Letters to the editor

Let's learn from the past\nTake great care history does not repeat itself.\nIn Vietnam we did not have a clear understanding of the enemy, which resulted in a loss by this country which was unparalleled. If we do not clearly identify who and where this enemy is and do not completely understand them, we will not be successful. This enemy is more oblique than the Vietnamese. \nThey are already in our country and can be our neighbors today and destroy us tomorrow. We have our work cut out for us, make no mistake and do not underestimate their loyalty and dedication. We are walking around much like the British in the Revolutionary War with bright red coats and white pants while the enemy is sneaking around undetected. We are training them, only to have them use the information we have provided to destroy us. Wake up America.\nBen Carroccio\nParent\nBigotry has no place here\nI am extremely distressed and angry that fellow Hoosiers are being attacked by hate-minded students in a response to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Future attacks, verbal or physical, cannot be tolerated. America's universities are a place of tolerance and expression of ideas.\nI hope that we, the members of the Indiana University family, look out for each other. If one of us is attacked, we must gather around to make sure it does not happen again in the future. To those who have attacked students, be forewarned. These are innocent people, who may have been from the ethnic background of those suspected in being the perpetrators of these acts of terror. You will not get away with your hatred and bigotry. We will make sure that you're punished. Your hatred has no place here at Indiana University. \nMichael Bradford\nGraduate Student\nU.S. involved with its own terrorism abroad\nI would first like to say that I am shocked and saddened about the incident at the World Trade Center. I would also like to give my deepest condolences to anyone who has family, friends and loved ones who were victims to such a horrendous act. However, I would like to maybe paint a different picture that is seen on the mainstream media outlets. \nUnbeknownst to most people, the United States has been waging its own terrorist attacks all over the world for the past 40 years. All the countries suspected by the American government to be harboring bin Laden have had their fair share of American-instilled repressive regimes and merciless dictators. Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan all have, very basically, the same makeup; brutal, undemocratic regimes responsible for the slaughter of tens to hundreds of thousands of people that have been started by and, at one time, completely funded and supported by the United States government. \nThe bombing of Sudan after the American Embassy attacks left over 20,000 Sudanese civilians dead -- five times the estimated amount of the World Trade Center. It is nearly impossible to read contemporary Latin American history without seeing the words CIA and death squads closely related. The U.S.-funded the Indonesian takeover of East Timor, amounting into a decade long occupation resulting in the death of almost half of the East Timor population. The sanctions on Iraq have lead to the death of millions of Iraqis, leading to the resignations of several U.N. officials, calling it "genocidal."\nIf the devastation at the World Trade Center happened every month for 10 years, the numbers dead would equal the amount that have been killed in Iraq due directly to the sanctions. Would inflicting more terror on the people of "harboring nations" really stop terrorism? Maybe we should use this bombing to examine the way the United States interacts with the world in terms of our foreign policy.\nMaybe if the United States did not have such a destructive foreign policy, the world might not look for our destruction. This is not the time to be rallying around flags; rather it is the time to start looking for long-term answers that will end terror around the world and spare the lives of countless civilians, which is ending the destructive terrorist policies of our own. \nIan Phillips\nJunior\nStand strong, we will overcome\nI wish I could write as well as I could speak. Because I would find some way to convey the sorrow and the sadness that I feel. If I could translate the body movement and inflection into comfort for those who need it. I would translate the inflection of my voice into strong written words that invoke a feeling of pride in our country in a time when we need it most. I would convey the strength I try to demonstrate in an effort to strengthen others. I'll add a thesaurusistical spin on my simple-worded speeches to give my readers something more to contemplate and consider while we recover. I'd simply tell them to stand strong and fear not, we ARE Americans and we WILL overcome. \nJeramy Foltz\nSenior\nCall against anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, sentiment\nThe Defend Affirmative Action Party at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and the University of California at Berkeley stand in sympathy with students on campuses across the country who have relatives and friends who have suffered in the attacks in New York and Washington.\nAs anti-racist student parties, we call on all people to oppose and stand against anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry, xenophobia, war hysteria and national chauvinist backlash in response to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.\nWe must oppose all chauvinist hysteria, all racist attacks and all scapegoating. Remembering the attacks on Arab Americans in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, we in particular condemn all bigotry and attacks against Arab, Islamic and Middle Eastern people. Within months of the attack on Pearl Harbor, racist hysteria against Japanese Americans led to the internment of nearly 120,000 people on the basis of race. We must never allow anything like that to happen again. We call on students at every school and university across the country to speak out against racist and bigoted responses to the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.\nIt is the duty of every anti-racist, every progressive and every person who supports basic democracy to oppose xenophobia and national chauvinist war hysteria in response to these attacks.\nJessica Curtin, Student Government Representative of Michigan Student Assembly, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor\nHoku Jeffrey, Senator, Associated Students of the University of California at Berkeley