The staff editorial on Jan. 31 which claimed that “drafting Americans is never the answer” was wrong, na‹ve, and disturbingly oblivious to the real issues about the impending war with Iraq. First of all, it should be obvious to anyone who took fifth grade history why the editorial’s premise was wrong: a draft of American citizens was, of course, the only answer to an Allied victory in World War II. And it’s thanks to the sacrifice of millions of young Americans who were drafted in the early 1940s-including many Washing-ton University students-that Parisians today don’t speak German. A draft can be used for good ends. The question today is whether Iraq qualifies as one.

Fortunately, the question of the draft doesn’t even need to be part of the debate because Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has said we aren’t going to need one and the only lawmaker who has suggested bringing back the draft, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), meant it merely as a rhetorical, anti-war deterrent.

Other questions of a delicate, divisive nature, however, do need to be answered. But oddly enough, these are the questions least addressed when our generation discusses the war. Will the world be safer if Saddam Hussein is deposed? Do the potential benefits of the war outweigh the casualties and the financial burden that come with it? How will the Arab world react to a war on Iraq?

Instead of addressing these important questions, the average college student rambles on about the ulterior motives of the Bush administration. Of course this war is partially about access to oil (your SUV is at stake here). Of course there is some political motivation behind the war-in the sense that good politics involves eliminating threats to national security, and ensuring the nation’s economic health through cheap oil. But the debate over this war should not be about Bush and his intentions-it should be about right and wrong, and what actions that imperative demands of us.

Although I consider myself a liberal and disagree with President Bush on energy, tax cuts, education, health care, the environment, and farm subsidies, I support the coming war with Iraq under certain terms. If we do this right (with a strong international coalition and U.N. support), I believe that we can achieve great things. We could remove a dictator who uses professional rape squads to torture his political opponents, who starves his people and denies them the basic freedoms of speech and education, and who perpetuates backwardness and anti-American hatred in the Middle-East.

Of course, there are plenty of reasons to oppose this war. If you believe, to paraphrase Ernest Gruening, one of the two Senators who voted against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, that “all Iraq is not worth a single American boy,” then I can respect that position. Organize protests, educate people about why you think the war is wrong. But above all, do not shy away from the decision itself or from acting on your beliefs.

To oppose a draft unconditionally, however, is to declare indifference to the questions of right and wrong with which this war presents us. Yet this is exactly the spirit our generation has embraced. Just because politicians have cynical reasons to support or oppose this war does not eliminate its moral challenges. I believe that the sacrifices made in this war are justified by the higher goods it serves. Others believe that nothing justifies the death and destruction that the war will cause. But far too many people treat these matters as an abstract exercise. They are not.

If ours is a generation with ideals, now is the time to show them by confronting our enemies-whether Bush and Rumsfeld, or Saddam and Kim Jong Il. For you, the patriotic and moral thing may be to support the war and ensure that its higher, long-term goals are not lost amidst political opportunism. For someone else, it may be to protest it. But no one can afford to be uninformed about the first great challenge to our generation. We may not be risking our lives in this war, but plenty is at stake. Pro-war or anti-war, we cannot ignore our respective evils or choose inaction.

Popularity: unranked [?]

 Print This Post

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 11th, 2003 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Opinions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.