Professors speak with voice of experience about war in Iraq

Alongside more than 50 other nations, the United States launched a military strike the Pentagon penned Operation Iraqi Freedom against Iraq last week. While students and faculty were enjoying spring break, some faculty members have closely followed the U.S.-led coalition to disarm Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.\nThousands of U.S. citizens have taken to the streets in both approval and reproach of the war effort.\nStill, there are some IU faculty who remain wary of adopting extreme positions, despite their close relations to the Middle East. \nScott Pegg is one of them.\nPegg, a political science professor at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis, taught classes on international relationships and security issues at the University of Bilkent in Ankara, Turkey, from 1998 to 2001. Pegg said he thinks the Iraqis are using coalition casualties as a strategy to manifest concern in U.S. leadership and public opinion.\nThe international community should be on high alert, Pegg said, especially American citizens.\n"Obviously we're attacking another country in a part of the world where we are not seen in a positive way," he said. "There's certainly more of a motive for people who want to do terrorist attacks."\nTurkey's recent diplomatic decisions of allowing coalition forces to use Turkish air space did not come as a surprise to Pegg, but he said he doesn't think their decision to send troops into northern Iraq to suppress Kurdish movement into Turkey is a smart move.\n"I think that their fears are a bit exaggerated, and they are risking getting themselves into a messy situation," he said. "But I don't think they feel 100 percent assured by United States' efforts."\nThe media has positioned one of Turkey's close neighbors, Israel, as a possible target for the Iraqis. \nDirector of the Jewish Studies Program at IU Alvin Rosenfeld said the Israelis have been prepared for war because there were some predictions of an Iraqi attack on Israel, though he said "an attack doesn't look likely at the moment."\n"So far (the war) has had no impact," Rosenfeld said. "Life, in fact, is going on as normal."\nHe also mentioned though life seems normal, Israelis are well prepared for a missile attack due to their "very effective" anti-missile shield in place. However, Rosenfeld said, biological and chemical agents would be a different story.\n"They are thinking about it," he said. "Gas masks have been distributed around the country. They are very alert to the war because they're just down the street."\nRosenfeld said the Israeli people are supportive of the American effort, but "they should simply be left alone because they're not partied to the war."\nKaren Rasler, an IUB political science professor who specializes in international conflict and societal consequences of war, said she does not believe the United States is doing the right thing by disarming Hussein without international support. \n"It's a very narrow alliance and lacks international legitimacy," Rasler said. "It will lead to a long post-war occupation that will be financially costly and will lead to economic debt."\nRasler also said the rest of the Middle Eastern community will not act positively because the United States, in their view, has invaded Iraq without moral legitimacy and that is reinforced by the fact there is no U.N. backing. She said she thinks the Iraqi people will generally welcome U.S. forces.\n"I think the Iraqi community will be very eager to rebuild their country," she said. "That doesn't mean there won't be resentment to the fact that there will be American military present."\nJames Lutz, chair of the political science department at IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne, said he would have liked to have seen more diplomacy on the part of the U.S.\n"I'm not in total agreement of the technique they're using," Lutz said. "I would have preferred a longer period of diplomacy."\nBut, Lutz said he believes Bush is doing a good job militarily.\n"I think they're doing the right thing in regard to stopping civilian casualties," he said.