In an address last week, former President Joe Biden announced a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, which includes an exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinians currently imprisoned in Israel, and an increase in humanitarian aid in Gaza. The deal went into effect on Sunday Jan. 19, and the first hostages have been exchanged.
“The WUIMC has a fiduciary responsibility to make decisions that are financially, ethically, and legally dubious (to put it nicely). The WUIMC will only seek to profit from the violation of basic human rights and dignity when the Chancellor deems it ‘socially responsible’ to do so.”
There is no genocide against the Palestinians. As journalists, you have an ethical duty to push back on statements that are probably untrue. Do better.
It’s a harsh reality that in war, many of our soldiers end up making the ultimate sacrifice. Yet, even those who are able to come home are not given the proper resources to deal with the wounds, both mental and physical, that occurred while they were serving overseas.
On a humid Sunday morning, a soldier held his teenage daughter tighter then she could remember. Her father’s embrace was smothering; he took hold of her as if she was a part of his own body. A warm kiss on her cheek and a smooth wipe of her tears comforted her as her mother accepted her from her dad.
I think growing up in the shadow of 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan darkened our generation’s political outlook. At the precise moment when we came of age politically, 9/11 presented us with a vivid lesson of evil in the world and its potential to inflict harm on our soil. The Iraq war followed by casting doubt on the ability of our government to effectively respond to terrorism, to win, or at least end, a war and to tell us the truth.
Ah, the irony. Last week, I wrote a column calling for more debate on campus about the war in Afghanistan. The response: silence. No debate, no online comments, no e-mails, no op-ed submissions and no other apparent response on campus.
For several years, the situation in the Middle East has been one giant question mark for Americans. Why are certain groups in power? How are elections being corrupted? Why are we at war with Afghanistan and Iraq when a Saudi ordered the Sept. 11 attacks?
As we mark the eighth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, our country is embarking on a high-stakes debate about whether and how to continue waging this war.
To my knowledge, never before in American history has such an important and long-lasting war received so little public attention. It is true that we have had many substantial distractions—the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, our energy problems, the economic crisis, the health care debate—that all deserve our attention; yet, we should not have let this war fall so deeply out of our public consciousness.
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