distract the nation
from domestic issues, to gain oil and influence.
Members of the Young Republicans club responded with their
own posters, saying that peace would make the U.S. vulnerable
to attack, that lives had been lost on September 11, 2001
because of the same people who now posed a threat to the country.
New posters from The Collective disputed this, to be challenged
by still more posters. It was a debate, embodied by duct tape
and a lot of paper.
Wall space disappeared. In one class a large poster listing
reasons to oppose the war fell down on unsuspecting students.
One day I happened upon my classmate shamelessly taping
his poster (“Don’t Forget 9/11”) over mine
(“No War in Iraq”). I asked him not to.
“I have every right to,” was his retort.
“Isn’t that censorship?” I asked. He had
no response.
Posters were soon trampled on the ground and crumpled in
trash cans. After a long weekend, we returned to find that
all the posters had been taken down. The administration, sickened
by the sight of torn, muddy posters all over school, had removed
them all. From then on, we had to have posters approved before
we put them up.
I decided one Thursday to visit the Young Republicans club.
I thought that I would find a handful of bigoted older guys
who talked about hunting and exalted our President. I assumed
that their political ideas were based on those of their parents.
When I entered, I was shocked on several counts. The majority
of those at the meeting were girls and women. They were talking
about something that had been worrying me: how was our school
going to resolve this debate without tearing the student body
apart? Where I had expected dogmatism and personal ideology,
I found tolerance.
“What I would like,” a girl commented, “is
for students to have their own views.”
“I don’t want a war between the students,”
a teacher said.
The truth is that Republicans are a minority at our school.
What they do is brave, because the anti-war Collective is
an ever-growing student force armed with anti-Bush invective.
How do the young Republicans deal with it? “Arm yourself
with knowledge,” they advised each other at the end of
the meeting. For the first time, I saw something good coming
of this debate, something that seemed to be taking the issue
of war in a positive direction. Here were students preparing
to reaffirm and defend their personal values by researching
history and politics.
We had to resolve a major conflict
As the issue of Iraq came to the forefront, liberal and
conservative students clashed over plans for a school assembly.
Some students wanted to invite Dennis Prager, a well-known
conservative writer and radio personality, to speak. The Collective
demanded that some kind of change be made, suggesting that
another speaker be invited to represent liberal views. The
issue went to Student Senate, where a bill was passed requiring
that such an alternate speaker be found, or Prager would not
be invited to speak.
To me, this was the first true resolution of a conflict,
the first compromise. Since then, the students have decided
to hold a debate with three students representing each side
of the issue. This, we hope, will put an end to any personal
arguments or vindictive posters. Most students are looking
forward to the event. “You can’t deny an opposition’s
validity if you don’t know what it’s about. It’s
pointless,” said Collective member Tim Halleran, 16.
Students have begun to educate themselves, reading up on
the issues in Iraq so that they can keep up with the buzz
in school that this rift has caused. Ben Naecker, 15, a member
of the Collective, said, “It’s really good that
something like this has happened... people at least know how
to educate themselves on both sides of an issue and how to
debate and how to talk civilly with people who don’t
believe what they believe.”
Katie Thompson, 16, a member of the student government,
said, “Well, I’m optimistic that this will hopefully,
regardless of what happens with the war, keep the interest
in our country going. People won’t just forget about
it. I hope people will be motivated to go out and vote when
they turn 18... I hope people will turn those feelings into
actions and continue to do so for the rest of their lives.”
I can’t say that anyone has changed their views on
Iraq, but we are learning how to accept our differences. I
guess we’ve learned to agree to disagree. Whether or
not we go to war, my school has gained a lot of character
in the past few weeks, and has produced members of what will
be a morally and politically conscious generation.
Iraq Timeline: July 16, 1979 to March 1, 2003
By Sahyim (Sage) Chung, 17, El Camino Real High School
July 16, 1979: Saddam Hussein
elected president of the Republic of Iraq.
September, 1980: Iraq invaded
Iran, which started the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). It is estimated
that 400,000 people died. The United States, France and Great
Britain supplied military equipment, including weapons to
Iraq, to prevent the Ayatollah Khomeini’s radical Islamic
regime in Iran from gaining power.
March 16, 1988: The town
of Halabja in northern Iraq was bombarded with mustard gas
and nerve agents, killing 5,000 people immediately and severely
injuring tens of thousands of others.
July 18, 1988: Iran accepted
a United Nations-proposed truce with Iraq. The war severely
damaged Iraq’s economy.
May, 1990: Hussein claimed
that Kuwait had staged “economic warfare” with Iraq
by overproducing oil continuing to hurt Iraq’s economy.
August 2, 1990: Hussein
invaded Kuwait after Kuwaiti leaders refused to waive Iraq’s
war debts. Hussein never accepted the British-drawn border
between Iraq and Kuwait.
August 6, 1990: The United
Nations condemned the invasion of Kuwait and the sanctions
committee for Iraq was set up. These sanctions, in time, will
cause famine.
January 17, 1991: Operation
Desert Storm began as the United States, Britain, and allied
forces started a military offensive against Iraq. George Bush,
father of current U.S. President George W. Bush, was the President
then.
February 28, 1991: Iraq
declared a cease-fire and surrendered. Over the next month
they withdrew from Kuwait. The allies suffered about 300 casualties,
while the Iraqis suffered an estimated 20,000 to 56,000 deaths
in battle but up to 114,000 deaths because of damage to the
country’s water supply and infrastructure.
March, 1992: Responding
to then-President George Bush’s advice, to “take
matters into their own hands,” Shiite Muslims and the
Kurds launched uprisings all over Iraq hoping that the United
States would come to their aid. However, U.S. troops never
came. Between 30,000 and 60,000 civilians were killed.
June 26, 1993: President
Bill Clinton ordered a missile strike on Iraq’s intelligence
headquarters after finding evidence of their plot to assassinate
President George Bush on his last trip to Kuwait.
October 7, 1994: Iraqi
troops moved into Kuwait, but retreated after 54,000 US troops
and warplanes showed up.
1995: Hussein accepted
the United Nations proposed oil-for-food program when they
offered $2 billion. The program allowed Iraq to sell oil in
exchange for humanitarian supplies to aid the Iraqi people.
September 3-4, 1996: United
States launched missiles at Iraq after Iraqi forces entered
a Kurdish “safe haven” zone.
January 29, 1998: U.S.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright started to tour Europe
and the Middle East to gain support against Iraq, shortly
after, Iraq kicked the U.S.-led weapons inspectors out.
December 16-18, 1998: President
Clinton launched missile attacks on Iraq for continued refusals
to cooperate with weapons inspectors, otherwise known as Desert
Fox. He aimed these missiles at about 100 different places
thought to have something to do with weapons of mass destruction;
62 Iraqi military personnel were killed.
1999: Iraq rejected a U.N.
resolution that would ease trade sanctions if Iraq would allow
weapons inspectors to return. Since these sanctions were first
put in place, about a million Iraqis, mostly children, have
died because of starvation or lack of medical supplies.
September 11, 2001: The
World Trade Centers and the Pentagon were attacked by terrorists
and another hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania killing
3,054. We later find out that the terrorist group, Al Qaeda,
headed by Osama bin Laden, were responsible. About a year
later, President George W. Bush started connecting Al Qaeda
with Iraq.
Early 2002: President George
W. Bush labeled Iraq as a member of an Axis of Evil at his
State of the Union Address. Bush wants to continue the Clinton
administration’s idea of “regime change” of
Iraq. As these talks intensified, Iraq announced their new
interest in letting weapons inspectors back in.
September 12, 2002: Bush
told the United Nations General Assembly that that Iraq is
a threat to the world and should be dealt with forcefully.
Bush also said that the UN had been giving Iraq too many chances.
November 8, 2002: The U.N.
Security Council adopts Resolution 1441 declaring Iraq has
violated previous resolutions calling for disarmament and
cooperation with weapons inspectors.
January, 2003: Great Britain
and the United States sped up military deployments in the
Persian Gulf.
February 5, 2003: Secretary
of State Colin Powell used satellite images and other information
to show that Iraq has been making weapons of mass destruction,
avoiding UN weapons inspectors and supporting the Al Qaeda
terrorist group.
February 15-16, 2003: Millions
participated in anti-war demonstrations all over the world.
February 18, 2003: Bush
said anti-war demonstrations wouldn’t deter him.
February 21, 2003: UN Chief
Weapons Inspector, Hans Blix, ordered Iraq to destroy a list
of weapons by March 1, or else.
March 1, 2003: Iraq started
destroying the missiles Blix demanded. More than 200,000 U.S.
and British forces are in the Persian Gulf.
RESOURCES:
Information gathered from the BBC, CNN and other news sources.
http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/gulf.war/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/02/iraq_events/html/default.stm
Teen
views on Iraq are mixed
While some don’t care, other teens have strong feelings
about U.S. military action in Iraq
|
Editorial cartoon by
Emma Guerard, 15, Venice HS
|
By Elina Antoniou, 17, James Monroe Law Magnet
Radical war-supporters were ready to get down and dirty
with Saddam Hussein, while equally passionate students who
were opposed to war with Iraq, prepared to join organized
anti-war protests.
But how much did the teens at James Monroe High School really
know about the United States’ relationship with Iraq?
I surveyed more than four-dozen students and found a diverse
range of opinions and knowledge.
Some students could cite details of past U.S. conflicts
with Iraq while others didn’t even know where Iraq is
located. And of course, I came across teens who did not bother
informing themselves because they felt that any problems with
Iraq were not of any immediate concern to them.
But the truth is that this issue is very pressing because
the decisions made have the potential to reshape our foreign
policy for years. As senior Josh Maquindang put it, what we
do will “affect our relationship with the rest of the
world.”
Last month, President George W. Bush threatened that if
the Iraqi government does not comply with several strict conditions,
mostly involving the removal of Iraq’s weapons of mass
destruction, then military force would be our only option.
He invited the world’s nations to support and aid the
United States but made it clear that even without international
support the United States would do what it feels is necessary
to ensure that the Iraqi government is no longer a threat.
Last month, the House of Representatives and the Senate were
presented with resolutions that would give the President the
power to wage war on Iraq if he feels it is necessary. After
debating the issue, both the House and Senate granted Bush
the power.
For some of the teens I spoke with, it was scary to think
that regardless of whether the United Nations approves the
use of force in Iraq, it may not have any effect on what Bush
ultimately does.
Teens were somewhat aware
What impressed me about the high school students I spoke
to was that even if they were a little unclear on the details,
they still had insightful ideas as to how the United States
should deal with the situation. And every teen I spoke with
was at least aware that President Bush has threatened to use
force in Iraq.
Of the 50 James Monroe High School students surveyed, some
were worried about a boyfriend or brother being drafted, while
others were concerned with the possibility of stray bombs
hitting other countries. Others didn’t care because other
than a lot of talk nothing has happened yet. Twenty-nine,
or 58 percent, of the students surveyed were against a war
with Iraq for various reasons.
Senior Carolina Herrera said that a war with Iraq “will
affect many innocent people, both here and there,” and
does not think war is the answer.
Iveht Pineda, a sophomore, opposed war “because they
are going to kill civilians.”
Some teens opposed to fighting were not convinced of the
situation’s urgency.
“We could do more before taking military action,”
senior Jessica Wright said.
Some students, like Nick Morin, also a senior, are doing
more than just talking about their opinions, they are making
sure that others know how they feel. Nick will be attending
several protests here in Los Angeles over the next few weeks
to bring attention to, what he says “should not be a
U.S. war.”
Others wondered why dealing with Iraq is suddenly so important.
But as Morin pointed out, “the conflict itself isn’t
new; it’s the public’s interest in the conflict
that is new.”
The problem with Iraq has been going on for more than a
decade now. Hussein, who came into power as Iraq’s President
in 1979, has developed and, according to the U.S. government
and previous weapons inspectors, is storing chemical and biological
weapons. He has also been attempting to acquire the necessary
materials to produce nuclear weapons.
Not only has Hussein been storing these weapons of mass
destruction, but he has proved to the rest of the world that
he is capable of and willing to use them. In 1988, Hussein’s
forces used nerve gas on Kurds in northern Iraq. The United
Nations, an international organization formed in 1945 to promote
security and international cooperation by peaceful means,
took issue with Hussein’s use of these weapons.
Hussein created further unrest in the Middle East when he
invaded neighboring Kuwait in 1990. Iraq was stopped by an
international military coalition led by the United States
in early 1991, in what is known as the Gulf War. Since this
time, Hussein has hindered weapons inspections required by
numerous resolutions. His unwillingness to comply with inspections
imposed as a condition following the Gulf War led to the U.S.
and British bombing of Iraq in 1998.
Because the possible threat that Iraq poses has been such
a persistent one, 23 percent of the teens I spoke to feel
that it is necessary and justifiable to wage war on Iraq,
with or without international support.
Maquindang raises the important point that “Iraq...
which is led by a corrupt leader... had 12 years to rearm
itself,” and that yes, war with Iraq is crucial “in
order to save democracy.”
Another senior, Arutyun Madatyan, supports military action
in Iraq because “if we don’t do anything we will
look weak to other nations.”
Nine percent of students said they support war only if other
nations agreed to back us up.
ALSO SEE:
Student speeches and essays
Student vs. adult confidence in
President Bush on Iraq
Youth debate war online
Mock UN Security Council
Student protests in the news
