U.S. must assist, help rebuild Afghanistan
Rarely do I open the Daily Bruin Viewpoint section expecting to
find much more than immature commentary on the morals of the
one-night stand or off-base prejudice about how the Jews are a
bunch of terrorists and America is out to get Palestinians. That
said, I was extremely surprised after reading Mitra
Ebadolahi’s column (“U.S. must aid Afghanistan after
bombings,” Viewpoint, May 16). Expecting it to match the
racist pile of crap below it on the page, I found instead that it
is one of the wisest pieces I’ve ever read in The Bruin. Not
only did she more than adequately summarize the problems still
facing Afghanistan, she offered solutions to which we, as students
at UCLA, can contribute. Her position that the U.S. government
can’t simply turn a blind eye to the people of Afghanistan is
right on target. These people are floating in the wind now and they
need all the help they can get. Solutions do not come in the form
of explosive weaponry or blanket accusations of the entire populace
of a country. Although I whole-heartedly agree with Ebadolahi in
her idea that a lot more money is needed if Afghanistan is to be
rebuilt and restored, I don’t think piling the money on the
problem is the complete answer, either. A quote she brought up hits
the mark: “The Taliban terrorized us (the Afghan people) and
now Americans are terrorizing us.” If the United States wants
to make itself more than just another terrorist organization to
these people who know so little about us, a lot of work has to be
done. The U.S. needs to restore and rebuild Afghanistan similar to
its efforts after World War II, when the United States occupied and
rebuilt Japan. Today, Japan is one of the most prosperous nations
in the world, one with a very intimate relationship with the U.S.
Although the situations are not identical, I believe solutions such
as this one can be found if only our government invested some time
to actually think about them. Were the government we have today to
follow the example set by its forefathers after the war, it would
not only help the people of Afghanistan, but help to create an
important ally in the future. I can’t suggest that occupation
and governmental restructuring by the U.S. is the answer, but I can
say for certain that if the U.S. does nothing to help the Afghan
people, they will suffer for it, and the U.S. government will only
leave the door open for another corrupt government and another
generation of people forced to live under it. Thank you, Ms.
Ebadolahi, for writing one of the most intelligent articles
I’ve seen in The Bruin. I only hope enough people read it and
realize the problems in Afghanistan are far from over. If enough of
us let our government know we want to help these people, we may
find ourselves in a much better position not only in the eyes of
the Afghan people, but in the eyes of the world as a whole.
Michael James Clark Second-year Microbiology and
Japanese
Israel correctly punishes its extremists I
would like to answer Gustavo Gutierrez’s question: “Why
does the Western media ignore Jewish terrorists?”
(“Mideast events complex, not presented fairly,”
Viewpoint, May 16) The answer is simple: It does not. But because
Jewish terrorists caught in the U.S. and Israel are arrested and
treated like the evil criminals they are, it’s not as big of
a story. The most militant Jewish organization in recent memory,
known as Kach, is outlawed in Israel because of its extremist
position that all Arabs should be violently expelled from Israel,
the West Bank and Gaza. In the Palestinian territories and in the
rest of the Muslim world, on the other hand, murdered terrorists
are called martyrs, given ticker-tape parades and celebrated as
heroes. And, by the way, the Likud Party is not the party in power
in Israel. The current government is run by a ruling coalition made
up of the Likud and labor parties. Likud does not have the votes in
the Israeli Knesset (parliament) to do what it wants. Gutierrez
would know that if he bothered to pay attention to the
“biased” Western media.
David M. Drucker UCLA alumnus Class of 2001
Reasons behind Abdelkarim’s arrest
clear
Kelly Rayburn’s article (“Former Bruin detained in
Israel due to activist work,” News, May 8) sounded somewhat
mystified as to why Dr. Abdelkarim was detained recently in Israel.
But the answer should be readily apparent ““ if an agent
provocateur came to your town and proclaimed he was there to
conduct a “fact-finding” mission, wouldn’t you be
offended and angered, just as the Israelis were? The
“mission” presumes you know the truth, but the locals
don’t know the truth or are obfuscating it. Even though the
U.N. did not conduct its own inquiry into the Jenin siege, other
rights groups have already reported that there was no massacre in
Jenin. Dr. Abdelkarim had no business going there on such a
mission. His involvement with so-called charities that channel
money to terrorist groups could not have helped his cause. Money
goes to charity in part, but a lot of it also goes to fund more
suicide bombers. This is probably the real reason for the
doctor’s arrest.
Patricia Davis Second-year
New placement of crossword puzzling I am
calling on the Daily Bruin to immediately move the puzzle to either
the top or bottom half of the page in the Classified section. I can
no longer accept the forced exercises in origami as I pursue my
inalienable right to work on the crossword puzzle. If the Daily
Bruin refuses I’ll be forced to send it my bills for
drycleaning the newsprint off my clothes as a consequence of all
the folding and creasing that is necessary in order to complete the
puzzle.
Debbie Musselman Administrative specialist/transplant
services